End-of-Weekend Update
Made some solid progress today, but it took way longer than expected to do the wiring because I was being more careful to make solid connections that will stand the test of time.
Solar upgrade
I installed one more solar panel on the roof. I had to remove a gland that was already brittle from a few months in the sun. Cheap amazon sh!t. I applied more Sikaflex 252 and made sure to put a liberal amount around the hole from the gland and my starlink mount to seal them up. Panels are wired in series in a ring, and the wires wrap around the front of the camper. I’m thinking there might be a guard for the wires with internal routing in my future, but this is good enough for now. The red wire bugs me though. The wires are routed into the cab through the vent ports on the back of the cab, no holes required.
Fixing RH audio
I removed my Telematics module last week since I don’t use any features that it provides. I’d rather not have Toyota tracking me. The RH speakers as well as the factory microphone pass through it (black box recorder sort of thing). I pulled the box 2 weeks ago and finally got around to splicing the speaker wires back together. Microphone doesn’t work, but it was a terrible mic to begin with and I have other plans for the entertainment system.
Stop tracking me!
The Telematics unit was a good start but I also needed to remove the tracker that the dealer installed. I’ve got a system of my own that has better privacy than this. I smashed it with a hammer and felt vindicated. Insane how they install these to keep track of their fleet, then turn around and sell it to you at 10x markup saying it will “save” your vehicle. I’m an EE, and to my eyes this board probably costs them $25-50 to manufacture.
Center console wiring
I pulled the center console and removed the factory inverter (which I hacked in MK1 to run off the house battery but wasn’t ever happy with - it’s a whole story). I’m going to use the 80A fused circuit to charge my house battery from the alternator, and use my own inverter. I already pulled the 120V outlet in the baed since the heater will go through that hole.
The thick blue wire is 12V coming from the starter/alternator. To turn on the relay that powers the blue line, you have to ground the yellow wire coming out of the same harness. I can’t test this just yet because I was missing the fuse and relay (I wonder who took those out last time we were messing around in the center console? 
) but I’ll have replacements tomorrow.
Btw, the tacoma service diagrams are all behind a paywall, but $25 gives you 2 days of access. I’ve done it twice, and grabbed all the downloads of the wiring diagrams that I could.
Electrical panel
I found a piece of IKEA Skadis pegboard in my apartment that is the exact size I need for the back wall since I plan to put the 40% seats back. Only problem is, I need a 3D printer to make some various blocks to mount it on the back wall. Tuesday should change that, so for today I got all the wiring set up.
Testing solar this morning:
Where I finished this evening - a bit of a rats nest but it’ll be obvious once the pegboard gets mounted vertical.
Mountain hatch tailgate
This thing rocks. That’s all. I was surprised that it wasn’t much heavier than the composite tailgate inside it replaced.
Starlink test
I wired up the inverter for a quick test. It still works!
Next up
- Waiting for 3D printer to arrive on Tuesday. That’ll let me mount everything in place.
- Need some ferrules, a fuse, and a relay to finish and clean up wiring job and test the DC/DC charger.