Solar panel install

People of Tacoma World, here's a brief summary of my solar install.

Reason for endeavor:
ARB Fridge + No front/light rear tint + Vegas summers = powered off fridge and warm beers during the day

Gonna use the sun thats heating my beers, to chill them. BOOOM

Parts list:
Suaoki 100W flexible solar panel
Blue Solar Victron 75/15 charge controller
10AWG wire
15A fuse holder
Scotch 30# mounting tape
Few stick-on zip-tie mounts
MC4 connectors
eBay special LED volt meter

-Wrapped roof with Matte black due to massive amount of clear coat peeling (horrible/impatient job but better than flaky white clear coat)
-Double stick taped the panel to roof (used extra matte vinyl to cover the bright white border of the panel)
-Mounted charge controller in console, using existing holes at bottom of console to run wires
-Ran wires through firewall to battery and through parking brake grommet to solar panel connected under rear window.
-Connected a cheap LED volt meter to the output port of the charge controller.

Future upgrades:
-Junction box for solar connection
-Clean up external solar wire routes
-Add extra cig lighter or USB ports


5/15/2019
The future for powering my shit - dual battery

11/25/2018
Final thoughts on single battery with solar

UPDATE 01/29/2017
First sun exposure, right after pulling out of the garage, battery voltage slowly went up to about 12.9 volts before i left. After a drive to my buddies place, alternator voltage was about 13.7 volts and solar picked up right from there when i turned the truck off. Voltage got to about 14.1 volts in all the suns glory. Later in the day, when the sun was getting pretty low, voltage was still up towards 12.8.

UPDATE 02/26/2017
I've had this setup out in the sun multiple times so far. Even in heavy rain, some snow, 80* temp and numerous mud puddles. Due to the forced manual warping of the solar panel to conform to the roof contour, its pulled up a few ripples, taking the wrap with it. Some spots of the tape appear to be separating but the gap is soo small, i would need a very thin feeler gauge to get under it. Looks to be OK for the time being.

I have noticed that my battery is holding more voltage recently. Pre-Solar, I was usually about 12.3-12.4v after a drive. Now i'll be sitting in my garage at 12.5-12.7v. Outside, i'm anywhere from 12.8-14.1v depending on sun. I can get elevated voltage with cloudy weather and even after sunset. Volt meter was also rewired to read actual battery voltage and not solar output.

UPDATE 4/18/2017
Just did a 5 day trip in AZ. Did not touch the panel. Kept my fridge running at 21 degrees and my battery topped off. Still in the same state as before. Some ripples here and there but the tape is holding just fine. Wrap doesnt seem to be lifting any other spots. Even hit 95mph on a highway in "Mexico". I saw Voltage from 12.4 up to 14.4. Thinking of rigging up a mini swamp cooler for the tent when it gets really hot.

Update 06/25/2017
Left the truck outside for a week in the 110+ weather and the tape is still holding. No additional lifting/peeling was found. I did however notice creases formed on a couple of the solar cells that were rippled before. I added a picture below. Performance hasn't changed as far as I can tell. I do think my fridge overheated though. 117 degrees (we tied the record) is probably 180-200 in the truck, plus the heat coming off the compressor. It was showing 70 degrees one day when I checked. Fired the truck up and she kicked back on. Battery voltage kept above 12.4v.

Update 07/13/2017
Did a 1500 mile round trip from Vegas to Ouray, CO then to Moab, UT and Brian Head, UT. Over 100 miles of dirt, 4LO, 4HI, Hell's Revenge in Moab, 13,200ft passes in Ouray down to 2000ft through the Virgin River Gorge, temps from 113 down to 55, road speeds from 0-80mph, even got a few 50mph wind gusts at night in Ouray. Saw rain several times and overall, no issues with the solar. She is still stuck on the roof so i'd imagine it's safe to say, the tape is gonna hold just fine. I'll probably remove it and do a double row (2" wide) as a maintenance thing once a year just because. I've also been thinking of a dual battery setup so I can run the Optima battery down to 10.1v instead of only 11.4v. It would over double my run-time capacity and allow me to safely add more accessories.

Update 7/24/2018 (one full year since my last update)
Many miles, many places. Solar still works like it did at the beginning. Got a second panel to try and boost the average voltage. Pics to come.









Solar panel after a week in record breaking temps. Warping was from initial install. Creases appeared recently.

 

Pretty neat
Great job

 

This is pretty cool. Good job.

 

interesting, and nice.

 

nice work!

 

Super-interested in hearing how your install holds up in the sun... worried about the tape or clip adhesive failing in the heat? Also, aesthetics aside, wonder if a chrome wrap on the roof would reflect more energy and keep your cab cooler...

 

Very cool.

 

Am I seeing this correctly, is the solar panel laying flat to the contours of your roof?

 

Awesome!

 

Impressive! I am going to look into doing this. Thanks for the post OP.

 

Interesting. If you ever have to reinstall the panel, try a white vinyl wrap on the roof instead. Solar panels lose considerable efficiency the hotter they get, so sitting on and being surrounded by black might have an impact on performance.

 

....my hero

 

I actually did not think too much into the adhesive holding up or not. I did get the strongest VHB mounting tape that scotch makes. I held the panel (~5lbs) up by a windex bottle with just a 1"x1" piece. Felt like i was gonna tear the bottle in half trying to pull it off. I hope over 10ft of the stuff on the entire perimeter should suffice. As far as a chrome wrap, not my style but would probably help heat.

Yes it is. I "suggested" it contour the roof with that strong ass tape. Laid the front and back first, then pressed the side edges down firmly and it voila!

The fridge only uses about 1-2 amps @ 12v of power. Flat on the ground, mid-day, the panel produced ~ 5 amps @ 21v with the weaker and angled winter sun. Efficiency is something i'm willing to sacrifice for not having a giant white thing on my roof. I feel i have enough power in the buffer zone to account for any loss in efficiency.

 

For the cost of this "upgrade" you could go to 7-11 hundreds of times and buy all the 6 packs and ice bags you might want. Another "solution" in search of a problem!

 

Looks great. Fridge runs on DC I assume , there is no inverter.

 

This is awesome. People think solar panels are ridiculously expensive to make when in actuality they're very affordable. You can make a panel that charges your phone for less than $15. It takes several hours to solder everything together, but the benefits are worth it. I'm looking forward to seeing how well it holds up. The only part that would bug me would be the wires by the back glass. I know you're wanting to re-wire, so that'll get taken care of. Good job on the install! It looks very professional and I'm sure you'll get asked about it a bunch.

 

oh wow

 

Not really. You cant power a fridge w ice.