Installing Solar on the truck...

[74bassman]

Next week it will be snow up there

[hhow55]

Hurry Mr Loo

[Waterloo]

Yep, got a couple of hours in and it fired right back up, started raining and the wind picked up, had crap blowing all over the place, got pissed and came back to the house... Going back in the morning... It is cocktail time!

[tree98]

Have a mule for me

[Waterloo]

Well, I finally finished, LOL! What a F'n NIGHTMARE! I spent more time driving back and forth to and from the house, and the even closer Home Depot... I spent more time running for the stupidest things, stuff I have at the house. But, it was quicker to run to HD than to the house for stuff like a bag of screws, literally. Just shaking my head...

And, I had a plan, I thought it out, I wrote it down, schematics, parts list, etc... BS, once I got into it... The best laid plans... And Murphy! I'm the poster child.

I got into this, thought it would take three days at most... It would have in my driveway... Stupid at every turn, need a certain sized screw, need a certain length screwdriver, 10 feet of cable is not enough, out of zip ties, need two more in line fuses, and it went on and on like that.

The issue, I had to rewire most of the sleeper. I had everything on a battery isolator, that was the issue. I removed that, and the fun began! I wired everything up to the solar in the sleeper... I have nothing running off of the trucks factory system, everything is off the batteries and two Blue Seas fuse panels, there is no longer any ignition control. The key turns nothing off, everything has to be done manually. I do that with remote controls, I wired another one in tonight, for a total of three controlling the fans and stereo, and one going in tomorrow for the inverter, I did not have time to install that, not worried about it at this point, as the inverter is now mounted under the cabinet behind the driver seat, it is right there, easy access.

Anyhow, the panels are in, the controller is in, the sleeper is rewired and I have more fused links than Carter has liver pills. Thank God the local stereo shop carried what I needed.

The solar panel controller came with a really cool monitor screen, it is like 3x3 inches, but tells me everything going on with the system. At around 1900, the sun was nearly set, I was still getting 4 amps off the panels.

The install itself, if going into a non Waterloo truck, would be pretty quick, 6 hours tops if you stay away from the beer, have lunch, have the tools (stereo install tools), and a couple of trips to the hardware store. It was honestly that easy.

I would post some photos, but I left the phone in the truck, it was 2050 when I left the parking area, and the Vodka store closed at 2100... I made it. ;-)

I'm kind of pumped right now with these panels, they were charging the batteries, and were keeping up with my three fans running, interior lights on, and this was as the sun was setting. They were holding the charge in the battery.

Oh, the inverter, I finished that today too, what a night and day difference over that 1800 watt Trip Lite from Thermo King. I was finally able to use my heat gun in the truck, I made a dozen trips to the house to use the stupid thing on the cabling. The heat gun is rated at 1500 watts, but the dirty Trip Lite would not even fire up the gun. This new 2200 watt inverter and my Wagner heat gun, it heats up faster than it does at the house. Honestly blew me away, it heated up that fast.

If you are in the market for an inverter, get a pure sine wave, spend the extra dollars. And 2200 watts is going to be fine in my truck, no need to go larger. The extra outlets on the 3000 watt inverter would be nice, but I really do not need them. This baby will run everything I need.

I'm pumped, and cannot wait to get back out on the road to see how everything works out, and any fuel savings.

Just from what I saw once the panels were up and running, I think the ROI on these panels will be rather quick. I probably have around $700 in everything, including the rewire of my entire sleeper. I'm honestly thinking around two months. If it stays cool out, even sooner. I will let you know.

[Ricky]

(09-08-2020 )Waterloo Wrote:  

(09-07-2020 )Chamberpains Wrote:  If you wanted a much cleaner look to hold those down you could use heavy duty adhesive backed Hook and loop (velcro) 10lb rating or better. I used the stuff on my 2 roof mounted strobe lights. Clean the surface with some alcohol. Peal 1 side of the velcro and stick it to what your putting on the truck then peal the other side and stick it to the roof. For an added layer of securement and longevity run a bead of RTV silcon around the entire edge to seal out water and dirt from getting in and under the velcro. Those strobes never came off the roof in 6 years and are still up there.

The bigger strobes I had on the previous truck to this last one I added a bead of 2 part epoxy to the leading and trailing sides. This was waaaay over kill but I was afraid a tree strike would tear them off. I whacked quite a few and they never came off. But I also had a hard time getting them off by breaking the bead of epoxy with a chisel and it left 2 small lines of it on the roof. But it was on the roof. The only people that can see them are the government agency tracking you....

I thought of using the hook and loop, many guys do, even with the tape. But, from everything I have read, the tape will suffice. And, there is a piece of corrugated plastic cardboard under each panel for cooling.

I wish I could have gotten my fat ass on the roof, and was going to do just that, but after getting up there and pushing on the actual roof, I found it to be paper thin. I was pushing it in with ease, no support on the plastic or fiberglass.

All I could see was it cracking... A 90lb little girl would probably do fine up there, I could not see it supporting much more than that. So, I did the stretch routine, with the wind and my tape fluttering and the ladder slipping...

The good thing, we are the only folks that will more than likely ever see the panels on the roof. Unless I'm rolling under an overpass... As long as they stay put, I will be happy, and honestly, I don't see them going anywhere. That EternaBond along with the Gorilla tape, both are very tough.

The roofs are really very strong. I'm like 230 and have been all over mine over the years. From taking the wind jammer off to putting the AC and strobes up there. I did mount a 4x4 sheet of aluminum up there to help keep the AC sturdy. If you pull down the head linear it is very well made.

[Waterloo]

Just walked in, went and cleaned my mess up in the truck, buttoned a few things up, etc... I had everything off electronic wise, sitting in the driver seat watching my volt meter... It went from 12.6 to 12.9 volts in a matter of a few minutes, and kept going. And yes, there is an automatic shut off so as not to cook the batteries... Very happy.

[Waterloo]

Well, truck has been sitting for two days, got in, voltage on my little volt meter was 14.3 volts. I left the refrigerator on, and it was sitting at 39* F. Sitting here listening to the stereo, volt meter holding 13.2 volts, and slowly charging. I think this is going to work, and I do not believe the Tri-Pac ever kicked on, judging from the fuel gauge. The ROI should be pretty quick on the solar.

[74bassman]

Glad to hear it is running. So, for me the install should take about 3 to 4 weeks.