{"id":922,"date":"2013-12-22T20:00:17","date_gmt":"2013-12-22T20:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/twohappycampers.com\/?p=922"},"modified":"2024-04-17T18:27:09","modified_gmt":"2024-04-18T00:27:09","slug":"adding-a-solar-panel-to-our-truck-camper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/twohappycampers.com\/adding-a-solar-panel-to-our-truck-camper\/","title":{"rendered":"Adding a moveable solar panel to our truck camper"},"content":{"rendered":"

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When we purchased our FWC truck camper<\/a> we included a 85 watt solar panel and two auxiliary batteries with our purchase.\u00a0 The purchase proved to be a good one as we primarily camp in remote places with no access to hookups of any kind.\u00a0 Running our refrigerator, the furnace and charging electronics had been no problem with the solar panel.\u00a0 That was true until our first winter.\u00a0 With the sun staying low in the sky throughout the winter our solar panel was not able to fully recharge our batteries.\u00a0 If our panel was able to tilt and wasn’t fixed to our roof this would not be a problem, however that is not the case.<\/p>\n

Over the summer, Mark installed a second panel (120 watts) that can be pointed at the sun for maximum power.\u00a0 Anyone that owns a truck camper knows that taking advantage of every square inch of available space is key.\u00a0 This second solar panel install is a perfect example of that.<\/p>\n

As you can see in the photo below, Mark built a frame out of 2×2 wood and angle aluminum then mounted it underneath the cab-over section of the truck camper.<\/p>\n

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The solar panel easily slides in and out of the frame and is secured snugly against the truck camper.
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A padlock insures the panel will not come out while we’re driving and also keeps it secure from theft.
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At the rear of the truck camper, Mark installed a quick connect<\/a> to plug the panel directly in to the solar controller.
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Below is the frame with the solar panel stowed away.
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Another with the solar panel stowed in place.
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Now we can keep our batteries charged 365 days a year as long as the sun is shining.<\/p>\n

If you’d like to read about more modifications and additions we’ve done to our Four Wheel Camper, check out this article: Mods & Additions to our Four Wheel Camper.<\/a><\/p>\n

Updated to add:<\/strong>\u00a0 We now also have a folding portable Zamp Solar panel<\/a>.\u00a0 A super convenient, user-friendly solar option. \u00a0\u00a0 Click here to read more.<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When we purchased our FWC truck camper we included a 85 watt solar panel and two auxiliary batteries with our purchase.\u00a0 The purchase proved to be a good one as we primarily camp in remote places with no access to hookups of any kind.\u00a0 Running our refrigerator, the furnace and charging electronics had been no […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":930,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[230],"tags":[406],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/twohappycampers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/096-100913camping.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3dQUO-eS","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/twohappycampers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/922"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/twohappycampers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/twohappycampers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twohappycampers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twohappycampers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=922"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/twohappycampers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/922\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6079,"href":"https:\/\/twohappycampers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/922\/revisions\/6079"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twohappycampers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/twohappycampers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twohappycampers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twohappycampers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}