Anyone run solar panels on their truck?

[jm1607]

I have a good place to permanently mount about a 1'x2' panel. Would only be about 25W so not very big.

If I do, what the hell would I use for it? What accessories would I run?

 

[Wapiti1]

Depends on what you are doing. I run one 50 watt panel to keep a battery topped up for running lights and a charging station at camp. It's nice to just flip a switch and have camp lit up. It's also really easy to run a small inverter to charge camera batteries and phones.

My dad has the same setup on his travel trailer to keep those batteries topped up.

Jeremy

 

[fmyth]

As soon as my new ARE topper arrives I'm installing a single 100w panel to charge a single RV battery that will power my 40l 12v refrigerator/freezer($270 Massimo 40x from costco.com).

 

[tdot]

Trickle charging a battery is about the only real use I see with a panel that small. It is small enough that you can't run anything of consequence from it directly.

But to be honest, a 25w panel will produce 200 watts a day, at best. That's 2000 watts in a 10 day period. Not very much power. You'd probably be better off buying a battery that you charge at home and bring along with you.

 

[SonnyDay]

As others have said, that’s not a ton of power. But charging a deep cycle RV battery would let you then charge phones, run some lights, etc. You might also consider a “battery with brains” such as the stuff from Goal Zero. Main advantage is they handle conversion to the various charging outputs (USB, 12v, 120v AC).

 

[Gatorgrizz27]

If it’s a ranch truck that’s not driven often, a battery tender would be handy to make sure it will crank.

Otherwise, if it’s a daily driver and you’re not running something like an ARB or Engel fridge, I see no point.

Brings to mind the old saying “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”

 

[Dioni A]

Your better off just charging a battery at home.

 

[String&stick]

We run a 25w solar on our enclosed trailer. It keeps a deep cycle battery charged. . .

That battery is wired to 3 very bright LED flood lights on the outside of the trailer, 2 led lights inside, and an inverter. We can run those lights for several hours every night and not have problems.

If I was truck mounting one I would ask myself a few questions.

#1. Why? Portable lights for camp, cleaning animals at the back of the truck, etc. Battery tender as mentioned above? What use do you have for one?

#2 will it provide enough power?

#3 will it survive where it is mounted? We keep our panel inside and then put it on its brackets once we arrive, travel can be hell on stuff.

 

[Fitzwho]

I have put a lot of thought into this lately. I am rebuilding a 1980’s Land Cruiser that I have had since high school. I will eventually be putting a custom roof rack that will incorporate solar panel(s). I have thought about a single 100w, a single 160-190w, or even dual 100w panels.

I’ll be setting it up with a dual battery isolator that charges the secondary battery with the alternator while the truck is running, but will charge both batteries via the solar. 100w is the smallest I would consider running, with at least one 100 amp-hour battery.

I have run a small solar panel on a ranch truck that would sit for months at a time and had good luck with that setup keeping the battery topped off. The truck always started.

 

[Sdieffen]

A bit off the OP's topic, but I haul an old horse trailer out west when we go elk hunting. I mounted 4 100w panels on the roof(you can barely see them in the pic). Attached 2 deep cycle batteries to a 2000w inverter. Run a 9.0 cu ft freezer in the trailer to bring food into the back countrycountry for a few weeks and then bring the elk meat back. Last time I killed an elk before I installed this I spent over 150 in ice in two huge coolers trying to get my elk home in 90 degree heat.

 

[Lukem]

Probably not the application you're looking at, but we ran a 25w on a gooseneck hydraulic tilt bed for a skidloader. Worked great on that unit until it didn't. I think the first one lasted about 18 months, but it wasn't a high quality one.

 

[Whisky]

I don't know squat about the system used, but I ran into a guy in MT who had the entire topper of his pickup covered in a solar panel. He would leave his pickup at an airport in MT with a freezer/meat in it, and fly back and forth from TX all hunting season. He did live/camp out of the pickup as well so not sure what else he powered with it.