Overlanding for Gen 3s

Hi all,

New to forum, recently picked up a gen 3 and want to see what you all are doing for overlanding builds. Here is my build so far. Retrax, Uptop AFS and Roofnest condor XL on a TRD pro. Next steps are CBI bedrack/bumpers and lighting.

If anyone has experience wiring into the 12v for the hybrid battery would appreciate any insight. Interested in wiring in ditch/light bars as well as a solar hood panel. With my recent experience with car shutting down after a windshield tint realized this thing is different under the hood.

 

12V is 12V but since it’s charged by a DCDC converter instead of an alternator, you should figure out what kind of power output the DCDC has so you don’t discharge the 12V.

 

Appreciate it. It definitely doesn’t look like the usual 12v under the hood, in fact I don’t see a battery anywhere. The positive is this weird tab with a sheath in the middle of the passenger side fuse box. No visible battery but I’m assuming the structure behind it houses some sort of battery.

 

could you elaborate on your truck shutting down after windshield tint?

 

The 12V battery is not under the hood. It’s under a panel under the rear seat. If I remember correctly, it’s under the driver side rear seat.

 

Correct, the 12V accessory battery is under the driver side rear seat next to the hybrid battery.

 

There is a thread on this forum, labeled something like 22 tundra problems after tinting. But I’m short, had full ceramic tint put on my car, it worked for about 20 min while installer moved it to the parking lot. Then when I came to pick up it had a ton of errors, most prominent is hybrid engine failure. Engine wouldn’t start and eventually all power was lost and I had it towed to a dealer. Thought is that water from the squeegee might get somewhere into the passenger side of dash where the ECU or other sensitive electronics are. Pretty worrisome if this truck is that sensitive, but a few others have had issues on the thread as well with very similar symptoms.

I did see that one too, but the Toyota tech made it sound like that one is the actual hybrid battery. Guess I need to read the manual more, it’s just odd that the jump attachment points are under the hood if the actual 12v is located under back seat and has its own jump attachments as well.

 

Our Rav4 Hybrid is the same. jump point is under the hood, but battery is in the rear cargo area.

 

I had front window and visor of windshield done in legal ceramic tint a week ago and so far no issues and 500 miles since tint

 

So just upper top of front windshield? Seems like most of the issues come from doing a full front windshield. Also do you above a hybrid tundra?

 

yes hybrid all the way across and dips down on sides which i didn't want but everything seems to work and it rained the other day and rain sensing wipers did fine.
2022 1794 TRD hybrid

 

A lot of vehicles do this. Manufacturers will design the 12V battery location somewhere not accessible like trunk or under a seat and have battery posts under the hood. My BMW is like this and I’ve had Audis like this too.

The hybrid battery is also under the rear seat but it’s in a case and any hybrid component will have orange cabling going to it. For example, the AC compressor on the front of the engine and the hybrid inverter on the passenger side have thick orange cables that power them. This is to show it’s high voltage on those cables.

 

IMHO, I wouldn't add any accessories to the hybrid battery, just to keep it as protected as possible. I plan to add a secondary battery to mine, even if i just used it to run some ditch lights. With the hybrid relying so heavily on the battery to run the truck, I'm afraid that any tap into that circuit, toyota would void the warranty. Not saying adding lights to would do any harm, I just don't want to give them the excuse.

 

Pretty easy to wire, but not! You’ll need to run all wiring through the grommets under the front seats and route back to the battery bay. I have a Switch-Pros 9100 which makes it much easier. Winch- you’ll need some extra long battery cables, think mine are 17ft and stretched tight.


There is a blue and white wire opposite side of the battery coming out of a harness that you can tap into for power

no RTT, we have an opus for that

 

This is exactly what I wanted to see. Great to see someone who has done it. And awesome build by the way!


Just to clarify, do you have a hybrid tundra? And is the photo of the wiring the back driver side of the seat or the passenger?

 

yep hybrid- I was one of the first ones in the country with one and definitely the first to lift it, switch pros it, bumper it, etc so lots of trial and error in the driveway.

that is all on the passenger side, if I could do it all over again I would get a longer Switch-Pros cable and battery mounts and move it behind the rear seat that folds, but I had already installed it and those parts are another $150+ a ton of work- would have been a much cleaner install that way

 

Sorry, I'm a bit confused.... Where did you attach the power cables for your winch? Not seeing them in the photo.

I have a Limited Hybrid TRD OR and looking to do similar to yours...

 

Ran them directly to the battery (opposite end from this photo)