Where to mount solar charge controller?

I tried searching the forum and Google (when did the Google site search become nothing but ads?) to no avail, curious where folks have mounted their solar charge controllers in 3rd gens?

I am planning on a Victron 75/15 MPPT in case it matters.

 

Where are you going to house the majority of your electronic add-ons?

Can you explain a bit about what your truck has (i.e. open bed, canopy, camper, etc.).

Do/will you have permanently mounted solar panels somewhere to the truck? or do you need access to this controller to plug in a set of stowable panels?

 

I didn't provide a ton of info because I am just interested to see what others have done generally regardless of the setup.

Not sure what you mean about the majority of my electronic add-ons or if that matters, I don't mind running wire. I don't have a dual battery and this is primarily going to be used to keep my battery (X2Power 27F) topped off when off grid with my fridge (Iceco 40qt). I have thought about building in some disconnects to make it possible to hook it up to a small power station (when/if I get one later) but I already have something in mind for that.

• I have a shell, but leaning toward not putting it in there as I occasionally remove it to haul loads and the controller is only IP43, also don't want it to get hit by moving cargo off road.
• Solar panel (Renogy flexible 160W) will be mounted on top of the shell rack crossbars for now then in between the crossbars when/if I upgrade to a rigid panel down the road (flexible one was free)
• For the controller-
  • Don't need frequent access as it has an app, but I don't want it to be completely inaccessible
  • Remote battery sensor, so it doesn't need to be near the battery for temperature purposes
  • Controller loses efficiency at 40° C and shuts down at 60°C
  • Also planning to sandwich a 94mm DC fan under it with a thermal controller to somewhat mitigate heat.
• Controller footprint is about 4"x4"x1.5"

 

I just used the glue for the solar panel to glue it on top of the fuse box, just a small bead along the edge so it can be removed, but that is for the hood mounted panel, if it's an external panel for a roof/bed rack, a cubby with the rest of your power system.

 

Anyone?

 

i would install it in the cab, sure doesn't look waterproof.

likely on the back wall

 

That's what I'm leaning toward. Thought some other folks might share their setups, but I guess not.

It's IP43, so under the hood would probably be okay but thinking the temps might be too high and damage the controller long term.

 

do you have the instructions for it? i'm curious about the requirement for the load to be attached to the 'load' output.

i'm building a trailer with an air compressor, winch, and lighting. the solar would be for a battery maintainer, but i can't see how all of my planned electrical loads will go through such a small controller terminal like that...

 

That would all be connected to the battery. You could connect up to 15amps of load to the controller through those connections and it will provide a low voltage cutoff. In the OPs case he could wire the fridge to it as insurance against draining the battery too low to start the truck.

 

thanks, that helps a ton. i couldn't find any details on the max draw of the load output, or why the controller needed to be involved in that at all. you'd think they could easily add a 'connect to load for low voltage cut-off capability', but apparently that's too hard anymore...

 

I built a box and it lives in the bed but I have a wedge camper.


https://share.icloud.com/photos/04dnnFLjBKugKhR77K3jd-7qg

 

I have a hood mounted Cascadia PV panel, so I got

$50 LNEX Solar Charge Controller Waterproof, 20A Super Thin Solar Panel Battery Intelligent Regulator with LCD Display 12V/24V PWM Solar Controller for LiFePO4,AGM, Gel, Flooded and Lithium Battery

this waterproof controller and mounted it under the hood in the front corner in front of the windshield wash bottle. Been like that for a year now, works fine. It’s a cheaper PMW model and not as efficient as that MPPT controller, but it is only working off one panel so that’s not a big issue.

Keep yours as close to the battery as possible, it’ll also make it even more efficient.

 

It says it on the product page, it's just not 100% clear to you and me. I'm guessing people more familiar with solar controllers might not need to be told that the load out is optional.

Rating is 15A for this model, the instructions are incredibly detailed. I'm going to use it to control a thermally regulated fan which I hope will cool the controller a bit since I've read that it runs pretty hot, and heat degrades the output.

The fridge is already wired to a Switchpros which also has adjustable LVCO and I don't wanna rewire it.

 

Ended up mounting it in the bed, on the front rail. I have a topper, so it should be fine, though I will probably remove it whenever I use the truck without the topper. Got the battery sensory so distance between the controller and battery shouldn’t matter.