Dual Battery System
200ah Lithium Slimline from iTechworld
Initially after kitting out the Prado, I picked up a Full river 105ah AGM battery mounted underbonnet in a Piranha Dual battery tray using a factory spare Toyota clamp. Adding a Kaon Battery fuse holder. This worked well until we added the power heavy needs of the Starlink.
Starlink pulls around 8-10amps when running on the 400w iTechworld Inverter from the the Back of the Prado. This seems ok but for something that was effectively running for 18 hours a day the power usage was massive and we often found the fridge turned off due to low voltage. Not great. So we needed to do 3 things. Cut down power usage, increase battery capacity to increase run time and also replenish the battery.
Spacetek is a company based in Mildura that specialise in Starlink accessories and have a range of options to convert the Starlink to 12v. I wanted to do this without modifying the stalling and having it remain ‘intact’. Buying the Starlink to RJ45 converter, 48V POE injector and low power usage 12v wifi router with a 12v regulated powersupply, the power usage reduced to 3amps to run the Starlink with a simple plug and play system.
To increase battery capacity, the 50amp usable 105ah AGM was removed and the iTechworld Slimline 200ah battery was installed in the rear of the Prado. this effectively gave me around 3 times the capacity of power I had before meaning the fridge and starlink could easily run for 24 hours without any form of charging. (Although the Prado does have an Enerdrive 180w panel mounted on the roof permanently charging both battery’s with 90% of the charge going to the AUX battery and 10% to the main using the Redarc 12v solar 20AMP regulator.
Relocating the Redarc 40amp BCDC charger to the rear, coupled with the Enerdrive 40amp AC charger, charging the battery was no longer a challenge. Staring the car, fed 40amps into the battery plus on Avery 6-8amps from the solar. Connecting to shore power or my Honda EU22i, another 40amps. So if dead flat, I can charge the battery in 2 hours using both AC and DC charging. Connecting an additional solar panel or 2 and I soon found the car could be up to 100% charge by lunchtime using my old 160w Kings Panel, Hardkorr 200w flexible and roof top Enerdrive panels.
Whilst doing the power upgrades I decided knowledge is power and seeing what’s happening in the 12v system can take the guess work out of the equation and never again be caught short. I invested in the Simarine 500amp shunt, 25 and 50amp quad shunts and PICO screen. This allows me to see the power going in and out the battery as well as monitor usage and charging in realtime. the 50AMP quad shunt shows AC, DC, Anderson power outlet and Solar feed from the redarc 20amp Regulator. The 25 Quad Shunt shows the Front and Rear console fuse boxes, Starling and Water pump feed. I also added a 2600wEnerdrive Pass through Inverter since I now had the battery capacity available with a high current draw battery to allow it to run things like an induction cooker or coffee machine. These used to run from the caravan but being able to charge the Prado far easier, implying turning the Key feeds instantly 40amps through the DC charger its very easy to maintain a full battery.
Gear list:
iTechworld 200ah Slimline
Enerdrive 180w panel
Enerdrive 40amp AC Charger
Redarc BCDC1240 DC Charger
Redarc 20A Solar Regulator
Simarine PICO Display
Simarine SC503 500amp Shunt
Simarine SCQ25 25amp Quad Shunt
Simarine SCQ50 50amp Quad Shunt
Enerdrive 2600w Pass through Inverter
Enerdrive 3 Stud M8 Busbar x2
Enerdrive Dual Insulated M8 Busbar x2
AllSpark Circuit Breakers – Surface Mount 250A
AllSpark | Fuse block | indication lights | 6 or 12 Way × 2
000 B&S Custom Battery Cables
Drifta LED Light strips