Towing and Solar System Charging

[babock]

I think like 350-400W would be peak since they wrap a bit like you said. But that design also allows for a good 100+W during most daylight hours. Also has a spot to add more via a SAE connection on the side.

Another problem with flexible panels is they get HOT since there is no air able to travel under them. When they get hot, their voltage goes down so they almost have to be in series to use with an MPPT solar controller.

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[JoeP50]

I was doing a road trip to northern CA this spring and was really obsessing about getting the range estimates right with mountain driving, so I added an altitude fudge in my spreadsheet - turns out for a 7,000 lb truck that's about 2.7KWh/1000 feet change - and 4.9KWh/1000 ft when hauling my 6,000 lb trailer. Anyway this explains why when the last time I trailer camped in our local mountains, I started the trip home with 30% charge and parked at my house with 33%! I never thought that it was worth it to try to solar charge Mark Watney style, as the weight of the panels quickly exceed any efficiency gains. Now if I also had an RTG, maybe that could be something..

 

[joelmcewen777]

Thank you everyone for the reply. To clarify, this would be for a 31’ super lite trailer with bifacial Solar panels. I figured I could get 2k of panels on the roof, still confirming this with the company, and then would supplement with a portable fold out array I would store in trailer.

We have 1500W of solar on our travel trailer roof, and we use the excess to level 1 charge our Rivian. In a good month (not too hot or cold, plenty of sunshine, time to manage the charging) we can send 30-60 kWh to the truck. It's not much but it's something.
https://allelectricproject.com/

I think the main thing I see is that there are a lot of electronic pieces between the panels and the truck battery, all of them take energy, and the truck itself is quite inefficient at bringing in level 1 power. We used to have a Chevy Bolt, and charging from the solar panels made a real difference in adding miles. Not so much with the Rivian (and I don't think it's only the difference in driving efficiency). Again, better than nothing.

Also a good backup (backup, backup) plan if we ever get too low on truck battery level while towing - we could always sit somewhere for days to add enough juice to limp to a charging station Hopefully we never have to test this in real life!

Thanks for this and nice website. Let me know if you are ever in California. We can meet up for a coffee and talk shop.

 

[MarcyB]

Thanks for this and nice website. Let me know if you are ever in California. We can meet up for a coffee and talk shop.

Thank you!

Are you anywhere between the Bay Area and Truckee? We'll be there late August/early September (truck only/no trailer, but always love talking about this stuff)

 

[joelmcewen777]

Yes I am in Portugal now on a job, i build Biopools (natural swimming pools) but my company is based out of the bay. I should be in June lake around that time hopefully

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