Solar Battery Maintainer Installation (Xterra)

Hey guys, today's video is actually about something I'm doing to this Xterra and it was inspired by something over here. I'll show you. Okay, what I'm talking about out here is I have an electric gate and I noticed there's no power coming out here and they have a solar panel on it. So I opened it up to see what was in here and I got to say I absolutely love this gate. If y'all didn't know, if y'all don't have power run to these, they use a regular lead-acid battery for vehicles and it has a charge controller for the panel that keeps the battery charged. So it's like a solar-powered battery maintainer and the reason that was important to me when I saw it is because that Xterra sits there for long periods of time. It's like a extra vehicle. We don't really use it, but you know you want to be able to come out and crank it sometimes. I have no electricity run over there, so running an extension cord and a battery maintainer over there was not a really good option because it rains, the water level actually gets really close to the surface sometimes. I just didn't want that idea. So when I saw this, I knew that I could do what I'm fixing to do on that Xterra. Come along with me. Okay, this is what comes in the box and hey if I can find, if I can find exactly where and how I ordered this. That's Riley back there. He thinks he's going for a ride. This is what I ordered. That just plugs into the charge controller, solar panels to charge controller to the battery. Simple as that. So what I need to do is mount this, I do believe this way, in a way up here so it can absorb as much electricity as possible. It's probably going to be right on top of this. I would love to put it right here simply because of where this sits. But I think it's going up here. It'll be just like that, screwed through the top. See if we have any hardware with it. Look, there we go. And this top opens, so it's going to help me out. As you can see, that is a really good spot. This right here opens. So I'm gonna go ahead and drill me some holes right here. There's nothing but some bungees in there. And then we're going to attach it firmly. I don't need really big holes in this. I think something like that will plenty enough. Now forgive me, because that wasn't part of the plan. Man, I think I'm going to use a drill bit a little bit smaller than that one. Let me see where it is. So that would be this one. I got to put my eyeball on it. Make sure it's straight. Okay, make sure that one is lined up pretty good. I'm going to start knocking holes in it. Those are still lined up. Still lined up. I know some of this y'all can't see. I'm actually squatting on the roof of the vehicle. Now we can take this off and go hunting for the drill bit I just dropped. Oh, there's a drill bit. I'm going to clean that out. Not going to film all that. And we're going to permanently fix it. Okay, I've got my screws over here somewhere. This is not threaded, but it's kind of acting like it's threaded. We have all the screws in. Now we need to, or excuse me, a washer and nut on each and every one. Come on, help me out here. There we go. What I did was wallow out the hole in the plastic a little bit, just a little bit, so that this solar panel on the top would be completely flat. Or at least that was the intention. It's not perfect, but it sure ain't going nowhere. And we have to run this to the engine compartment now. Right now I'm trying to hide the wire. I'm going to have to run this wire maybe like right over here. Okay, so this needs to come right through here. Thoughts at this point, y'all forgive the noise. I've got my fan on. It is really hot. My thoughts at this point are to try to hide it away in here, then maybe go through here to the engine compartment. Now for these purposes, I need to get something to try to help hold it right there. This is my wire. I do have a little something that I can put right here to help keep it attached right here. And then this is my wire coming through here. See if y'all can see this. This is my wire coming through here. It just plugs up to this right here. And this little charge controller sends 12 volts to my battery. Looks like I can put it right there. If not, I got fuses and stuff in here. I do not know what's behind that. I'll find a spot. Okay, this is what goes to my battery. These two go together, which means I'm going to need to do some serious zip tying. This is my extra wire. I got it zip tied. I'm just going to shove it back in here. This goes to my battery. I can plug in just right here. But because I had, in fact, I want to measure this and make sure I'm getting over 12 volts. Because I already have something hooked up here that is fused, that has this disconnect on it. I am thinking about using this. Y'all hold on a second. We'll see if it'll even work. Yes. And the colors are going to be correct. How about that? This piece right here came from, that came from a charger, a battery maintainer. That's where it came from. And this piece right here, let me see if I can get it so y'all can see what, I keep some solar stuff in here. That is that. And I'm going to try to leave a link in the description for the solar kit I bought in case y'all are interested. Right now I'm just going to test. Now this is a 12 volt battery. I need more than 12 volts to be able to charge it. I'm going to come over here. I think we're already on DC. Let's um, what I'm doing is I'm testing my negative and positive. I have 13.64 volts. If y'all can see that. That is enough to charge a 12 volt battery. That's real nice light. All right. So what I want to do is connect these to these and be able to hide it away down there. So what I'm going to do is I'm probably going to cut those right about here. And I got some butt connectors, butt connectors. I'm talking about these. I'm sorry if that requires some explaining. So what I'm going to do with the butt connector, I'm going to twist this all up real good. Double it over because it's such a small wire. And it's going to be connecting with a larger wire. Make sure my negative is going to negative. It is. You know what? I'm going to add a little something to this. Because I have it, I'm going to put heat shrink on this and um, help seal the connection so it doesn't corrode. This is my heat shrink kit. I got this from Harbor Freight. As you can see, it has different sizes in it. I'm going to put this away before I lose it. So I just need to pick a size that will slip over that as small as possible. That blue right there looks okay. So I'm about to crimp the other side. I'm just trying to make sure I get just the right spot. I might have to turn off this other fan. It is really hot. What I'm doing helps to keep moisture. And as y'all can see, this connection is going to be out here in the engine compartment. What I'm doing helps to keep moisture from getting in that connection. At least that's what I'm trying to do. Come on now. Gotta do better than that. I'm actually, I'm starting to burn it. So I'm gonna leave that alone. I gotta turn my fan back on. Maybe just a little bit too much. See if we can get something a little smaller over that. Nope. Too small. Still too small. We're just gonna have to deal with this. Let's go ahead and try to cover that up. Okay my next step once I get done with this. I'm not sure how much of that y'all can see. My next step once I get done with this is to um tuck all this away so that maybe we can protect it a little bit from vibration. And yeah that ain't never gonna shrink down that small. But it's trying. These are just two massively different size wires. And last thing I want to do is make sure I'm still getting 13.64 volts. If y'all can't see that. There you go. 13.64 volts. And just charge it like that. I'm gonna check on the battery now. Positive side negative. 12.52. So it is charging my battery right now. Let's um let's maybe focus on hiding this stuff away. I do kind of want to keep these connections here close by so we can disconnect them if we need to. At the same time I want to hide all this. Let's put that down there. This is this wire right here that y'all see is actually for an inverter that is under the seat. And I'm just gonna put everything right there. So what do y'all think? Overview. Y'all see that? Here's my little wire that comes from right here. Comes through here. Down through here. Y'all forgive me it's really hot. Then I kind of have it shoved through here. There is a better way to do that so that that wire is completely hitting. Or at least to right here without having to drill any holes. But it looks the same to me on the outside. What I'm talking about is possibly going through the dash over there. But I'm not sure the wire would be long enough. And coming out here. I'm okay with that right there. Comes out right here. Charge controller fused and with a disconnect. All right and she cranks right up. So now it can sit here for months at a time without killing the battery. I know it sounds crazy but a lot of people have to do that. So that's a good option for people. I do hope you enjoyed the video. If you did how about like and subscribe. Come here boy. Come here. Come here. Come here. I'm gonna get you. Come here boy. Rowdy the guy. You better come here. It's really hot outside so I'm not gonna push him too much. I hope you enjoyed the video. If you did how about like and subscribe. I know it's not my normal thing. Tonight I'm going live at five o'clock. I'm sure we'll find something to talk about. See you then.