solar power generator
 

i ran across this online, its a solar power generator, seems like it would work well on trucks, its $1,200, but you never have to fill it up

www.KenSolar.com/generator

It's not a generator. It's a simple 1 battery setup with an inverter like your truck. The battery is not massive like they say. I would say it would take a whole week to charge it back up after draining it from the solar cell. You wouldn't be able to run that much for long before it was dead.

For that price you would be better off to buy 4 batteries at Walmart and a 1500 watt inverter and let your truck charge up the batteries every single day while you drive.

Don't get me wrong, this setup is pretty nice for a home owner who needs something in an emergency but it's really meant to be left alone and charging until that time comes.

You can buy the solar panel from any rv dealer for $600- $800 for 100 - 120 watt panel. On a sunny day, if your truck batteries dead, and you hook up one of these panels you should be able to start your truck within 45-60 minutes.

I've got 3 130watt panels on my roof,.......pure power, and a great back up to start the truck if I need to jump off my appliance bank.

Doghouse,

Thats a nice system. It took you some time to put the info and system together that you explained in Steve's thread a while back. Your not going to be an 80 mph yella glo are ya? :lol:

I am truly a solar powered trucker :D
Now once I channel the ions that I collect from the sun and route them through the reverse flow capacitor, and then project them into a bubble around the front of my truck, I should be able to get that old international up to,,, say around 62-63mph 8) .

You'll be the fastest IH on the road then...... 8)

Damn straight :wink:

DH,
Are you concerned about vibration and the panels?
Just curious how they will hold up.
Don't forget the PIC's ??

The panels are designed to be on a mobile unit. They are for an RV application. I'm going to keep my eye on them though.

DH,

Any rubber shock absorber pad or anything incorporated into the mounts?
Or did you just bolt them to the frame attached to roof?

I just mounted them to the roof supports, without any rubber spacers. I'm interested to see how long they last, they are built a lot stronger than the kind you use on a house.

How do these panels work? I mean, can you just leave them on? Will they overcharge? Do you have to remove them when you drive? Where do you mount them?

My main interest is that I park my truck where I can't plug it in, and it'll sit over the weekend. this last monday i had to charge the batteries off my car to start it. I would love for this to be a cost effective solution to keep the batteries charged while it sits during the weekend. I don't need to run any electrical off of it, just charge it while it sits unattended.

thanks!

Seems like U got weak batteries OR a weak charging system.

My 2 cents

Yes, you could use a solar panel and charger for your batteries. You wouldn't have to mount it, just place it in the sun on or near your truck, providing you don't need it to be mobile. It won't overcharge your batteries over a weekend, and I think the solar chargers control that anyway, "trickle" charging as needed. Doghouse, correct me if I'm wrong.

how many panels to produce 1.21 gigawatts?

A bolt of lightning!

Well, the truck sat overnight, shut down at 2000, and at 1500 this afternoon i got 3 cranks and it was dead
took 'em 15 minutes on the jump generator to get it to start.
they're gonna look it over and hopefully get it fixed.

it's a 2004 9400i, my guess is the entire battery system came from the factory.

I see these dashboard chargers that plug into the lighter, is there a way to get that charge to go thru the entire system? or would charging the +1 battery be good enough? Actually, i don't need it to charge, i just want to counteract the natural discharge that happens.

Oh, btw, this truck sat overnight in 20 degree weather, so cold was most certainly a factor.

if i had been in the truck using the webasto, i'm positive it would have been dead in the morning.

UPDATE
As of 2300 the shop found one bad battery, and they're now charging the rest. They shut down at midnight, so I'll know more in the morning.

To have a panel that maintains your batteries does not have to be very big,..maybe like this one

http://www.talcoelectronics.com/p-68...y-charger.aspx

It comes with its own charge controller, and will keep your truck batteries fresh.

but for recharging batteries that crank slowly from use while truck engine was not running,......you'll need a set of these bad boys

[img]http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...olarpanels.jpg

These will bring my batteries from 10.5 volts to 12.8 in about 45 minutes.
There are 390 watts of power being generated, and they run through a hi voltage charge controller, the spark these throw is clean and blue, and they actually have too muck electrical flow for a 50amp fuse, the fuse get too hot to touch.[/img]

yeah, i got it back from the shop, they replaced a battery, and i think/assume they at least cleaned all teh connections. haven't had a chance to look at it yet. But when i cranked it i definitely noticed a difference, even though it took a few turns to get it going.
i'll see how it starts tomorrow after sitting from 1500.
i let it idle for 3 hours before shutting it down for the night.

doghouse how much did your setup cost? Where did you get it from?

Does it tell you how many amps it's charging?

mine is a company truck with teh stupid air dam on top, so no flat roof real estate for solar panels.

I'd like to know how much that 3 panel setup cost you too and where you got it ???

I'm guessing DH got the panels from here:

http://www.talcoelectronics.com/c-11...ar-panels.aspx

$2940.00 on sale!

A place called RV solar, do a search and ask for Doug, he was very good during the whole project.

http://www.rvsolarelectric.com/

Try this