Ultimate Off Grid Comfort in the 300 Series Landcruiser Home Away From Home

Rod's been a client of ours since 2018 (See "Taking 'Mod Cons' Off The Grid") and his brother Darryl (See "New Power for the NewGen") and we were always happy and honoured to see Rod again, this time with his new 300 Series Cruiser.

Rod bought the Cruiser to us after Custom Overland Solutions built his custom false floor and drawer setup which included an Engel drawer fridge and socket power. In a partnership spanning five years now, we've been designing and building our RV Lithium Systems to suit Custom Overland Solutions (COS) false floor and custom drawer systems.

Needing to also power a portable 40L Engel fridge, induction cooker, coffee machine and toaster whilst away from Rod's caravan, we drew up the plans and built a custom RV Lithium System.

Called the RVLSA COS-300s-200, this battery pack is a 200Ah RVLSA lithium battery with built in Victron BMV-712 Bluetooth battery monitor, which is custom designed specifically to fit under the COS 300S false floor. 

To provide 240V cooking and coffee machine power, we installed a Victron Phoenix 12/2000VA Smart Bluetooth Inverter with an external RCD (Residual Current Device) and single GPO (General Purpose Outlet), and for charging provided from the 300 when the engine is running, we included a Victron Smart Bluetooth Orion XS 50A DC charger and vehicle charge circuit.

For solar charging, in went a Victron Smart Bluetooth 15A MPPT solar controller and 50A Yellow Anderson plug to accommodate an external solar blanket and a second Victron Smart Bluetooth 15A MPPT solar controller for two 100W solar panels wired in series to make a 200W high volt output (44 OCV - Open Circuit Voltage) solar array on the roof rack.

To complete the system, we wired in the USB's and sockets, Engel draw fridge and installed a second fridge point for that portable 40L Engel.

 To ready the 300 Series for towing, we kitted it out with the following Tow package: 

• A Redarc TOWPRO Elite V3 electric brake controller 

• A 50A Blue Anderson plug for a caravan DC charge circuit 

• A 50A Grey Anderson plug for the caravan's AES three way fridge, which is switched on & off by the vehicles ignition so there's no chance of flattening the vehicles start battery when parked up

• A factory Toyota trailer wiring kit and 12 pin socket. In the 12 pin socket, we included power for the Caravans' ESC (Electronic Stability Control) and installed a switch in the dashboard to allow the ESC to be conveniently switched off and on from in the car when going offroad and then back to tarmac, rather than having to disconnect the Anderson plug. 

The battery pack was mounted and prewired under the COS floor and designed to be 'plug and play' with Anderson plugs, so that if for any reason the draws system needs to be removed and reinstalled, it's a simple matter of unplugging and re-plugging Anderson plugs. Similarly the battery remote on/off and restart switch, inverter, chargers, fuse box’s and sockets etc, are on a Deutch plug (an environmentally sealed, heavy-duty electrical connector) or mating Anderson plugs to allow the draws to be removed and installed with ease. 

Rod's all set for any adventure!

To power your own adventures, contact us!