ottorogers
Senior Member
I am installing a 100 W panel on Saturday, I was told 100 W was enough to keep up with the compressor fridge (80 liter), if not I’ll add a second panel
I ran the 100 watt Renogy panel with my 65qt ARB and it kept up so good I didn’t shut my fridge off for over a year; and my truck isn’t my daily driverottorogers said:I am installing a 100 W panel on Saturday, I was told 100 W was enough to keep up with the compressor fridge (80 liter), if not I’ll add a second panel
my understanding is that if you don’t use the furnace a lot, 100 W should be more than enough to run the compressor fridge and never run out of battery, if not, like I said, I can add another hundred watt solar panelSo Cal Adventurer said:I ran the 100 watt Renogy panel with my 65qt ARB and it kept up so good I didn’t shut my fridge off for over a year; and my truck isn’t my daily driver
I have no experience at all with a Furnace and how much it consumes but I guess I’m about to learn! Hahaha!ottorogers said:my understanding is that if you don’t use the furnace a lot, 100 W should be more than enough to run the compressor fridge and never run out of battery, if not, like I said, I can add another hundred watt solar panel
dual batteries, We normally don’t Boondock for more than three or four days, I can almost get four days now out of two batteries fully charged without solar, so I’m relatively sure 100 W of solar will extend my time dry camping to 5 to 7 days or so, which is more than enoughSo Cal Adventurer said:I have no experience at all with a Furnace and how much it consumes but I guess I’m about to learn! Hahaha!
I am currently planning my solar setup and due to (2) panels not fitting easily with dual fans, I am going to start with the 175w NewPowa panel as it seems to get amazing reviews. I sold my (2) Renogy panels with my camper shell I just sold.
I am thinking I’m going to have my camper 100% separated from the truck, electrically anyway and want it to be self sufficient.
It’s personal preference but I’m a firm believer in the rigid panels. I know the weight difference, but I’ve had nothing but great experiences with them.
Are you running single bats or dual batts otto?
My .02
I also agree with you on the rigid panels versus flexible panels, but I’m so overweight now that I don’t wanna add any more unnecessary weight, so I’m going to try the flexible panel to see how long it lasts, I just talked to a guy today who had his flexible solar panels on his roof for over two years, and he said they are working perfectlySo Cal Adventurer said:I have no experience at all with a Furnace and how much it consumes but I guess I’m about to learn! Hahaha!
I am currently planning my solar setup and due to (2) panels not fitting easily with dual fans, I am going to start with the 175w NewPowa panel as it seems to get amazing reviews. I sold my (2) Renogy panels with my camper shell I just sold.
I am thinking I’m going to have my camper 100% separated from the truck, electrically anyway and want it to be self sufficient.
It’s personal preference but I’m a firm believer in the rigid panels. I know the weight difference, but I’ve had nothing but great experiences with them.
Are you running single bats or dual batts otto?
My .02
Here is the adapter:Josh41 said:Foxen Tec,
My 2017 Fleet Shell has an SAE plug on the roof and back wall. I am installing 2 100 watt Renogy panels and splicing the provided plug from FWC to an adapter from Renogy. You can find a factory made SAE to MC4 on Amazon or just make your own.
I am running 2, 1.5 aluminum angles across the Yakima tracks and bolting the panels to that.
I'll post images in a few days when I'm done.
Josh41 said:Wired and installed. Two Renogy 100 watts rigid panels on our Fleet Shell. Pulled out of the garage to see what it can do tomorrow.20180215_163301.jpg20180215_164705.jpg
It's an MC4 branch connector, about $13, and connects the 2 panels.FoxenTec said:Thank you Josh and So Cal for your excellent help!
So it looks like the adapter on Amazon would do one panel converting it from MC4 to the SAE. I love SAE connectors and have used them for many years with my motorcycles.
In Josh's picture, I see where you spliced in the SAE connector but I couldn't tell from the picture how you wired the two panels together prior to ending up with the one SAE connector? Did you just do your own splice to bring the two panels together?
Thank you again,
Jon