Builds 2008 LX Live Camera Car and Overlanding Build.

[SharpeCat]

Just get a 27f. It is isn’t that big a deal. A big lithium bank is likely in your future, right?

remember you can only use 1/2 the capacity of a sla.

I am considering that too, problem is the DC one here also has the positive on the left side instead of right.

 

[grinchy]

I am considerin that too, problem is the DC one here also has the positive on the left side instead of right.

The right battery part will have the poles correct. May have to try a couple shops . . .

 

[SharpeCat]

The right battery part will have the poles correct. May have to try a couple shops . . .

Will push it off tomorrow since I no longer have the Camry to use.

Battery plus had only one with poles correct, and it was 160 bucks for a group 27. I’m going to go back for the 110 battery tomorrow from Home Depot. I returned it thinking the one from Battery plus was a plug and play solution, before discovering opposite poles.

Going to apply the @TeCKis300 solution but with using the stock terminals, so that I don’t need to pick up a set of military terminals. Will post pictures when done tomorrow.

 

[SharpeCat]

Not as clean as @TeCKis300 , but it gets the job done and Car starts on its own reliably again without any boost! It’s nice to have access to the 12V outputs when engine is off as well; am using it for LED lights/cell booster while Jackery is charging.

Went with the Nautilus marine RV battery for $109 at Home Depot, and Got the terminal ends from advance auto, where they also cut the 4 gauge down to several 1 inch length for me. Total cost was about 10 bucks for 4 round ends and 1 foot of 4 gauge cable.

As you can see from last photo, 1 job.

Thanks for the help fellas, much appreciated!

 

[SharpeCat]

Waited to see if the Noco g26000 would go on sale during Prime Days, and it did not.

But the GB70 and 10 amp charger is. So the charging part is a little slower with this setup (10 instead of 26 amps), but the booster part is way stronger. I did more research on the GB26000 and it really isn’t designed for boosting, as the “Jump Charge” feature only puts out 40 amps. 50% off for the GB70 is an amazing deal by the way.

Now I just need to figure out if I want the onboard charger or the portable version

 

[grinchy]

for your use case I'm thinking onboard, right?

 

[SharpeCat]

for your use case I'm thinking onboard, right?

Just the saving on living space part alone seems enough to justify it. I’m trying to do some last minute research before sale ends tomorrow to make sure I am not missing out on anything important when choosing one over the other.

Next step is to look at a solar charging system, and I am thinking the bare minimum will be 120 watts continuous (to keep fridge, cell booster, and the bare minimum streaming setup on). If I could find a 200 watt panel that plugs into a power bank or car battery directly Without overcharging and save myself a charge controller, that would be great; some power banks have built I’m solar charge controllers. Then I can plug the Noco onboard charger to the power bank.

 

[SharpeCat]

Well, don't do what i did and take your sweet time, thinking the deal would last until the end of Prime Days. I missed out on the 50% off on the GB70 Booster and it is $75 bucks higher now, so rip the "free" $70 charger that i was going to get with the savings. The GB50 is 33% off and still available but i'm going to hold off until Black Friday for a better deal. At least the smart charger is still well priced! Anyways, just another blessing in disguise.

NOCO retails the onboard charger at $170 (NOCO - 1-Bank 10A On-Board Battery Charger - GEN1) and the handheld one at $125(NOCO - 10-Amp Smart Battery Charger - GENIUS10), and they are $80 and $71 respectively on amazon. I'm going to go with the onboard for better discount as well as for saving interior storage space.

Instead of the Booster, i'm going to get a solar panel.

So i looked at everything 100 watts or above that is either a Foldable or Flexible panel for under $200, and is currently on sale:

Amazon product ASIN B086M9J94W
Amazon product ASIN B07YWXHBNT
https://www.amazon.com/ALLPOWERS-Charger-Technology-Portable-Notebooks/dp/B075YRKVMH/ref=sr_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=foldable+solar+panel&qid=1602706349&refinements=p_72:2661618011,p_n_specials_match:21213697011&rnid=21213696011&sr=8-6

https://www.amazon.com/BigBlue-Portable-Charging-Charger-Station/dp/B083NS75XH/ref=sr_1_8?dchild=1&keywords=foldable+solar+panel&qid=1602706349&refinements=p_72:2661618011,p_n_specials_match:21213697011&rnid=21213696011&sr=8-8

Only 2 out of the 4 above can be used in parallel:
Zoombros - $160 for 120 watts, includes parallel charging cable and standard adapters (including anderson). Could not find a phone number in case i needed customer service, no website either.

Big Blue - $140 for 100 watts, includes 14v cable for car battery charging and standard adapters (including anderson). Was able to locate website and phone number easily, and they do offer "24/7 US customer service" according to amazon item description.

Going with the Big Blue for a couple reasons:
- Website/phone number easily found, in case i need customer service.
- Includes cable for charging car battery directly, which is actually useful right away. When i pick up a second panel i will get a parallel cable then, when i can actually use it.

Overall i'm very happy i went solar panel + charger/maintainer, rather than Booster + charger/Maintainer for the same cost; and i'm even more happy that i didn't spend the same amount of money on just a NOCO g26000 which is essentially just a charger/maintainer. Panel + charger/Maintainer will be the most useful combination for sure. Now time to buy before these sell out as well!!

Edit: Done! I even had 8 bucks leftover and picked up a sweet deal on 5 iPhone cables at 60% off, and now I can give my mom her 1 cable back lol.

 

[SharpeCat]

Does anyone else’s LX automatically shuts off after a certain amount of time, even when battery is above low-voltage cutoff? Is there some factory auto shut off programmed in somewhere? Asking because I only have the booster hooked up directly to car, and have to occasionally hit the start button to turn electronics back on after a while, even though battery is close to full. I want to be able to leave electronics on for good without the car shutting off, unless battery is completely dead.

Also, this charger is very chunky, so I think I will put it where others have put their second battery/compressor. Solar panel is coming in today as well!

Also decided I’m going to get my Ham radio license, so I can legally experiment with long-distance video transmission (HAM radio encompasses amateur TV frequencies as well). With remote testing this should be a breeze lol. Jk.
Let’s be honest though, all of my friends in college are looking up answers on google as they take their online exams. The problem with proctored online exams is that the webcams are required to be pointed at the person taking the test, and not at the 2 monitors/computers they’re looking at. I won’t be cheating my way through as I value the knowledge, but I just thought it was funny that they even try to enforce webcams. If someone wants to waste their money by cheating themselves out of an education they pay for, then no point in wasting effort trying to stop them.

 

[SharpeCat]

May have found the culprit. How do I get around this without leaving car in Neutral instead of Park.

Will edit this post once I find out.

 

[afgman786]

You could do wiring, add a fuse block and run a thick gauge always hot that way you can use that.

 

[SharpeCat]

You could do wiring, add a fuse block and run a thick gauge always hot that way you can use that.

Thanks for that brother, much appreciated.

That’s what I was thinking if there is no way to bypass the auto shut off for accessories mode. Was hoping for a simple bypass since everything I need is already there, and it’s just a matter of getting around a built-in battery safety feature. I also want to be able to use the plug in the back while in accessories mode if needed.

So turns out you may not need to leave the car in Neutral; you just have to turn the engine off while car is in Neutral, then turn accessories mode on (Press Engine start once, no foot on brakes) while in park. It’s been over an hour I think (over 20 mins for sure) and no shut off yet. I will do the long test after my haircut today and report back to see if it works, or if my shutoff is set at something other than 20 mins.

 

[grinchy]

What is wrong with neutral and emergency/ parking brake?

 

[SharpeCat]

What is wrong with neutral and emergency/ parking brake?

I was under the impression that I should not rely on just the parking brake alone? Not sure obviously, but it has to do with safety reasons and leaving car unattended for long periods in neutral. Didn’t want my car to roll away and risk it hurting someone or crashing into something. Also have never tested my parking brakes like that on any car, so I’m not sure how much I’m supposed to rely on them.

Would love some education on the matter though! Thanks in advance.

 

[grinchy]

If your parking brake is correctly adjusted there is no safety risk.

 

[SharpeCat]

If your parking brake is correctly adjusted there is no safety risk.

Yeah thanks for that. Turns out the e brake is more reliable than I thought. It’s normal for it to roll a little bit before locking yeah? Feels like I activated an air locker or something, as in wheels have to rotate a little before the lock latches. Sign that I need to adjust it? There have been several occasions where I drove short periods before realizing P brake was on, not sure how much that affects it.

Good news is the neutral bypass works perfectly so far. It’s been over 5 hours and no auto shut off! Seems only requirement is to shut engine off while in neutral, then you can put into P and power on accessories. I left it in P and put parking brake on for extra peace of mind!

 

[04UZJ100]

Yeah thanks for that. Turns out the e brake is more reliable than I thought. It’s normal for it to roll a little bit before locking yeah? Feels like I activated an air locker or something, as in wheels have to rotate a little before the lock latches. Sign that I need to adjust it? There have been several occasions where I drove short periods before realizing P brake was on, not sure how much that affects it.

Good news is the neutral bypass works perfectly so far. It’s been over 5 hours and no auto shut off! Seems only requirement is to shut engine off while in neutral, then you can put into P and power on accessories. I left it in P and put parking brake on for extra peace of mind!

That feeling your experiencing is the parking pawl in your transmission. There is nothing to lock in a parking brake. It’s a compression fit pad within a drum. Sounds like yours need service and or adjustment.

 

[radman]

That feeling your experiencing is the parking pawl in your transmission. There is nothing to lock in a parking brake. It’s a compression fit pad within a drum. Sounds like yours need service and or adjustment.

Yea, shouldn't move after parking brake is up. However, I have to Hercules pull mine for it to bite. I laugh when my wife thinks she put it on and it's still 4-5 clicks short. There's a thread floating around here on how to adjust it. There's a star wheel that's accessible from the rear disks, but also an adjustment inside the center console.

 

[robmobile73]

Parking brake cables always stretch over time. When they stop working well people pull the braker harder "to make sure it won't roll" which only stretches the cable even worse. The best way to have a functioning parking brake when you need it is to get it adjusted properly and then don't use it unless you really need it.

 

[SharpeCat]

Thanks everyone. I went in for my annual cleaning today, and adjusted brakes while i was in there. Just trust me that the before picture is after I did some preliminary cleaning... was like a trash can in there at first. I wanted to spare you guys the real mess lol, to help you sleep at night.

I actually went in for the brakes, but then realized the real job is the cleaning so the brake adjustment became icing on the cake lol.

Amazing how easy that was, seems they are designed to be able to be hand tightened; also easy to adjust precisely because each rotation is exactly 360 degrees before it clicks. Just leave parking brake off to let tension off enough to tighten the bolt, and if you want to loosen it, just lift the bolt away from spring to take off some tension and it can rotate easily by hand.

I tightened mine 3 rotations of the bolt and now the parking brake does not need to be hercules’d. I used to have to pull it twice And up really high to get it to really engage; up most of the way then Hercules the last stretch, sometimes with both hands lol. Now it’s 1 Easy pull with a shorter throw.

1/2 banana job for sure.