Meet LeToya, a 2009 LX570 IoT Family Tourer Build

[outlaw4shrt]

Hi Team, this is LeToya, she is a 2009 LX570 that my family and I are using to tour through Europe while we are stationed here. This build thread will document what changes we've made to her, our trips, but will mostly focus on the build-out and troubleshooting of our energy management, power distribution, temperature control, and IoT network connected devices/applications. I am no expert, I don't do this for a living, I am not sponsored or affiliated with any companies, I am just learning by doing, sharing as I go, and mostly asking for help. The next two posts will be placeholders for the current mods list/pictures of LeToya and our use case/highlights from our previous trips, but there is a lot to cover here so I am going to dive right in to the electrical system.

Networked Devices and Applications
My control center/navigation up front includes a Galaxy S10 with a data only SIM and a Samsung A7 lite pulling data from the S10. In addition, I have all of my bluetooth, wifi, and zigbee protocol network devices all tied to the S10, and I run AirMirror from my personal S22 to the S10. Networked devices and applications include:
- ARB Linx: 21.5" light bar, 21.5" amber light bar, 50" light bar, rear light bar, compressor and rear airbags (BT)
- TigerExped Switch Panel: battery isolator, weboost, 12v fan, and my 3x Stedi Rock Light kits (BT)
- Aqara Hub E1 zigbee 3.0 USB-A which networks an Aqara temp sensor for car and one each for my cooler and freezer, shock sensor, door and window alarms, and more eventually (zigbee)
- Garmin InReach Mini 2.0 and Garmin Explore App (BT). Additional apps for navigation include: Gaia GPS, iOverlander, Google Maps, and park4night.
- Victron Smart Shunt (BT)
- Renogy DC Home App (BT)
- Stedi Rock Lights App (BT)
- and my two extra cameras (wifi)

Energy Storage, Management, and Distribution
- Buttner Elektronik 120AH AGM starter battery
- 3x Renogy 100AH LiFePO4 batteries
- REDARC 1250D BCDC charger
- Ective 2500 CSI 2500w @ 230v inverter with shore power battery charging
- National Luna Power Pack (I'm only using the front fascia and outputs)
- TigerExped TEXU400 distribution block
- Victron Smart Shunt
- REDARC Battery Isolator
- 2x Ective 60w solar panels
- Cascadia 4x4 hood mounted solar panel

Energy Consumers
- Autoclima 3300 BTU air conditioner
- Engel 17f Fridge/Freezer
- TZS First Austria 24L cooler
- Appliances: Domino Dual Zone Induction Stove Top, Ninja Air Fryer, Philips 1.7L Water Heater, and a mini rice cooker

 

[outlaw4shrt]

Current/Upcoming Modifications

Tires​

• 285/70R17 BF Goodrich KO2's
• Deiwe 17x8.5 2LX Wheels

Suspension​

• 1" front AHC level adjustment
• LX570 OEM 1" Front Spacers
• Terrain Tamer Heavy Duty LC100 AHC Rear Springs
• ARB Twin Compressor on SLEE engine bay mount
• Airbag Man Heavy Duty Rear Airbag Kit

Brakes​

• Stock

Gearing​

• Stock

Power​

• 3x Renogy 100AH LiFePO4 (House Batteries)
• Renogy 50A DCDC MPPT Charger
• Buttner 120AH AGM (Starter/Primary Accessories)
• National Luna Auxiliary Battery Box
• SLEE Dual Battery Kit with REDARC 1250 BCDC Charger
• SLEE Battery Upgrade Kit and Multi-mount trays
• REDARC Battery Isolater Kit
• TigerExped Distribution Block
• TigerExped Switch Panel
• Ective 2500W Inverter/Charger
• Ective 2x 60W Flexible Solar Panels
• Cascadia 4x4 LC200 85W Hood Mounted Solar Panel

Air/Fuel​

• Fabulous Fabrications 4" Snorkle
• Trail'd 6-Gallon Liquid Carriers (x2)

Armor / Recovery​

• Gobi-X Rear Bumper with dual tire carrier or single tire & jerry can holder
• TJM T15 Alloy Bull Bar
• TJM Sidesteps
• TJM Scrub Bars
• TJM 5400kg Winch
• ARB Front Rated Recovery Points
• TRED Pro Recovery Boards
• TJM Large Recovery Kit
• Deadman Offroad Ruggedized Recovery Kit
• Terrafirma 9m Snatch Rope

Electronics​

• ARB Linx
• Ultragauge MX14
• Bluetooth Audio Adapter

Lighting​

• Stedi H3/H11/Fog/Rear/Marker LED bulb upgrades
• Stedi ST-X E-Mark 21.5" Light Bar
• Stedi ST-X E-Mark Amber 21.5" Light Bar
• Stedi ST-X E-Mark 50" Light Bar
• 3x Stedi Rock Lights for Roof Rack and Wheel Wells

Roof Rack​

• Rhino Rack LC200/LX570 Backbone System
• Rhino Rack Pioneer Platform for original Defender 110 modified for my application
• Rhino Rack Hi-Lift/Shovel Mount
• Victory 4x4 Roof Rack Side Panels
• TRED Recovery Board Mount
• Two Givi Dolomiti 30 Side Panniers with internal bags
• Two American Adventure Lab M.A.S.S. Spare Tire Platform (I'm just using the bases)

Interior​

• Ququq Kombi v2 Camping Box
• Gamiviti LX570 Dashboard Accessory Mount
• Victory 4x4 Molle Panels
• 3D Printed Cupholder

Camping​

• James Baroud Grand Raid M RTT with two tunnels and the insulation kit
• James Baroud Falcon 270 Awning with awning walls and mosquito net
• James Baroud Shower Awning
• OzTent RV3
• Lifesaver Cube
• Sea to Summit Watercell X water bladders

 

[outlaw4shrt]

Previous trips in LeToya so far include: Italy, Ireland, England, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Poland, Austria, Switzerland, and all over Germany.

Rome, Italy

Pisa, Italy

Ireland

England

Germany

 

[outlaw4shrt]

Our camping arrangement + an OzTent RV3 (no pictures of that set-up yet, working on it):

 

[outlaw4shrt]

And a few pictures of the electrical cabinet and how it integrates with the Ququq box:

 

[outlaw4shrt]

So... onto the "build" in this build thread. I spent some time yesterday troubleshooting my wiring as I was not seeing the alternator and solar charge from the BCDC on my smartshunt. The batteries were getting the charge and I could see it on my BMS shunts, but not on the main. I tried moving the BCDC line to the consumer side of my distro block, but then I wasn't seeing charge either on the smartshunt or battery BMS. Thinking through the path of least resistance, I had the ground conected to one of the house batteries so I moved the BCDC line back to the supply side of the distro block and moved the primary ground to the consumer side and bingo, good to go.

The next hurdle is how much solar I'm actually getting. I'm not sure if it's because the BCDC is too far from the house batteries (it's still in the engine bay) or if my hood mounted solar has lost a bit of it's stuff, but it was only pulling 3 amps max in full sun and 70 degree temperatures. That is not going to be enough to manage all of my consumers while touring. Next up is getting a few more solar panels installed.

 

[grinchy]

Impressive!

 

[Tex68w]

My mothers side of the family hails from Wiesbaden. I am assuming you're AD or contract over there?

 

[outlaw4shrt]

Impressive!

Thanks grinchy! One day I might work up the confidence to replace the factory amplifier

 

[outlaw4shrt]

My mothers side of the family hails from Wiesbaden. I am assuming you're AD or contract over there?

I'm on AD, I hit 20 years this summer and I'll be retiring from here next summer and heading back stateside. We love Wiesbaden!

 

[outlaw4shrt]

So I hooked up the window kit to the AC and tried it out. It worked ok. The lines are really long which I am sure effect the efficiency. Turns out I also had the exhaust tube dsconnect from the unit itself. Bottom line, not a productive test, but I did see that this thing will pull 36 amps. When I read the literature, they listed it at 18 amps max, but that was at 24v, so running it at 12v's it's 36 amps. Same difference I guess, but that significantly impacts my planned run time. My battery packed I feel is about sized correctly, but I am definitely not getting enough solar. I still have two 60w panels to mount to the roof, and I looked into getting a large solar blanket, but I settled on getting a second DC charger. I went wit h the Renogy 50amp DC charger with mppt. Relatively cheap and most importantly, it will get here before we leave for Greece. It will charge at 50 amps, but can only handle 25v of solar which is ok for me, and a nice feature is that it can trickle charger the starter battery from solar which is something that the REDARC BCDC doesn't do. All in, with the motor running, should be able to charge my house batteries at 100 amps, 33 amps each, which should get them charged up pretty quick even if we are only driving for an hour or so a day. I'm going to leave my hood panel tied in with the REDARC and tie the roof solar in with the Renogy. Our alternator is rated at 150 amps I believe, so I don't think I will have any issues with the factory electrical system... but we'll see. I'm going to move my battery isolator over to the main line for the Renogy MPPT and use it as a quick disconnect. With the trickle charge from the Renogy, I don't think I really need the battery isolator for it's intended purpose anyway.

Next up is still getting those roof panels installed, installing the second MPPT when it comes in, and working on some of my engine bay wiring.

 

[TeCKis300]

Wow, that's some work. Cool and unique things going on there. Definitely didn't take the easy route. No clue what it's like to tour Europe but your rig must stand out in more ways than one. I get the sense most rigs out there are much smaller?

Regarding the A/C. Great effort. If I'm being frank, it's futile. I live in the hot desert southwest. Often with many new friends buying campers, their first focus is - does it have A/C? The reality is that if it's too hot to require A/C, it's not fun to camp or tour in. Even with the much larger space in a travel trailer or camper, it's not really realistic to run the A/C off-grid. Having batteries enough only goes so far, but it needs a solution for re-fill the reserves and that's no small challenge. Even with all the resources enough to run A/C, most everyone I know including myself rarely use it, much preferring normal fans.

I'd recommend perhaps to reclaim that precious space. The car itself has a great A/C system that could be run for the times you may need it.

 

[MCtree]

My mothers side of the family hails from Wiesbaden. I am assuming you're AD or contract over there?

(Not to hijack a thread but….)
Mine too!
My mom and sister were born there.

My dad and me are true west-Texas stock though.

 

[MCtree]

@outlaw4shrt,
Am I missing something? It’s a very impressive build you are working on, but I don’t understand the IoT component and also what the large power draw is. I assume the fridge is the biggest draw, but all those smaller, blue tooth devices, shouldn’t suck up too much power.
And then… what problem are you solving by running Wi-Fi and zigbee in the vehicle?

Not being negative. I’m genuinely curious.
If you are doing it just because the tech is cool, then say no more. I completely understand that reasoning and agree with it. I’m just wondering if I’m missing something like Europe having having something different that requires that stuff.

 

[dealmaker]

@outlaw4shrt,
Am I missing something? It’s a very impressive build you are working on, but I don’t understand the IoT component and also what the large power draw is. I assume the fridge is the biggest draw, but all those smaller, blue tooth devices, shouldn’t suck up too much power.
And then… what problem are you solving by running Wi-Fi and zigbee in the vehicle?

Not being negative. I’m genuinely curious.
If you are doing it just because the tech is cool, then say no more. I completely understand that reasoning and agree with it. I’m just wondering if I’m missing something like Europe having having something different that requires that stuff.

Lots of electric appliances...separate A/C unit for the vehicle and I assume RTT, fridge/freezer AND separate cooler, induction cooktop, lots of lights in additon to all the smaller devices???

 

[TeCKis300]

I do like the induction cooktop. That's pretty trick with no more need to fill up propane.

 

[outlaw4shrt]

Wow, that's some work. Cool and unique things going on there. Definitely didn't take the easy route. No clue what it's like to tour Europe but your rig must stand out in more ways than one. I get the sense most rigs out there are much smaller?

Regarding the A/C. Great effort. If I'm being frank, it's futile. I live in the hot desert southwest. Often with many new friends buying campers, their first focus is - does it have A/C? The reality is that if it's too hot to require A/C, it's not fun to camp or tour in. Even with the much larger space in a travel trailer or camper, it's not really realistic to run the A/C off-grid. Having batteries enough only goes so far, but it needs a solution for re-fill the reserves and that's no small challenge. Even with all the resources enough to run A/C, most everyone I know including myself rarely use it, much preferring normal fans.

I'd recommend perhaps to reclaim that precious space. The car itself has a great A/C system that could be run for the times you may need it.

So yes and no, where we take our rig, yes, it's huge, but it is a very interesting dynamic. In most of the major metropolitans in Europe (Rome, Paris, Prague), you can't bring large camper vans and RV's into the heart of the city, a trailer is simply not possible, but even with all the crap hanging off of our rig, it's still just an SUV, albeit a very large one, and we can bring it most everywhere. Having said that, there is so much old money here in Europe, full spec half million dollar IVECO's and Unimogs are common.

I totally agree with you... except I haven't really talked about my use case or the "why" at all. @MCtree I hope this will answer your questions too. It's because we travel with our four legged family members as well, and as dog friendly as Europe is, we can't bring them into all of the museums, galleries, and historic sites that we'd like to. So if we're going to travel for months at a time and go from shore to mountains, and still visit the beautiful cities of Europe with our dogs, then I had to figure out how to safely leave them in the car for a few hours at a time. Hence the need for the AC while the car is off in the most brutally hot parts of the day for the cars interior, why I am trying to overbuild it with redundency, and the reason for all of the IoT. In short, it's so I can maintain temperatures below 80 degrees f in the car even under the mid-day sun, that I can be aware of the conditions inside the car at all times, and visually check on them from anywhere so that if something fails I don't end up killing my pups because we wanted to take the kids to an aquarium. If we were traveling with them in the past, we always had accomodation so that if we had to leave them for a while, they would be fine, but we are trying to take it a step further with the trip to Greece and the Balkans this summer and I am making every effort to ensure that it doesn't end in disaster. Hopefully I can make this work, if not, our trip will be very different to ensure that the entirety of our family remains safe and happy.

 

[outlaw4shrt]

(Not to hijack a thread but….)
Mine too!
My mom and sister were born there.

My dad and me are true west-Texas stock though.

I was actually born here as well, in Frankfurt about 30 mins away. My Dad was in the Army too.

 

[MCtree]

Hence the need for the AC while the car is off in the most brutally hot parts of the day for the cars interior, why I am trying to overbuild it with redundency, and the reason for all of the IoT. In short, it's so I can maintain temperatures below 80 degrees f in the car even under the mid-day sun, that I the car p

Ah! For the dogs!
That makes complete sense to me.
And I very much respect your pursuit. You are creating a “dog mode”for the LC.

Tell me, will and your wife get texts or alarms if something goes wrong with the AC? I sometimes borrow my wife’s Tesla when I run errands around Houston and want my boy with me. Since Tesla’s have that “dog mode. “
It’s great, but the one thing I feel it lacks is a good warning system for if something goes wrong. At least I don’t think it will send me a text or email or vibrate my watch if the temp rises too high.
I always plan on checking the temp via the Tesla app when I’m inside a store for too long. But I forget to check often. So an alarm would be a great upgrade.

And again… you have found the perfect use for all that tech! Keeping dogs safe and happy!

 

[TeCKis300]

So yes and no, where we take our rig, yes, it's huge, but it is a very interesting dynamic. In most of the major metropolitans in Europe (Rome, Paris, Prague), you can't bring large camper vans and RV's into the heart of the city, a trailer is simply not possible, but even with all the crap hanging off of our rig, it's still just an SUV, albeit a very large one, and we can bring it most everywhere. Having said that, there is so much old money here in Europe, full spec half million dollar IVECO's and Unimogs are common.

I totally agree with you... except I haven't really talked about my use case or the "why" at all. @MCtree I hope this will answer your questions too. It's because we travel with our four legged family members as well, and as dog friendly as Europe is, we can't bring them into all of the museums, galleries, and historic sites that we'd like to. So if we're going to travel for months at a time and go from shore to mountains, and still visit the beautiful cities of Europe with our dogs, then I had to figure out how to safely leave them in the car for a few hours at a time. Hence the need for the AC while the car is off in the most brutally hot parts of the day for the cars interior, why I am trying to overbuild it with redundency, and the reason for all of the IoT. In short, it's so I can maintain temperatures below 80 degrees f in the car even under the mid-day sun, that I can be aware of the conditions inside the car at all times, and visually check on them from anywhere so that if something fails I don't end up killing my pups because we wanted to take the kids to an aquarium. If we were traveling with them in the past, we always had accomodation so that if we had to leave them for a while, they would be fine, but we are trying to take it a step further with the trip to Greece and the Balkans this summer and I am making every effort to ensure that it doesn't end in disaster. Hopefully I can make this work, if not, our trip will be very different to ensure that the entirety of our family remains safe and happy.

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That makes a ton of sense. Thanks for sharing. Family looks like they're having a great time.