Drawers Part 4 (Electrical System)
This part is gonna be a long one and has quite a few pictures, so buckle up. Remember you can always click any of the photos to enlarge them.
When I designed this drawer system, I left a space behind the kitchen slide for some additional storage. I was planning on having it just be a little catch-all of things that I don’t need quick access to. After building all of the pull-outs, I found out that a 31M battery box from NoCo actually fit perfectly back there, so I ordered one up. This is where the massive rabbit hole of electrical systems came from.
Bear with me here on this long thought process. I began doing research on dual-battery systems, those external batteries (like Jackery and EcoFlow) and some other home-brew solutions people had made. I wanted something that could charge while I was driving so the fridge can stay running 24/7, but also be separate-ish from the main electrical system. I carry a lithium jump pack with me, so being able to link batteries wasn’t a big consideration for me. Plus I didn’t want to deal with solenoids or really just anything that could potentially affect my starter battery.
This led me to the RedArc BCDC1225D, a 25amp charger that can pull from your vehicle’s alternator or from solar. Combined with a few circuit breakers and a fuse block from Blue Seas, I now had everything I needed to build a pretty badass electrical system in the back. It was just missing the final key ingredient; the battery itself.
After weighing the options of AGM, flooded, lithium, etc, I ended my thought process with the good ol’ buy-once-cry-once mentality and picked up a 100ah BattleBorn LiFePo4 battery. The BattleBorns are fairly legendary in their reputation, they are absurdly light (when compared to AGMs and other batteries of the same size) and because they are lithium, I can actually pull a full 100ah from them without damaging the battery. AGMs can only be discharged to about 50%, so that felt like the wrong choice long term.
Once I figured all of this out, I realized I had a bit of an issue. Where the HELL was I going to put all of this stuff?? Not only did I need to find a place for the BCDC, the fuse block, and the circuit breakers, but I also needed a panel of some kind to actually run some power ports (12v, USB, etc). Let’s start with the first part of that gear list. After some careful measuring, I realized that I had all of the space I needed right behind the drawers. With a few quick cuts on some thin (maybe 1/8”) plywood, I made some backing panels for the drawers and started to use that to mockup and bolt everything to it. As you can see in the photos below, there is veryyyyyy little room when the seats are up. But, once the seats are up, you would literally never know that there is a dual battery system back there.
Now that I had that bit mounted, I needed to figure out a way to distribute this power easily in the back. I wanted to make some kind of panel that was relatively low profile and out of the way, but not a total pain in the ass to plug things in to if needed. That led me to ordering up a cheap ABS project box from Amazon. I messed around with some mounting locations and ended up putting the entire panel on the right side Rago Fabrication Molle Panel. As for the connectors themselves, I decided I wanted a pretty decent selection for a variety of applications. In the end, I found that I could fit two standard 12v plugs, two dual USB outlets, a hella connector (specifically for the fridge), a voltmeter to keep an eye on the health of the battery and a 120v extension outlet.
Wait a second. What was that last one? Yep, I ended up installing a NoCo outlet extension cord into this power panel. As a part of this electrical setup, I wanted to have the ability to plug the battery into the wall (via a trickle charger) as my 4Runner can sit quite a bit when I’m not out adventuring. So I picked up a 5-amp trickle charger that can support LiFePo4/Lithium batteries, and got to work finding a place for it. Turns out those little rear cubbies on the wheel well can come out with some *ahem* persuasion. I took two thin pieces of wood and 3M’d them to the panel and then placed the NoCo charger on top with a couple of screws. It fit! But it felt like something was missing. What to do with the extra space here?
I know, let’s put in one of the dozen extra Milwaukee M12 chargers I have back here! I’m a Milwaukee guy and I always carry a few power tools and spare batteries when I go into the woods. It can’t hurt. So I figured having the ability to charge a battery would be a pretty nice addition. I decided I didn’t want to get too fancy here, so I simply connect it to the factory inverter in the back and only turn it on when I know I’m probably going to need it.
So if you’ve made it this far, you may be wondering how it all looks with everything together in the back. Honestly, it’s not much to look at, but that is kind of the point! This system ended up being fairly low profile and I love that if you aren’t exactly looking for it, you might not really notice it. The drawers are the main prize here, but if you look a little closer, you’ll see the battery box in the back, the power panel on the right molle panel, and the charging station above the wheel well. Not too shabby for a DIY job, and it’s been working pretty great so far!
