Ultimate Bed Build and Custom Dual Battery System

[pastorwug]

Amazing and the way you put it all together showed such great forethought and planning - PLUS - no worthless crimp connectors!

 

[Donovan]

This is... amazing. IF you could replicate this and make it accessible; You got yourself something here brother.

 

[Brock Steele]

Amazing work.

 

[anabolicapple]

What a fantastic and detailed post - awesome results and thanks for posting. I love how it all looks and came together - great work and your attention to detail is amazing! That took some time, for sure!

It would be great to meet up with fellow raptor owners that are using their trucks this way. But it looks like we're all spread around the country, so it's great to see posts like this with such detail.

 

[JefferyGT]

Inspiration.
Well done!

 

[amREADY]

As someone who wired in an Aux battery, BCDC charger and various switches/outlets, I appreciate and respect your build more than most. Mine is solid, but is child's play in comparison.

If you don't like your gear sliding around, consider using a hole saw on the bedrug, and add D rings to the bed bolts. I use mine ALL THE TIME.

 

[Jason Krakauer]

That's solid work, dude. I had been toying w/ building out a dual-bat setup like this... but I got hung up on the costs vs. costs of Solar Generators. Rough estimate, would you say you've got about $1K into just the battery/wiring/fuses/etc (not including bed cover/bed rug/builtright panels)? You can get pretty large Solar Generators for that, 1000+ WH units w/ MPPT solar charging circuitry. If all you did was run a power takeoff from the main battery and a marine 12v panel in the bed to keep it charged/charging while the motors running ... I'd think you'd have portability and similar use as your setup.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking your kit - super impressed by the build-quality and fit/finish. I'm just trying to justify (to myself, mainly) the work/expense of something like your build vs. a pre-built SoGen.

Thoughts?

 

[DINOZR]

That's solid work, dude. I had been toying w/ building out a dual-bat setup like this... but I got hung up on the costs vs. costs of Solar Generators. Rough estimate, would you say you've got about $1K into just the battery/wiring/fuses/etc (not including bed cover/bed rug/builtright panels)? You can get pretty large Solar Generators for that, 1000+ WH units w/ MPPT solar charging circuitry. If all you did was run a power takeoff from the main battery and a marine 12v panel in the bed to keep it charged/charging while the motors running ... I'd think you'd have portability and similar use as your setup.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking your kit - super impressed by the build-quality and fit/finish. I'm just trying to justify (to myself, mainly) the work/expense of something like your build vs. a pre-built SoGen.

Thoughts?

I hear ya, man. I know you're not knocking my work. So I've got way more than $1k in this. Just the battery box I can rough out at
$60 Milwaukee tool box
$300 Odyssey AGM 94R Battery
$250 Redarc BCDC1225D
$30 Blue Sea Fuse Block
Min $70 in heavy duty Deutsch connectors
That's $710 and I haven't even looked at the cost of the cabling inside it, the wiring harness materials, the Blue Sea switch panel, or the insane amount of time I put into it. Plus I already had the Ford Boxlink stowable ramp brackets. Lord only knows what Ford wants for one or if you can even buy just one.

Can you show me an example of a solar generator like you're talking about? I'm interested in their capability. That little 100W suitcase Renogy solar panel works well with my setup. Gives quite a noticeable voltage increase in even partial sunlight. (I know voltage increase isn't the way to measure charging, but it's the only visible way I have access to while using the solar setup).

 

[sixshooter_45]

Great job, very well done.

Thanks for taking the time and effort to design and write your install.

 

[Sheeepdog18]

Excellent Work. Very impressive. I wish I have the know how, money and time to do something like what you have done. Hats off to you, Sir.