Projecta 12-volt system installed

After selling his well set-up but ageing GU Patrol, our man Stuart picked up a 2015 Prado GXL that had served its life to date as a suburban car that had never been off-road. As such, it had no off-road accessories fitted, so Stu was left with a blank canvas that needed some gear fitted. The first item on his list was to update the electricals to run a second battery, to allow him to run some accessories.

“It was once philosophised to me that the Aussie bloke lives on meat and beer,” says Stu. “If your vehicle electrics aren’t up to scratch or fail while in the bush, then your trip is stuffed.

“The advice was: use good quality components, cables, fittings and battery, as you don’t want it to fail when you need it. Warm beer and those back-up cans of beans sure won’t be that appealing.”

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Looking for quality kit, Stu went for a Projecta Intelli-Charge 25amp DC/Solar charger to build the system around.

“The Projecta charger suited my needs perfectly,” says Stu. “It’s a step up from the old isolator set-up on my Patrol and it allows solar and alternator feed, with intelligent three-stage charging.”

The Projecta unit is resistant to shock, heat (up to 80°C), vibration, dust and water, so it’s able to be mounted under the bonnet of the vehicle. It comes with all electrical connections, fittings, cable ties and heat shrink for the install, but, to complete the job, you need the cables and fuses to connect to your batteries plus the second battery itself.

A quick search online found a kit designed to help fit the Projecta Intelli-Charge, with all the cables, fuses, convoluted tubing and heat shrink – and it even included an Anderson plug for the solar input.

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“Hey, I am not an electrician by any stretch of the imagination, but I got the job done painlessly,” Stu recalls. “With a crimping tool, soldering iron and some patience, it took me a day or so to get it all sized up and ready.”

The fitting of the unit itself was really straightforward using a mounting bracket specific for a 150 Prado that was bought online. This mounts the unit at the front of the engine bay behind the grille, from where it’s easy to run the cables through to the batteries. It took around an hour or so to bolt the unit in place, then connect up to the batteries.

A big plus in choosing the Prado is that it is one of the few relatively new-ish 4x4s available that has under-bonnet space for battery number two. It sits at the front of the engine bay at the opposite side to the starting battery.

The chosen auxiliary battery is a Century N70T deep-cycle unit that fits neatly in the front of the car.

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To best be able to consume the new-found power from the back of the Prado, Stu chose a Narva heavy-duty surface-mount twin socket outlet and replaced one of the outlets with an Engel-style plug socket.

“I chose the heavy-duty surface mount sockets from Narva over the flush panel mount as I wanted to keep things out of the way, and this unit is as neat as a pin. There is an access storage space for I don’t know what, in the left-hand side rear panel just above the jack, and the space looks made for this.

“The unit came with two standard cigarette lighter outlets and an LED Volt meter, so I can keep an eye on the battery charge. I replaced one of the standard outlets with an Engel plug for my fridge, as they screw in and endure the rough and tumble of off-roading better. The Narva unit came with a couple of sturdy mounting screws to make fitting easy.

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“The system is completely set and forget,” adds Stu. “Thanks to lockdowns, we’re yet to get away with it, but so far, I am making plenty of friends during long days at junior cricket, where I have power on tap to charge phones and cool drinks in the fridge.”

AVAILABLE FROM: Auto parts stores and www.projecta.com.au
RRP: Projecta ICD25 - $455; Narva Twin socket mount - $87; Narva Engel-style plug - $28.90