Dave's Jeep JL Rubicon: The Gray Goat

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Fall is amazing in the deep South.

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Considering swapping to a hardtop so I too can put things on the roof. There's an Oztent in my future... How's the noise level? Any MPG hit?
 
Considering swapping to a hardtop so I too can put things on the roof. There's an Oztent in my future... How's the noise level? Any MPG hit?

Noise is there but not crazy. MPG hit depends on what you put up there and how fast you drive. Overall hadn’t been a big detractor for me - the utility of this rack is significant. I really like the ability to carry most “anything” up there.
 
Yes. So far so good, though I manually disconnect the power when not in use to avoid ANY chance of parasitic drain.

I am looking at the Genesis dual battery setup for JL though :study

While the Genesis kit is great for what it is (doubling up a starter battery for something like winching), I'm not convinced it is an appropriate system for running in a starter/house battery configuration.

Been doing a lot of research into batteries, dual battery systems, and dc-to-dc charging and it seems for a dedicated house battery system dc-to-dc is the way to go over a Genesis type dual battery system. The Genesis kit is okay for basic charging but lacks the optimization and conditioning of a dc-to-dc charger (not to mention the integration of a social charge controller). Therefore over time - and repeated discharge of the house battery - the Genesis kit fails to maintain the battery at peak condition thus shortening its life. Plus, with a stand-alone dc-to-dc charger you can run a different battery size/type/chemisty than the starter battery whereas the Genesis kit neccessitates twin starter batteries which in most cases aren't going to make great house batteries anyway.

At least that's where I'm at in my current stage of research and having talked to a lot of people about it at Expo.
 
Electricity. Dual batteries. 12 volts. @Dean brings up great points.

Been looking long and hard at this. I think there’s a better solution than introducing additional complexity to the OEM charging system. And try as I might, I just can’t love adding the weight of another battery to the vehicle.

Stay tuned for a better solution ;)
 
Remember what Mitch said when I was asking about dual batteries?

I now run a DC-DC charger for power to my second battery. It works great.

The electrical systems in new vehicles are a different beast than the older vehicles. As the meme says, "Modern problems require modern solutions."

I can't believe I quoted a meme... :eek:
 
Shade. Down here deep in the South I have a real need for shade almost year round. I looked at a lot of options from all the usual brands but I kept going back to my original crush at Rhino Rack.

So, I now have a Rhino Rack Batwing Compact Awning (left) along with the mesh floor saver and some Batwing tapered zip extensions on the way... waiting on FedEx and then I'll post some pics.

:box :box :box
 
Rhino Rack Batwing Compact Awning

Early words of advice: lubricate the zipper on the cover soon as you open it and often. Also, watch the cams on the poles. I'm on my 2nd set of poles. Hopefully yours is new enough it has the new legs, but be warned they are fickle.
 
Early words of advice: lubricate the zipper on the cover soon as you open it and often. Also, watch the cams on the poles. I'm on my 2nd set of poles. Hopefully yours is new enough it has the new legs, but be warned they are fickle.

All good advice and will do. I hope to have it installed and some pics by this weekend. Really excited to be done with this build.

:coffeesmile
 
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