looking for ideas on mounting panels on truck camper top.
SO for christmas my daughter who works at a place that get, uses solar panels got me TWO 355 watt panels.. ( I was only hoping for one). I was planning on mounting this on top of fiberglass camper shell on pickup for use when AS was parked in shadded area to help charge batteries.
Well these dudes which are tall than me, 77" long, and 37" wide fit in truck bed but the way camper shell is made i loose some 7" inches of length overall. In order to put the AM solar tilt-able legs on I need to slide panel forward about 3 inches to get a nice flat spot which puts other edge over truck cab by some 8 or so inches.
I want to have ability to tilt panel on long side as needed from either left or right side of truck depending on where we are parked.
was thinking about some type of racks? etc but was looking to the collective for more ideas.
see pic for more info. thanks and merry christmas to all..
I put Thule bike rack rails on a previous cap. Not difficult to do, but you have to drill a bunch of holes and void your cap warranty. A little silicone at each hole, and mine didn’t leak a bit.
Once the rails are on you can put crossbars on and rig up a mounting scheme.
Rails, feet, adapters, and crossbars will run about $500 from etrailer.
Or maybe you can get away with just the rails, and concoct a mounting system that will fit into the slots they provide. https://www.etrailer.com/Roof-Rack/Thule/THTP54.html
How much flexing would there be from cab to camper shell?? I would guess it would be minimum and not enough to cause a problem with solar panel. When i was moving the panels around cleaning the glass, Straightening one edge what had gotten damaged I can see some flex in the frame.
might try to mount a go pro on roof, tape a yard stick on the cab and see how much flex there is between them.
I was just looking on line at different type of racks and happened to stumble upon conduit racks like you use in construction projects.. got to looking and was like EURUKA ... that might work..
found these at lowes and did some looking this morning and think it might work.
the top of camper does have a slight cant or camber, front to back and left to right. If i just put a section of channel on that is only like a 18" long on all four corners and mount the AM Solar feet to that should take care of the slight curve of top and provide a good surface to mount the panels to allow for tilting is needed.
will come back when I get around to mounting the panels with pictures for all to see.. and maybe help someone else.
There is a good deal of flex between the front and back. The bed is independent of the cab. I would build a frame out of that Unistrut stuff or something else then mount that on top of the camper shell. Make sure you have attach pads that are relatively large in area to support the roof and a good backer on the inside. If you build your frame well, it could extend over the cab but be supported by the camper shell. Also make sure the shell it bolted to the truck bed not clamped.
I saw a prototype alternate energy trailer, lots of batteries, genset and lots of solar panels. The panels laid flat on the roof all stacked up. They had slides so the upper panels slid sideways and past the below panels kinda like a drawer opening. If I recall they were 4 deep. The whole rack assembly then tilted. It probably had 300+ sq feet of panels when opened. It seems like a neat way to expand our small roof areas into a big panel.
now i bet that was a sight to see.. If the panels were as large as this one that is one heavy mother on top.. it seems like each panels weighs in a like 57 lbs each.
I think the unistrat product will work best as there is 1/2 curve in the top so this will allow for panel to be straight on top.
I was going to cut the material in like 15" long section put one on each corner long ways, drilling through fiberglass cap, put in SS bolts washer and nuts. The unistrat product is coated with a "Gold Galvanized finish" so that should not rust for the long haul.
When i put the tilt-able feet down I will use the 3m tape and drill a hole to install bolt/nut to unistrut as well since I will not have the full length of hold down foot part.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HiHoAgRV
I saw a prototype alternate energy trailer, lots of batteries, genset and lots of solar panels. The panels laid flat on the roof all stacked up. They had slides so the upper panels slid sideways and past the below panels kinda like a drawer opening. If I recall they were 4 deep. The whole rack assembly then tilted. It probably had 300+ sq feet of panels when opened. It seems like a neat way to expand our small roof areas into a big panel.
SO i finally got the large solar panel mounted on pickup camper and with it comes the ability to tilt from side to side if and when needed.. It as heavy booger for sure but I have figured a way to lift it support it and install my tilt bars from the ground on a bucket.
I had to install the bars to extend a bit off the back due to the way the camper shell tilts forward at the back window. The panel will produce 15.6 amps, from a 8.9 amp rated panel with MPPT controller..
Cab and truck bed, and by extension the cap, flex a LOT in relation to each other. The frame of the truck is not that rigid and really needs to flex to absorb road shock and suspension travel--cab and bed move around a lot going down the road...
I would not bridge the gap between truck and shell with anything rigid. Try to keep the solar panel supports all on the shell to avoid a lot of flexing.
__________________
Rich, KE4GNK/AE, Overkill Engineering Dept.
'The Silver HamShack' ('07 International 22FB CCD 75th Anniversary)
Multiple Yaesu Ham Radios inside and many antennae sprouting from roof, ProPride hitch, Prodigy P2 controller.
2012 shortbed CrewMax 4x4 Toyota Tacoma TV with more antennae on it.
it is. the entire panel is on camper shell. it the gray part..
Quote:
Originally Posted by rmkrum
Cab and truck bed, and by extension the cap, flex a LOT in relation to each other. The frame of the truck is not that rigid and really needs to flex to absorb road shock and suspension travel--cab and bed move around a lot going down the road...
I would not bridge the gap between truck and shell with anything rigid. Try to keep the solar panel supports all on the shell to avoid a lot of flexing.
Cool. It does look nice and tidy the way you mounted it.
__________________
Rich, KE4GNK/AE, Overkill Engineering Dept.
'The Silver HamShack' ('07 International 22FB CCD 75th Anniversary)
Multiple Yaesu Ham Radios inside and many antennae sprouting from roof, ProPride hitch, Prodigy P2 controller.
2012 shortbed CrewMax 4x4 Toyota Tacoma TV with more antennae on it.
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