 Okay, let's install some batteries Now this thing will supposedly work with lithium batteries far as I know and These come with some fancy instructions. Let's check that out. Oh wait first. Let's check the Instructions for this. What is it a renaji adventurer solar charge controller? I think it's Is it a 30 amp one? I forgot what it was now. Yeah 30 amp which is good and Yes, it does have a Setting for lithium batteries great and with the batteries. I've got a product manual here I think a lot of this won't be relevant to me because I'm just connecting batteries in parallel nothing serious. I don't have to worry about a bunch of stuff Yeah, this is the quick start guide right operation guide for beginners. Okay Let's see. Oh, I'm supposed to wear gloves. No, I'm not gonna do that. Okay, they're the batteries are shipped With only 30 50% of their capacity, although I think those have a little more than that But whatever okay, please fully charge the battery before starting to use it If I remember correctly, I need to charge each individual battery on its own and then I can connect them to each other Avoid direct contact between the terminals. Okay, don't short-circuit the battery because it'll not be good Okay, let's see. That's just obvious stuff. Make sure the battery is wire is properly wired. Okay Do not reverse the positive negative connections. Right, right, right? All right Only connect with other Similar batteries not other brands or other sizes and stuff Yeah, you have two of the two of the same brand same size batteries, so I should be able to connect them in parallel Well, let's see what this thing says Okay, I already figured out take off those little plastic covers put the bolts in put the little red and black Cappy things on test the battery voltage with the multi-matter. Oh, I already did that too and it was 26.4 volts if I remember correctly Okay, then fully charge the battery separately, so yeah charge each battery separately If it's not being used recharge every three months, but I'm gonna be using it so not a problem All right, we got a bunch of stuff here hundred amp hour battery 25.6 volts 2,560 watt hours Charge current 20 amps. Oh, that's great because well, I'm actually gonna charge Yeah, I'm gonna charge it with 20 amps, but I'm gonna charge two batteries So it'll only be 10 amps for each one, but whatever it's under the recommended charge Continuous Discount current hundred amps. I'm gonna be below that and I have two batteries We'll be 200 and still be below that. No problem. No problem Things to know before using always put the insulated covers on the post bolts right right right Charging methods. Oh, let me let me just read through this. This is good Okay, this is interesting. It says the voltage at different capacity So when its capacity is a hundred percent, it's 27 volts. This is presuming It's not being used or charged at a time just the battery on its own 27 volts when it's fully charged 99 percent 26.8 and 70 percent is 26.4. That's where they are right now. So they're 70 percent charged when I got them and Do do do down to 10 percent is 25.6 volts while it's still pretty high for 10 percent, but then after 10 percent The voltage drops off quickly at 19 volts at 0 percent. I don't I can't let it get there because that'll wreck the battery Supposedly you can use them down to 1 percent capacity At 21.6 volts. I think I would rather cut off at 10 percent I know I don't need to like risk damaging the battery by Getting down to 1 percent. No, that's that's too risky. I'd rather cut it off at 25.6 volts Yeah, I Does my charge I think my charge controller has a volt voltage readout on it Although I'm also pretty good at paying attention. So I mean I want to use my capacity I want to use like to just the top 50 percent of my battery capacity generally speaking not go below that So, you know, I like to play it safe with the battery. So I don't damage him You know, I would like to set the battery management system the BMS in the battery to cut off at 10 percent Capacity so I don't get anywhere near, you know, one zero percent However, I don't I don't think I can program that See anything about that in here Okay, well, I'll just have to pay attention the thing is I'm not I'm not running these these through an inverter That's gonna have a cutoff voltage. I'm running them through a speed controller for a motor And maybe I can maybe I can program cutoff voltage on the speed controller I'll have to look into that If I can then that would be great Otherwise, I mean, I'm just gonna pay attention Like I'm not an idiot. I can see what the voltage readout is That'll let me know. I'll just have to pay attention. Yeah, so I'm not too worried about that Okay, so first step is I just need to charge each individual battery. So I'll take my charge controller there I'll take my charge controller connect it to the boat connect one battery to it And then connect the solar panels They with these you're supposed to always connect the solar panel second at least that's what the book just told me So I connected to the battery first then the solar panels So when I switch to charge the other battery first, I disconnect the solar panels Then disconnect the battery then connect the other battery then connect the solar panels. Okay I don't even know how important that is but it's telling me to do that So I'm just gonna do it. Although before I start connecting wires I should figure out where these things physically go in the boat. I know roughly where they go I guess I should go put them in place and get them all Locked in I have to why know where I'm gonna put them and they're gonna need some kind of cover So they don't get wet. All right, let's go put them in place You know what I want to put these batteries on a bit of shock absorption and I think I can just use the packaging that came in beauty Yeah, I'll put the batteries on two of those Um Now I'll keep them off the ground a little bit You know just in case there's any water on the ground it won't get up and maybe I'll put a few more drain holes You know just or maybe I maybe I don't need these sides. I'll take these sides off. Yeah Now let me think about that for a second Maybe I should leave the corners just to keep the batteries locked in I like they shouldn't they shouldn't be shoved around a lot However, there will be times when I'm driving the boat in some rough seas and there will be some bouncing around and stuff The batteries probably won't move Especially if they're on you know kind of absorbent material like this like that's gonna Take the shock of any uh waves So the the batteries probably won't move But yeah, let me just let me just cut off these parts and I'll leave the corners Just to kind of snuggle the batteries in a little bit But if I cut these off then if any water gets up in here, it'll be able to run off or down the middle Well, it's not going to get down the middle because the battery is going to be covering that Yeah, okay, let me do the knife This also makes it so I don't have to figure out what to do with this packaging. All right There we go sharp on this knife this is usually my sharp knife I wonder if one of my kids got it. Ah, it's beautiful. They come with their own little little squishy cradle. So nice Okay, these batteries are gonna go Back here under these seats And uh the rear two solar panels will charge them And the front ones those just connect directly to the motor They actually already connect directly to the motor There's four Yeah, the four front solar panels connect directly to the motor and the back two will charge It's going pretty slow, but I think only two solar panels are actually in the sun right now All right batteries go Under here put my little foamy thing And one will go under here too Where do I want the terminals? I think I want them toward the back I think that's a space in there. I can reach everything Wasp nest I could I could probably fit two batteries in this one slot But I'll put them in each in different slots though that way Any heat from the battery I don't want to have two batteries in the same spot because they'll both heat up the same area And I need to put some kind of cover here so that water doesn't splash up Or when it's raining sideways, I gotta make sure no water gets to this so Something here And then I'll probably put my speed controller under here too So I want something that'll cover this whole thing But we'll still let some air get through so maybe Maybe I'll have it come up under here and leave an airspace so air can get through there Oh, that looks so nice. Look at that I'll have to put a nice voltage Readout somewhere cut a hole in here and put a readout right in there Most of the time I'm going to be sitting here. I think I'll have to put one one of my chairs here and one of my chairs here one of my fancy yellow seats And then I could see the voltage I can do the speed control thing which will be right there Can reach this and the steering wheel. Yeah All right, what can I what can I put across here? Oh, duh. This is probably going to be my voltage readout. I think this has a voltage readout on it So I'll have to put this somewhere where I can see it easily But we'll not get splashed by water. Maybe I'll put it right up in the ceiling here just above the the steering wheel I don't imagine it's going to get wet there. I've heard the roof is Is good To get wet way up there water would have to go. Yeah, I think it should be fine Not that up there somewhere facing backwards Or I could mount it right up In here I don't imagine this is getting any water on it ever Yeah It's protected from any splashes by both sides not that water would get up in here anyway But you know, there might be a crazy storm and if for some reason this filled up with water Which it never would it would still run out before it got up to here Yeah, maybe that's where I put that and I can see the voltage readout on that easily from where I'm sitting And you know, it's in a pretty dark spot So I should be able to see the screen. Well Wait, is it back lit? I think the screen is back lit Okay, so charge controller up there And then yeah, I want the battery terminals toward the back. So it's the shortest distance Okay, let's get the whatever oh my god, I love this boat. I love this boat. It's so cool Okay, that space is four feet wide A foot tall 48 inches 12 inches And I'm thinking I could maybe use a piece of sheet metal to put across and I want to Bend the ends out toward the direction the water might come from just in case there's ever a Splash, it'll hit and then if the the metal is bent back, it'll hit And be directed back out. Ah, good thinking, right? And I do have some maybe appropriate sheet metal for that All right, I've got some nice aluminium aluminum stuff here. Okay, this piece is eighth inch I don't need anything that serious 16th inch would yeah, that would be pretty good. But do I really need the diamond plate texture? I could go All the way back here. Oh man. That's gonna be a pain to get one of those out All right, maybe I'll just go with a diamond plate texture. It doesn't matter Does it matter? I don't think it matters at all All right, I'll pull one of these out. I think So I do also have some stainless steel Aluminium aluminum or stainless steel I think I'm gonna go with aluminium aluminum Okay, I think I'll cut a little bit over here and fold that up. Yeah Fall in the water. A little bit more snug at the front. That's pretty close Okay, bend that out a little bit in the side a little bit. Well, that is looking mighty good So beauty. All right, now we can start thinking about wiring this thing Tricky thing about this is that I have to get to the back To put wires in so I can put wires in from the bottom, but then I have to screwdriver eyes from the back Which means I can't just stick it against the wall and make it inaccessible So maybe I have to mount it with a hinge So I can tip it up do the wires and tighten them and then tilt it back down There That should do it Ooh, that isn't a dark spot Hopefully this is a back lid. I'll be able to see it really well Nice and I scratched in battery negative battery positive P negative P positive for photovoltaics Because this doesn't have any Anything written on the outside to say which wires go where it's all it's all on the inside. Yeah, you have to open it up Which I thought was kind of silly like I want to be able to I want to know from the outside. Anyway All right, I've got charge controller a couple solar panels up here And the battery first step connect the battery to the charge controller I've got a little readout of Zero kilowatt hours. Ooh 26.5 volts I guess this just cycles through different 25. Do you have a temperature sensor? 25 degrees Celsius. What else does this thing have? What's zero volts? That's got to be the Solar panels because they're not connected yet. So zero amps going in. Oh man. This is great 26.5 volts that's That's the thing I most want to know Ah, I don't even know the temperature. All right zero volts. Let's let's connect that zero volts to something I just need to connect those two wires into the solar panel I've got some two strand 12 gauge wire that should be good for there All right, those guys are all wired in connected And oh look my little battery's doing Blinky thing. I think that means it's charging 26.6 volts Slightly higher than it was like mere seconds ago Oh 26.5 26 Ooh 1.6 amps coming in. Yeah, it's pretty cloudy right now Still good So what is this kilowatt? Oh is that a total of how much has gone in? Whatever It's working Okay, that's one panel connected in and I have another solar panel on the other side I can connect in so I guess I'll Just do the same thing This wire is gonna have to run I guess across here Across here and then come in Hopefully I have enough zip ties I didn't have a long enough piece of that double strand wire. So I'll just use two individual wires up here All right second solar panels in there looks like it's charging faster Because now I just have to wait for one battery to get fully charged Then I can fully charge the other battery And then I can connect everything. Well, no, then I could connect them to each other in parallel For what like an hour or a day or something make sure they're they're leveled out then I can connect it to everything and Supposedly if I follow that procedure, I'll be maximizing the life of my batteries, which I think is worth doing Oh, how you doing in there? It doesn't feel warm or anything probably doesn't heat up when it's charging I mean unless it's charging fast Pretty secure. All right Come back and checking out tomorrow. Oh, I still have to cut the boards for the floor I guess I'll have to find some wood for that Yeah, I'm not gonna worry about that right now. I don't need floorboards in the front till I have cargo