Corey's 2007 FJ Cruiser built for expedtion/overland, & daily driver

Corey

OverCamping Specialist
National Luna Weekender 50 Installed 9-24-2016

Say what? Did you not already have an ARB fridge?
Why yes I did, since 2007.
But with the ARB fridge you could only use it as a fridge or a freezer, and not both at the same time.
The ARB worked great for camping in fridge mode, and then when we went on just a day run to the mountains I set it to freeze, and I passed out ice cream bars to everyone.

I was all set to upgrade to the newer ARB fridges as it has digital control of the temperature, and a battery cutoff if the battery gets too low.
I had heard of National Luna, but I did not pay too much attention to them.
Then I read an article a few weeks back by Jonathan Hanson of Exploring Overland.
Happy Hour with National Luna
I have a lot of respect for Jonathan and his wife Roseann as they have been into overlanding for quite a long time.

I did the research and watched several YouTube videos which I will embed into my post here later down the thread.
I came to the conclusion if I was going to get a new fridge, it was going to be the dual compartment National Luna Weekender 50.
Now I can have my refrigerated food in one section, and frozen stuff including ice cream bars in another section.

The fridge side has two plastic bins on top of each other, and the freezer section has one deep bin, perfect.

There are a few cons to this fridge, and I will list them now.
* Only Celsius readout, no Fahrenheit reading, but I can use a conversion chart like I did with my older ARB fridge.
* No cigarette lighter style plug, it uses a European/Din style of plug and receptacle, so you will have to install the one supplied and wire it up .
That is all I can think of, I really dig the new fridge.

Paul May at EQuipt1 who I purchased the fridge from recommended not cutting the 12v cord and installing a regular plug, as the one supplied has more metal, thus a stronger current available.

I tapped into my two 12v plugs in the back that Wayne and I installed many years ago.
I used a step drill bit sized at 3/4", and it was the perfect size for the female receptacle supplied with the fridge.
I could not mount it in one of the other 12v receptacle holes as they were about 1" in diameter, hence why I had to drill a new hole.

What I like about the new fridge it has battery management, digital temperature setting, and digital readout of the current temperature.
You use the up/down arrows on the control panel to set the temperature.
If you want it as 3 Celsius, set it to that, and the fridge will power up or power down to that setting, very nice.

Time for the links, pics, and videos I watched.

Links:
National Luna Headquarters in South Africa
The Weekender 50 on Equipt1's site
National Luna Weekender 50-52 Liter Fridge Freezer Mounting Base Plate

Pictures:

1.jpg


Getting to the 12v power

2.jpg


The new plug and receptacle in place

3.jpg


The old Engel fridge mount before I removed it

4.jpg


Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of the new steel mounting plate, so I "borrowed" one from Paul's site
It has four nubs on top that go into the bottom of the fridge, then you slide the fridge towards the drivers seat, and flip those two levers that spring down, and they lock against the aft end of the fridge keeping it in place.
It is not going anywhere, very nice and tight.

5.jpg


Fridge mounted to the steel plate

6.jpg


Lid open showing the two compartments
The freezer section has its own lid too since there is only one outer lid on the fridge.

7.jpg


Rear shot showing the LED light in the fridge
If you power off the fridge, the LED light will still work, and some of the LEDs on the control panel will be lit.
To save your battery from draining, unplug the fridge all the way.

8.jpg


Plenty of room with the lid straight up
I had to mod my old ARB fridge by changing the hinges so the lid would open like this one.
The new ARBs open the log ways, so it would not have opened up all the way.
You can pull the lids off of them, but that is extra work.

9.jpg


Side shot from the passenger side

10.jpg


Open door view from drivers side

Videos from YouTube land:

National Luna 50L Fridge Freeze from Paul at Equipt1


National Luna Fridges - How Are They Made?

 

Corey

OverCamping Specialist
Winning! Those are spendy

Sent from my OnePlus One using Tapatalk.
That was another con I forgot to add to the list :D
About double the price of a new 50 liter ARB fridge, but I feel it is worth it.
These have been used in Africa for years to transport medicines, and they need to be very accurate.
 

Corey

OverCamping Specialist
Solid Kit Dual Battery Volt Meter Installed 10-8-2016, And Fridge Wiring Updated

Saw this dual battery meter for Toyotas in a solar panel thread on Expedition Portal I am subscribed too, and I knew I was going to get one.
These are from Australia, so they take about three weeks to get once you make your PayPal transaction with them.
The price on their site is in Oz bucks, but PayPal converts it for you at checkout, and it came in a lot less than the Oz price.

This is a very cool way to keep an eye on your dual battery voltages, and there are several ways to wire it up.
I opted to have Car Toys wire in a toggle switch on the ground side.
They did not have switches that would go into the Toyota dash blanks, so I had them temp install the switch directly below the new battery meter.
Later on I will pick up a rocker switch that goes into the Toyota blank there, and it will look much better than having the toggle there like it is now.

Links:

Dual Battery Volt Meter Toyota Prado 120, FJ Cruiser, Landcruiser 100, 79 Series, Hilux and More

A few pictures:

1.jpg


Toggle turned off, LED meter is off

2.jpg


Vehicle is turned off, voltages are a little over 12v with no engine running

3.jpg


Engine running, voltages for both batteries higher

It was hard to capture the voltages, as when viewing them on the LCD screen of my Cannon Rebel T5i camera, they were flickering.
Also with the big lens on my camera, stuff up close gets out of focus, and I had it set to macro too.
I am sure it is 99.9% operator error :D

I also had Car Toys run 8 gauge stereo amp wire from my National Luna plug I installed in the rear for my new fridge straight to the Optima auxiliary battery with a stereo 15 amp fuse holder located near the battery.

13.jpg


Plastic stereo fuse holder can be seen at the bottom edge of the picture underneath the black wireloom, and it has a 15 amp fuse in it
The small black fuse holder above it is for the dual battery meter, and it contains a 10 amp fuse
I did not snag a picture of the battery meter wiring to the stock Toyota battery.

14.jpg


Cover off of my two 12v outlets showing the big 8 gauge wire for the fridge
Blue is hot, gray is the ground.

15.jpg


Other cover off below the ARB twin compressor showing the new fridge wire

I should have another mod to report tomorrow, it has something to do with a beaver, but I am not done with it yet.
 

Corey

OverCamping Specialist
Bomber Products Shove-Lock & Krazy Beaver Shovel Installed 10-16-2016

I have had my Hi-Lift on my front ARB bumper for quite sometime now.
Recently Bomber Products released a mount for attaching a shovel to your Hi-Lift, and I snagged one up.
I also snagged up one of the Krazy Beaver shovels, also known as a Killer Spork from the way it looks.

I have had the Hi-Lift Handle-All for eons, it is a handle that you can attach a sledge hammer, pick-ax, and a shovel to it, and it all stores in a nice bag behind my drivers seat.
But I wanted a dedicated shovel with a little more heft, and the Krazy Beaver caught my eye when viewing it awhile back.

Joshua of Bomber Products is on a few forums out there, and a Toyota guy too.
Joshua also carries the Krazy Beaver shovel, but I had bought mine directly from Krazy Beaver.

This will not be on full time, only when going off road perhaps.
Going to test it for rattles though on my way into work tomorrow.

Links:

Bomber Products
Shove-Lock
Krazy Beaver Tools
Krazy Beaver shovel, the model I bought

A few pictures:


1.jpg


Parts laid out on floor

2.jpg


Mounts on the Hi-Lift, I had to use big lock washers on top of the bolt where it protrudes out of the hole on the jack, this was to make the product point out straight when tightened

3.jpg


Close-up of mounts, and yes, rig is dirty from the storm we had

4.jpg


The Beaver mounted up, I may full around at a later date with its position

5.jpg


The Beaver close-up

6.jpg


Inside the cab view, and not bad, I can see clearly over the hood
 

AaronK

Explorer
Won't be able to see where you're going pretty soon 😛

Sent from my OnePlus One using Tapatalk.
 

Corey

OverCamping Specialist
2 feet? ?

Sent from my OnePlus One using Tapatalk.
I was BS'n ya :D
The drive into work today my vision was not compromised, can hardly tell the shovel is there really, as it is not much higher than the Hi-Lift.
If I did not have a roof top tent, the Hi-Lift and shovel would be on the back of the rack like I use to run it years ago.
 

cactusjk

Explorer
I have been considering a Krazy Beaver shovel. Also like your shovel mount.


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cactusjk

Explorer
Looks like KB has a few different shovels now. Not sure which one to get although most are sold out.


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