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Has anyone mounted a solar panel on their roof rack? Whats the best way to run the cable? What panel did you use?
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I mounted a 280w household type panel onto the roof rack. Ran the cables down the inside of the rear door opening on left hand side then came up under the taillight lens. Drilled a hole through the underside of the taillight housing. This gives access to the inside of rear quarter. Mine is a 120 but should be similar to a 150. Used a Epever controller as panel voltage is over 45v.
Conduit is for rear light, solar is 2 large cables ( 6mm). Went a bit overboard with panel but it works well. daughter was going to a muster and wanted to take prado for fridge etc. I didnt want her to start car each day to top up batteries so solar did the trick.Last edited by sparksy; 30-11-2019, 10:00 PM. -
Nice. I wouldn’t have thought the panel would survive being bounced around on a roof rack.
guess they are stronger I’d given them credit....
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Reinforced the underside with 25mm alli square section and those plastic joiners from bunnings. Made up a frame each section about 400mm apart, and fitted under lip of frame. pop riveted into place and then sicaflex along the aluminium to hold to back of panel. looks like those multi paned french doors.Originally posted by rascal View Post
Holds up well, done Cape Leveque road and Cape Peron. Downfall is it takes up most of the rack. It charges a 100AHr agm which fits under the 2nd fridge mount which replaces the single 2nd row seat. Controller and gear mounts to front of fridge cage.Comment
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Hi here is a tutorial videos in which you can learn about the calculations required using python. Solar panels in series or parallel are calculated with pc, programs or calculators. Hope this help
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That’s a great idea for running the wiring as I need to access reverse light wiring any wayComment
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