solar

[silverstriketim]

I did a little cold weather camping last weekend and ran the heater quite a bit, well the battery ran low on the second night, the fan would kick on but the ignitor would not. So I turned it off and threw another blanket on the bed and recalled the good ol' tent days. When I returned home I put the meter on the battery and it was recharged and ready to go, I fired up the heater and it came right on. I really do not want to add a second battery and I am going on a long trip soon and will be staying at a few places for more than a couple of days. So a solar panel seems to be the answer, now who out there has one? how many watts? how is it mounted? did you buy a kit? any info will help, thanks.

 

[dsrtrat]

I mounted a 65 watt Kyocera KC 65-T panel flat on the front roof area of my ATC Panther using some 1" tubing from the factory rack I removed. The panel was the smallest and lightest I could find for the wattage. It kept the standard 75 amp hour battery charged with our Engle 45 quart fridge running on a fridge setting on a recent Baja trip. We didn't use the furnace much and had full sun most days. I may add an additional panel in the future if I need it but so far the single panel seems to do the job.

I used this company for the components as they had everything I needed to put it together. I used a Morningstar Sunsaver 10 amp charge controller.

One thing to keep in mind if you use large panels is the weight. I wanted to keep mine forward so as not to block the rack area and also to be able to reach it from the cab area for cleaning.. Try putting the same weight as the panels on the roof and see if you can lift it before deciding on your panel size and placement.

All in all I am pleased with the system but after seeing the prices that extra battery may look pretty good to you.

I am not affiliated with this company, just found that they provided good service.
Dsrtrat

http://www.windsun.com/

 

[cabezon23]

solar slide out

I installed an 85W solar panel on some HD Sliders right under the front overhang of the camper. I actually saw this setup right here quite some time ago.

The panel keeps the battery easily charged, but then again, I don't use my heater a lot around here

The solar panel is very well protected where it is, but it doesn't charge the battery as long as I don't slide it out.

 

[silverstriketim]

thanks

Thanks for the replies, one thing a like about this site is that it helps to make decisions before we spend the $, I have a 2nd battery on a marine perco switch and inverter under the hood of the truck and I am going to move it into the camper and spend the extra $ on wandering.