[nullack]

With your BCDC1225. I went the 40 amp bcdc. Havent had any problems with exceeding C/10 in the n70 size typically being 100 AHs or so. C/10 is an old wives tale sacred cow from old skool tranformer based dumb chargers. What matters is not overcharging and the multi stage algorithms in red arc wont ever over charge. Plus a patrol alternator can feed 80 amps if the battery will drink it and thats still half what Ive fed mine. The main thing is not doing something thats overcharging or overheating the battery, like AGMs dont like engine bay heat.

 

[Farqman]

Nullack, this is the water tank bracket I was talking about.

 

[Farqman]

Went and got the Patrol weighed today. As it sits with me in it (84kg), tipped the scales at 3.1t so I am over my GVM.

It is a tad disappointing as I purchased aluminium drawers, aluminium Rhino rack. Expensive purchases to keep the weight down.

 

[Farqman]

Got my butt into gear and installed a baintech power panel on my drawers. Has a volt meter, cig plug, engel plug and a 2.3amp USB. EDIT: Decided to swap the Engel socket for another cig socket.

It's running off the 6b&s cable from the engine bay to a fuse block. Didn't take a picture of the fuse block because I have heaps of excess cable and looks messy.

 

[Farqman]

 

[Farqman]

By the way, if anyone is wondering why I mounted it this way, it was to leave enough space on the left hand side for another switch or two if I need them. When mounted landscape orientation, it didn't leave much space.

 

[GutzzGU]

Got my butt into gear and installed a baintech power panel on my drawers. Has a volt meter, cig plug, engel plug and a 2.3amp USB. EDIT: Decided to swap the Engel socket for another cig socket.

It's running off the 6b&s cable from the engine bay to a fuse block. Didn't take a picture of the fuse block because I have heaps of excess cable and looks messy.

Whereabouts do you have the fuse block located/hidden?

 

[Farqman]

the fuse block is located just behind the power panel under the wing. I screwed it down to the base of the drawers. I can take a photo if you would like. It's just that the wiring is a bit messy at the moment.

When I first put my dual battery in, we ran 6 b&s to the rear. I made sure I had plenty of extra wire as I didn't know which way I would end up going.

So that is run all the way to the back doors pretty much, terminated with an Anderson plug. From that I now have a "Y" cable splitter. Anderson one end, 2 the other. So then off each Anderson plug I have my fridge on one, my fuse block on the other.

Not sure about voltage drop/loss, but I figured it's better this way because everything can be dismantled easily.

The problem I have at the moment is excess 6 b&s, and my fridge cable is way to long, so everything is just kinda shoved under that side wing.

Now the fuse block I used was a Narva 6 way. These are both good and bad.

They are definitely bulky in size so that they can fit the Narva resettable 'fuses'. Not much bigger than a fuse, but is actually like a circuit breaker.
They have two positive terminals. So you can have 2 x 3 banks, if you will. Or you can join them and have 1 x 6 banks if that makes sense. This feature is a pain in the butt because I will have to make a connector of some sort.

I have a Baintech 12 way fuse block behind the passenger kick panel. It's literally half the thickness, so if you are short on space, go the baintech units.

 

[GutzzGU]

Thanks mate, yeah a photo would help me greatly. I have 6 b&s running down the rear as well that ends with a merit socket flush mounted next to the factory 12V socket. I only have a fridge running off this cable at the moment. I want to fit a fuse block on this left side so that I can fit my GU power panel to replace the removable thin insert that is there at the moment plus give me options such as to run an LED light strip on the large barn door with a switch on the RHS at the back and connect this to the fuse block.

Sounds like splitting the cable with a Y splitter is the way to go without affecting power to the fridge. A photo would help me to try see where I can fit a fuse block that's neat but also not too hidden that's it's a pain to access to replace blown fuses if that happens. Cheers

 

[Farqman]

I will try and get a photo later today for you. just be warned it wont be pretty

 

[GutzzGU]

I will try and get a photo later today for you. just be warned it wont be pretty

Ok, I will try to look at it objectively and not pass any value judgements 😉

 

[Farqman]

So this morning after work I thought I would finally set up my Drifta Rapid Wing.
Pretty easy to setup as all the poles are permanently connected. Probably took 3-4 minutes to setup. Once I get a bit of practice I should be able to do it a little quicker.

So you have seen the photos of it on the side of my rack.

So once you open the bag it looks like this.


Undo the velcro straps and let it hang.


Then you basically walk it out and unclip the poles and let them drop. Tension it up with the strap. Then go around and raise the poles. Simple screw to unlock, screw the opposite way to tighten. Then retension the strap.

Pretty easy. If it was windy you would definitely need a second person, but if it is fine weather. easy to do by yourself.

Post the rest of the pictures shortly. Windows 10 is frying my laptop. 99% disk usage. cant get rid of it

 

[Farqman]

 

[Farqman]

 

[Trublue]

That awning looks great Farqman. Thats the one I was gonna grab, but then got the RTT that folds over the rear of the car so no need any more. Drifta make and sell some awesome products.

 

[Farqman]

Yeah it's a great bit of kit. I was sold purely because the vertical poles are permanently attached. Space is at a premium so I didn't want to carry a second bag inside the vehicle with the poles. That is probably the biggest let down with the Rhino Foxwing.

I kind of prefer the hinge design compared to the stacked Foxwing too. Each panel is the same height of each other instead of it stepping down.

I'm not a fan of the PVC bag though. Firstly it's black. It will fade in no time and shows a lot of dirt and bird poo. Mine also has a couple of cracks in it from postage. It got dinged up pretty good and had to get a replacement plastic part sent out.

Might try and find a place that can make up a new bag for me. Not sure how hard it is to replace though

 

[Farqman]

A couple weeks ago I purchased the Boss coil tower braces from Zordo. Had them installed by a local 4x4 Fab shop. He recommended that I brace the tip of the coil hat to stop it acting as a giant torque arm. Similar to how superior do their bolt in brace. I like the results.

 

[Farqman]

Purchased some Rhino side Maxtrax holders, with reinforcing bracket. Also attached a shovel holder to the back of these. Maxtrax mount using the Maxtrax pins and is quite a slick system.







And you can sort of see the shovel in this picture.

 

[Farqman]

Had a new dual battery setup installed today. I'll have to grab a couple of photos tommorow sometime.
Changed from a basic solenoid setup to a BCDC1225, with solar input for a permanently mounted solar panel, and solenoid for jump start facility.
Semi complicated system, but the best of three worlds.

80w solar panel will be mounted on the pioneer platform. Still trying work out a mounting system.

 

[TD JUNK]

Awesome build bud all basis covered. Might have been a slow build as you said in thread tittle but you really have done it once done it right, great work.