Installing a fridge

That looks awesome. But it also looks like it requires welding. Skills, tools, and materials that are not in my ballpark.

 

That looks like a sweet setup! I just roughly measured my OEM cab roof rack and it looks like the panel will mount either cross-wise or parallel with the truck and take up about half of the roof. It definitely won't look as good as being mounted on your roof rack, but I'm sure it's do-able.

Regarding the controller, that's not the controller that comes with the Renogy kit correct? I see they offer 2 controllers, the Commander and the Rover which are both available in 40 Amp or 20 Amp. Not really sure what the differences are in these products, or what MPPT stands for.

Renogy Commander 40 Amp 12V/24V MPPT Negative Ground Solar Charge Controller Regulator Compatible with Sealed Lead-Acid, Flooded, Gel Batteries and MT-50 Tracer Meter

Renogy 40 Amp Commander MPPT Solar Charge Controller (also available in 20 Amp)

$180 Renogy Rover 40 Amp 12V/24V DC Input MPPT Solar Charge Controller Auto Parameter Adjustable LCD Display Solar Panel Regulator fit for Gel Sealed Flooded and Lithium Battery

Renogy Rover 20 Amp 12V/24V DC Input MPPT Solar Charge Controller (also available in 20 Amp)

 

I have the Rover 20A controller. It's pricy since MPPT controllers are more efficient and packed with more bells and wistles. But for a simple small one panel system, it is a bit overkill.

 

@dtaco06 and @locster

Where do you guys have your controllers mounted?

 

I was thinking under the hood would be convenient as far as running wires. Though I'm not sure how well the controller will hold up to heat, dust, dirt, and water. My other thought is inside the cab somewhere, but that would require running wires into the cab which I'd rather not do. Next up would be inside the bed of the truck, but that would require even more running of wires.

 

I mounted mine in the truck bed, on the glass screen of my shell. You can see it in my fridge picture above.

The other location I thought about was behind the seat in the compartment. It would fit but there's not enough ventilation. Also, I want to be able to see the display. If you have a smaller controller, you can probably make it work in that space. There are already holes on the floor for you to run the wires into the cab, in that space.

The engine compartment is too hot for it.

 

Ok, I see it there. Did you drill a hole in the front of your bed to run the wires?

 

Yes I did. You can also enlarge the holes at the bottom corner of the bed. The wires are 10ga, and there are 4 of them, so you'll need at least a 3/4 hole.

 

Solar setup i made for my fridge: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/solar-panel-install.472522/

Solar power is 10awg fuse holder right off the positive battery terminal to more 10awg wire along the drivers fender, through the firewall, under the carpet to the center console, then wired into my solar charge controller mounted inside my console. Ground is pulled from the factory inverter ground bolt under the console.

Panel wires come through parking brake cable grommet under console, then into solar charge controller.

Power for fridge is another fuse holder off battery terminal, through the firewall, up to relay near fuse panel on drivers dash. Running a switch to control relay. From relay output, more 10awg run down under the door sill plates, under seat where i have a shielded female blade terminal. Ground is pulled from inverter ground bolt under console. ARB's plug has a removable cig lighter that leaves two male blade terminals. Since my wires are colored, i just look at the plug and connect.


EDIT: I am running this on a single optima 27F yellow top battery. My voltage only goes below 12.3 if i'm in the garage and forget to turn the fridge off. During my last mountain biking trip, battery went down to about 12.3-12.4 before sleep. Woke up to 12.7+ volts.

 

Thanks for chiming in! I was actually reading up on your setup a bit. I really do like the thought of having a solar panel mounted directly to the roof, but I'm not sure I want to do that with a practically new truck (plus I think the XM antenna will get in the way. Really like your setup though.

Will I need to replace my stock battery to run solar? I'm doing a single battery setup.

 

Thanks! For what its worth, i wrapped the roof with matte black vinyl since my roof had seen better days, then I installed the panel onto it. You can mount a smaller 50 watt panel if you think space is a problem. 100 watts is about 7 amps at 14 volts, so 50 watts will be nearly 3.5 amps at 14 volts. Plenty to hold over a fridge in the heat of day. You can run this on the stock battery, no problem. Charge controllers act like a battery tender, powered by solar instead of a household 110v plug. My setup will keep feeding the battery up to 14.4 volts, then float charges after that.

 

Wanted to provide an update to my truck fridge and solar kit.

I camped out Friday night and let my key set to auxiliary power with my SnoMaster fridge plugged into the DC outlet in the cab (still waiting for the Off-Grid Engineering kit to take constant power to the bed). One annoyance I have with Toyota is that I have no way to completely turn off my head unit. I can turn the screen off, but that still leaves a lit screen with a screen saver. Anyways, the fridge was set to 32 degrees and I set the mode to "low" to conserve power draw. This worked fine over night. The truck was parked in the shade, temps probably got down to the mid 60's over night. The temp in the fridge did increase a bit above 32 degrees, but not over 40 degrees. Truck started with no problem.

Over the weekend I received my Renogy 100 watt solar kit with Rover MPPT 20A controller. Why can't Renogy provide color-coded wires? The wires that connect to the battery are definitely not long enough, so I'll go out and buy 2 2-foot spools of red and black 8 AWG wire and an inline fuse for that segment. They also don't supply inline fuses with the kit, but the suggest you run fuses at each connection. Grrr...

Looking around at where to mount the controller, I'm really thinking about mounting this behind the back seat on the driver side. It looks like this will fit on the plastic wall that borders the passenger side of the back seat (facing the driver-side door). This will also make it relatively easy to see when you fold the back seat down. There also seems to be a rubber grommet on the back of the cab (driver side) that I may be able to run the wires through from the panel.

And for the panel, I've done some measurements and I think I can drill 4 holes into the OEM cab rack bars to attach to the z-connectors supplied with the kit. The panel fits perfectly across the top of the truck and sits directly on top of the cross bars. I don't use the cross bars for anything else, so this seems like the best idea.

I'm kinda wondering if I need to move my solar setup/process to a separate thread. But just wanted to give everyone an update.

 

^
You only need fuses on the positive lines. I used this fuse for the panel, bolted on directly.

WindyNation Solar Panel PV MC4 Connector in-Line Fuse Holder w/Fuse 10A

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B019...dpPl=1&dpID=41k0Rh2rCHL&ref=plSrch&th=1&psc=1
Having the control panel behind the seat compartment may not allow for enough ventilation or cooling the unit, especially your cab can get real hot when parked in sunlight.

You can flip the z brackets on the Renogy panel so it sits slightly lower on your roof rack.

 

Thanks for the link to the inline fuse for the MC4 connector.

I'm not sure where else to mount the controller inside the cab where it can be both visible and have ventilation. The center console seems even more cramped. I thought about under the seat, but that would not be easy to see the screen. If no alternative, I may have to mount it in the cap some way, though I'd have to build something to mount it to.

With the OEM cab rack, the panel sits on top of the rails (when they are locked in place at the side of the truck). Even when the rails are folded out across the roof, if I lay the panel lengthwise parallel to the truck, the panel sits on top of the rails. I don't think there's a way to mount it any lower without building some sort of custom bracket/frame for it to sit in.

 

@locster Do you happen to know where the temperature with connects to the battery from the Rover MPPT controller? Mine came with that wire, but the directions don't mention how to connect it to the battery to monitor the temperature of the battery.

 

I didn't install that battery temperature gage thingy because the wire is too short for my setup. I'll look at it again later.

 

Lol... when in doubt, throw it out.

 

Do you have the plywood secured to the bed as well or just laying in there flat?

 

The 3/4” plywood covers the entire bed and is covered with gray carpet. Nothing but gravity and a nice tight fit holds it in place.

A 1/4” plywood base that is slightly longer than the base of the fridge is bolted to the bolt holes underneath the fridge (these bolt holes are meant for the rubber feet of the fridge). This plywood is what is bolted to the 3/4” base via tee nuts.

 

Thanks for the idea!