Guys with solar

If I drank, that would be the winning argument right there.

 

I got this for charging the house battery in the camper. Bought it to experiment with. It kept the battery up enough to run the vent fan full time with lighting duties over a three day weekend. Monday afternoon the battery was at 1/3 charge.

Not permanently mounted. I set it up in the sun and turned it when I thought about it throughout the day.

 

I think with some wiring you actually can. I’ll be installing mine to keep the audio battery charged for the fridge, keep my laptop charged, and to keep a couple small things running

 

I tried running a sawzall on it the 1st week I owned the Truck. Big storm in Maine, and wanted to use Sawzall instead of my chainsaw to remove a small 3" tree out of my driveway. Had enough power to mode the blade to the point i could have laid my hand across it w/o getting injured.

 

For my enclosed trailer I have 4 x 100w Renogy monocrystaline panels and 4 x 150ah 12v interstate flooded deep cycle batteries. The panels will be removable for winter when they are not being used. Between snow and ice and tree branches falling during a storm I don’t want to damage a panel. I have a Colman 30w panel that had been outside all winter and on the first real sunny day this spring I heard a noise and looked over and the protective tempered glass all of a sudden shattered. It is still in place but it is tiny cubes of broken glass across the whole surface and now the whole thing is curved after the breakage. The glass is there just broken. It still works but for how long I don’t know.

So I advocate for removable. You may have tens of years of trouble free use or it might get destroyed leaving it mounted all the time.

 

I know this isn't a truck, but it's our camper we boondock with and are trying to be completely self sufficient. This is the post from the camper build. Twin Renogy 100w panels, twin series 31 agm spiral core batteries, and a Victron Energy blue tooth charge controller.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...oad-camper-build.501997/page-29#post-18333947

 

Sub

 

Wow what an awesome thread to find!
Has anyone had any experience with using solar to run a small camper AC unit. I want to build a solar AC camper shell for my dog.

 

Sub’d for winter project.

 

The small AC units have to run off AC power either a generator or shore power

 

How did you route the wires from the panel? I’m thinking I’ll route mine along the underside of my cab rack, down the back of the cab inside one of the bed rack vertical supports, inside the frame rail, then in through the floor via one of the body plugs to the controller, then back through the plug and to the battery.

Curious though as to how you did yours...

 

Sorry just saw this. Mine are run down the weather stripping on the side of the windshield. All of my charging system wiring is on the passenger side. All of the electrical control wiring for lighting is run up the driver side. Punched holes in the weather stripping and used cable ties to secure the wire to them.

 

I have mine collapsed flat to the top of my rack unless I have my tent mounted.

 

Are the wires on top of the stripping or under it?

 

Easier to just show you..

 

Perfect thanks!

 

Does that stripping come off pretty much the same as the roof stripping (for the roof rack mount holes)?

 

Dou you have the Tow package? I have some sort of factory brake booster in the area you put the second battery.

 

I believe so, mine came with a tow hitch. Is yours an offroad? I believe it only fits pro and offroad models.(the aux batt tray)

Edit: you have an SR5, that’s why you have that thingy there

 

Should be the abs module.