Solar on Daul cab

Hi Ray.

I have fitted 2 x 160W panels onto my D-Max. I already had bars on the cab but they did not work out with the panels so I fitted 2 x cross bars and then used stainless steel hose clamps to fix the panels. I used 2 lengths of 25mm square tube that was a very tight fit into the bottom edge of the panel frame. I then fixed the 2 square tubes clamping them both to the cross bars.




With the canopy, I was lucky that the panels just fitted between the 2 roof bars so I cut slots in the panel frame and again used the stainless steel hose clamps to fix the panel to the 2 bars.


On both front and back, I used some clear poly tube between the clamp and the panel to stop ant vibration.

I have had these on the car for over 6 years now and there is no sign of movement of the panels. The only problem is that they do create a bit of wind noise which I could probably reduce by filling the underside of the panel to remove the cavity - any suggestions would be appreciated.

Hello

Maybe consider a slide out solar panel - I provide these as examples

80 watt Slideout Solar Panel

100 watt Slideout Solar Panel

80 watt and maybe 100 watt is probably a bit small but no reason a larger panel couldn't be used in same fashion. I assume you can buy slides and mount your own panel??

Another option/idea

Solar Panel Roof Rack Mod

Cheers
Greg

You will need an MPPT controller to get anything worthwhile out of a shaded panel. PWM controllers are only as good as the worst performing sections of the panel.

Fixed a 120W Portable Solar Panel to the D-Max roof bars and use its solar charger to maintain the Tug Canopy dual battery (105amps) for the Frig. Also have a 240VAC charger and GPO for when Tug is in its home garage.

Mounting a panel in under the roof rack is not practical, the shaded strips will
prevent any power generation.

Hi Ray,

What I did on my Forester was to bolt three pieces of square aluminium tube, going front/back, to the bottom of my cross bars. I used spacers to ensure that the top of the solar panel was below the top of the cross bar, so I can still use the cross bars to carry stuff. There is a piece of aluminium angle going side to side at the front and rear of the solar panels, that is riveted to the square tube.


cheers
David

Hi Ray t1,

One would assume you are only looking to actually have the solar panels powering your fridge whilst you are stationary. Otherwise anything on top of the roof rack and indeed the roof rack itself would render the solar panels next to useless. The “slide out” solar panel mounting slides look good, but how heavy are they? I know a fridge slide weighs a fair amount. If you are only intending to power the fridge whilst parked up, why not just use folding panels or a folding blanket. If you want to run your fridge whilst driving, better to install an auxiliary battery and charger to run from the car.

To help with the fridge, do you have it in an insulated travel bag? Have you thought about adding a couple of 12 volt extraction fans to your canopy to help vent the hot air? I have seen some canopies that have fans installed complete with filters.

Macca.

Our 25 year old engel lives in the ute under a canopy and runs off the AUX battery. When driving I have a pressure hatch on the canopy that is kept open unless it is raining. I also have a roof rack that has a 200 watt panel attached that is plugged into the redarc dc to dc charger keeping the aux battery topped up. This also keeps some shade on the canopy and so far it has worked well.