Agm battery charging..

This ^.

Granted the 27F X2 battery i have is in my FJ. I am getting a new fuse to bump up alternator charging as well, and lastly im getting a hood mounted solar because they make one for the FJ that fits like a glove over the already existing viynl i have. Doing the solar more for long trips than for the charging though.

I bought a Ctek 5 AMP charger from Amazon for 80 or so bucks. It works a treat. I plug the FJ in once a week and all is well.

There are options for solar hood panels for Tundra as well if you think thats your style, but if you plug it into a proper AGM charger like a ctek once a week you will be totally fine.

 

Anyone else have any issues with the gm diode? Mine melted & caused electrical issues with my turn signals. I'm pretty sure it was in correctly. Ran it for over a month, before the meltdown, & never noticed my voltmeter being over 14

 

It’s an electrical component and go bad like anything else. Either way, the voltage is regulated on these trucks for a reason. So running these diodes to simply charge a battery that isn’t designed to work in with our electrical system just blows my mind. Any blip of unregulated voltage could fry the ecu or….light bulb sockets.

 

I have a bag of 5 brand new ones I will send you if you PM me.

 

@acmesupply thanks very much for the offer. I bought one recently with the intent of trying again but I'm hesitant. I'm either gonna go the diy fused diode or the HKB route. Either way, my main AGM battery is now dead. Luckily I have a two AGM battery set up & I can connect the batteries to jump myself.

Edit: Apparently my main battery isn't dead. It has 12.2v & 14.2v when idling but won't start the truck unless I connect the batteries. My agm states 14.4v +-.2v

 

I've been running a Ford diode for the past year in my 07 with an X2 AGM main battery and a group 24 house battery connected via a smart isolator.

No issues so far and it bumped up the charge voltage similar to what others are saying.

 

Thanks for posting this. I just got the GM diode but haven't installed because I really don't like that it wouldn't be fused anymore. I'll be copying this and should make me feel better about adding it in.

 

My 27f Northstar AGM is in its 6th year and running fine with no charging or diodes or anything special.
Was in a tacoma and then moved it to 4runner.

 

How old were they? Above 5th gen on 4runner and above 3rd gen on Taco?

 

I just realized I never replied here, linking my other post:

So far so good with it. Haven't had any issues so far with the 1.5 years without it, but if it can help longevity why not try I guess. Obviously it's easily reversible.

 

Had an agm without the proper voltage for 3 years and it worked fine, until it didn’t.

 

Did it show any signs before going kaput? Obviously our voltage gauge on the dash isn't finite enough to be able to tell 0.5V, but curious if it had low voltage for a bit or something.

 

Oh yeah, I would see the headlights momentarily dim whenever I would turn on any of the auxiliary lights (lights bars, etc), then cranking would at times struggle. One day it just wouldn’t start. Trickle charged it and it was good for a little bit but would not hold its charge. After charging it several times I gave up and bought a new one and the diode. Now I constantly watch my voltages as I drive and can clearly see when it’s being charged by the alternator at 14.5v and when it backs off at around 14v.

 

5th gen 4R (2018) and 2nd gen tacoma (2015). Ran it on taco about a year before swapping into 4R.

I had also put an AGM in a 2013 Scion FRS. No problems at all for the 1.5 years running it before I sold the car.

 

Hmmm, the older trucks had less issues due to more simple ECU...I'd say you got lucky! Either that or I am just unlucky...my MIL's '15 gx460 had issues without the diode as well as my SIL's 5th gen 4runner.. was perfect for a couple years than sh!t the bed.. now, good to go...

 

I was at a jeep festival in pennsylvania this weekend and visited the optima booth. Asked them about my agm artery for the tundra and the limitations of charging for the Toyota (ie- needing to install the diode). He said he didn’t have any knowledge of that and that he was going to research and get back to me - took my email. I don’t have any expectation that he actually will but I am still nervous installing the diode. I bought the optima battery maintainer last month and will hook it up once every few weeks overnight.

If I ever hear back from them, I will update the forum.

 

Me too...from Australia I think and works great. Also use the CTEK charger once in awhile too. Have had my 27f X2 power for a few years now....no problem with battery or anything else.

 

Here is the original thread that goes thru the charging boost..it gave me more confidence that I wouldn't jack up the whole electrical system by boosting the battery charge by half a volt. Hope this helps....

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-northstar-agm-battery-voltage-booster-upgrade.604478/

 

Did you need to modify the tray or anything to hold the extra weight of the 31...isn't that like 75 lbs?

 

Yes i bought a battery tray from rago fabrication.

 

Not sure I would ever go there...have to wait until my X2 27f dies on me I guess. Thanks for the reminder I forgot they sold trays for these.

 

Not a problem. what accessories are you running? i just added a 100ah lithium in my bed with a redarc dcdc charger as well.

 

I have just a ton of Baja Design lights both front roof and rear some of which I use when the engine isn't running.....I also just added a dash cam that runs a minimum of 6 hours in park mode so this battery has helped on that and prevented the need for the parking mode battery pack.

 

Sweet! Yea I’ve got a pile of lights front and back as well as a dometic 95dz in the bed. I used a lot of the battery up front that’s why i decided on adding the lithium.

 

What rack is that...curious too on yr snorkel. Only drive thru water once in a great while but think they look cool. Added the hunting pic to my post above. I'd love to get a swing out bumper for a spare tire too...not sure who makes those for a tundra.

 

Haha good deal man! nice to see a fellow waterfowl hunter. The rack is a princu and the snorkel is a dobinsons with a @snorkelupgrade top. The snorkel does more than protect against water. it really shines on dusty trails or roads. It keeps the filter much cleaner. My bumper is a high clearance from @sobfabrication. You have to cut the bedsides but it is the best built designed bumper out there for the tundra in my opinion. Here are some pics

 

Still using my stock battery tray with no issues.

 

Same here.

 

very nice....I would be nervous about cutting into the truck. It looks like a fantastic bumper.

 

Just a quick question, Rago only has them for 2nd gen, but running a 2021 CM, would it fit? I guess I am more worried about the mounting spots than anything else, that 31 battery weights 78lbs and ain't fun to have it roll and fall off something....