Background
This part of the build is to give some context into who I am, the state of my vehicle, and design decisions I made along the way, mostly uniformed therefor sub optimal. If you want to get to the nitty gritty, jump to the installation post.
So the story begins with me buying a brand new 2015 PRO-4X. The first thing I wanted to get was a light bar. I didn’t like the look of the light boobs on the stock setup. Call me vain, but they just didn’t fit my idea of a big bad Overlander. Before I could get the light bar, I had to get a new rack. A rack that would hold me as I wanted to take pictures from up on the roof. I purchased a DEP Stealth rack, installed it, and then got a 40” light bar.
The light bar presented the challenge: how to power it. As I was a newbie, I had some learning to do to understand why I just couldn’t replace the boobs with the LED bar. The new LED bar takes more current than the system running the boob lights supported. Once I got that all wired up, which involved a fuse block and solenoids behind the dash, it worked like a champ. And I have 11 relays behind the dash just in case I needed them.
But what about running the battery flat? The requirement to preserve the battery so I could start the vehicle became my quest over the past couple of years. I installed a second battery with all of challenges in the engine bay. I installed a pair of Odyssey PC1200MJT AGM batteries. It was a tight fit. I chose the Hell Roaring Battery Isolation Circuit (BIC) to separate the batteries. In order to allow for winching, I had one of those too, I installed a manual Blue Sea battery combiner to bypass the BIC during winch use.
I moved the house circuit to the second battery. The problem was, at the time, I didn’t realize the Xterra alternator/charge control circuit doesn’t work with AGM batteries. At least not well. The result was the AGM batteries were never fully charged. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out how to get the voltage up over 14 volts for any extended period. My Bully Dog GT was my window into the Xterra charging world and it looked bleak. I purchased an AGM specific battery charger, but that didn’t help when I was on the road. Finally, after months of frustration, I purchased a Rugged Rocks 270 Amp High Output Alternator with a set point of 14.5 volts. Problem seemed to be solved with the voltage consistently running 14+ volts.
Next, solar. I purchased a Victron SmartSolar MPPT 75/10 with Bluetooth. What a nice piece of equipment. I hooked the MPPT up to the second battery and read the charge state of the battery and how much the battery was receiving from the solar panels. This device alone was well worth the price of admission. The Victron products are the best. What it showed me was the battery were not holding the charge very well. Then I added a Dometic refrigerator, setup another set of 4 relays in the back, and relished the wonder of having milk on my overland trips.
All was not well in the dual battery kingdom. The BIC wasn’t doing its job well from what I could determine. I assumed I had burned it up. My next solution was to replace the BIC and the Blue Sea battery combiner with a Blue Sea ML-ACR automatic charging relay with manual control. Cool. It worked great and could handle all the current when winching. Along this time, I noticed the battery was not holding a charge for very long. Looks like I had ruined the battery over time through deep discharge and not filling the battery up all the way. It was time for a new battery. But why go with something as simple as replacing a battery? Nope, it was time for a change in battery technology. And battery placement. The adventure begins.
This part of the build is to give some context into who I am, the state of my vehicle, and design decisions I made along the way, mostly uniformed therefor sub optimal. If you want to get to the nitty gritty, jump to the installation post.
So the story begins with me buying a brand new 2015 PRO-4X. The first thing I wanted to get was a light bar. I didn’t like the look of the light boobs on the stock setup. Call me vain, but they just didn’t fit my idea of a big bad Overlander. Before I could get the light bar, I had to get a new rack. A rack that would hold me as I wanted to take pictures from up on the roof. I purchased a DEP Stealth rack, installed it, and then got a 40” light bar.
The light bar presented the challenge: how to power it. As I was a newbie, I had some learning to do to understand why I just couldn’t replace the boobs with the LED bar. The new LED bar takes more current than the system running the boob lights supported. Once I got that all wired up, which involved a fuse block and solenoids behind the dash, it worked like a champ. And I have 11 relays behind the dash just in case I needed them.
But what about running the battery flat? The requirement to preserve the battery so I could start the vehicle became my quest over the past couple of years. I installed a second battery with all of challenges in the engine bay. I installed a pair of Odyssey PC1200MJT AGM batteries. It was a tight fit. I chose the Hell Roaring Battery Isolation Circuit (BIC) to separate the batteries. In order to allow for winching, I had one of those too, I installed a manual Blue Sea battery combiner to bypass the BIC during winch use.
I moved the house circuit to the second battery. The problem was, at the time, I didn’t realize the Xterra alternator/charge control circuit doesn’t work with AGM batteries. At least not well. The result was the AGM batteries were never fully charged. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out how to get the voltage up over 14 volts for any extended period. My Bully Dog GT was my window into the Xterra charging world and it looked bleak. I purchased an AGM specific battery charger, but that didn’t help when I was on the road. Finally, after months of frustration, I purchased a Rugged Rocks 270 Amp High Output Alternator with a set point of 14.5 volts. Problem seemed to be solved with the voltage consistently running 14+ volts.
Next, solar. I purchased a Victron SmartSolar MPPT 75/10 with Bluetooth. What a nice piece of equipment. I hooked the MPPT up to the second battery and read the charge state of the battery and how much the battery was receiving from the solar panels. This device alone was well worth the price of admission. The Victron products are the best. What it showed me was the battery were not holding the charge very well. Then I added a Dometic refrigerator, setup another set of 4 relays in the back, and relished the wonder of having milk on my overland trips.
All was not well in the dual battery kingdom. The BIC wasn’t doing its job well from what I could determine. I assumed I had burned it up. My next solution was to replace the BIC and the Blue Sea battery combiner with a Blue Sea ML-ACR automatic charging relay with manual control. Cool. It worked great and could handle all the current when winching. Along this time, I noticed the battery was not holding a charge for very long. Looks like I had ruined the battery over time through deep discharge and not filling the battery up all the way. It was time for a new battery. But why go with something as simple as replacing a battery? Nope, it was time for a change in battery technology. And battery placement. The adventure begins.