I’m thinking of running a dual battery setup with the 2nd battery inside the bed, right next to the cab area. I’m also planning on running solar panels up top which would require cabling into the bed as well.
What are your thoughts on the best way to run cabling from both the engine bay and roof into the bed? My first initial thought was the easiest way would be to use the bed cubbies, but then I’d have to hair pin those cables back towards the front of the bed.
Any other ideas? I don’t particularly like the idea of drilling any holes in the GFC, but if there’s a compelling reason to do so, I’d consider it.
To run my solar, etc. I drilled a hole in the bed, near one of the existing drain holes. I then used some rubber washers, top and bottom, to keep water and whatnot out.
I figured it was easier to drill the bed and wouldn’t be a big deal to patch if I ever needed to do that.
I went with using waterproof connectors and drilling through the GFC. I’m adding numerous lights to the outside for driving/camping that will attach to my Spod and dual lithium battery setup in the bed. I didn’t want to run a bunch of wires down under the truck where they would be constantly pelted with rock, ice, snow, etc.
My original setup minus the wiring. It was a rough cut I’ve used for about 6 months to figure out what I need to redesign and update. I’m going to start on the final electrical box build next week. New features will be better wood/finish, making the “control” box removable vs a slider drawer that sits on top, quick disconnects between control box and battery box, mounting my Pico controller touch panel, adding light connections to Spod, adding 120 V wall outlet to outside of box, adding usb charge ports and display panels to box.
As it sits now, I’ve gone 10 days without coming close to running out of juice with my solar setup.
That looks great! And very similar to what I’m trying to do. What are the shunts for? Is the Pico controller going to display monitoring for voltages for the lithium batteries?
Pico will monitor all power sources separately (solar, alternator, shore power from inverter) and all power drains separately (inverter, lights, fridge, usb, etc). The shunts are for measuring current flow to and from each component so I have an accurate battery state of charge. It’s a pretty slick system and I haven’t hooked everything up yet because I was waiting to finalize my design before I cut the remaining cable lengths. I’ll be able to see everything on the touch screen panel as well as apps for Pico, Spod, Fridge, etc. I’m a computer engineer by trade so it is pretty fun.
