Pieced together a solar hood panel kit on Amazon

[XraytecH]

Love the Hive Mind on this page.

Keep it coming, Pros and Cons

The kit is still in my cart.

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[bertio]

I've always wanted one especially with having a Fridge on a slider in the back that is tied to the starter battery. In the end the cost just seems too high!

There is a guy that does Toyotas called Tinkerers Adventure who just put a giant 400 watt solar panel on his roof and is loving that. Probably was cheaper than everything in your cart.



His video really got me thinking about how to electrify and Overlanding rig.

With the small hood solar your basically getting an overpriced trickle charger.

 

[HooliganActual]

Love the Hive Mind on this page.

Keep it coming, Pros and Cons

The kit is still in my cart.

I think what you want to do is perfectly fine...if all you want to do is have a battery maintainer.

Now the bigger question: Do you ever have plans to install a fridge or other such stuff in the bed, back seat, or wherever? I ask because I tend to think in the mindset of future proofing on any Jeep build project I undertake.

If you think you might want to build out your bed for camping (I'm assuming you haven't because your posts haven't mentioned it) then you might want to think about going a route where you have a larger proper panel, a 100 amp lithium dohickie ("house" battery), and a DC-DC MPPT charge controller. Properly set up, a system like that will also act as a battery maintainer but will be vastly more fucntional for other things. You could easily spend a few hundred bucks on what your doing now and then 3 months from now you decide you need more and you are basically paying for the same functionality (with more features) again.

Ask yourself what you plan on doing with your Jeep within the next year. Honestly, my Renogy 200W Solar, 30A DC-DC MPPT, and 100aH Lithium doohickey didn't cost a lot more than what you are planning to do, but it has so much more capability.

 

[Jaxmax]

Have to chime in as I am in the same place as Xraytech, my situation changed when I bought an ARB fridge for in the bed for turkey hunting and surf fishing. I am going with Zamp Solar Obsidian hard 100 watt panel ( 3/4” high) with a charge controller, low mounting feet and a cord to connect together for about $405. I am getting a blem panel for $250. I have an RSI cap that the panel will fit on top , coupled with a dual AGM battery system , I can go pretty long between drives and not touch my starting battery.
Bernie , I get where you are coming from don’t want to jump it, don’t want to plug it in, just get in worry free and go , perhaps the 30 watt panel would be plenty for that, less money ,less coverage of hood as you are charging your one battery. Reach out to Wildhobo or CrashEd, they both have the systems seem to like them and as Ed said he went big first and went back to the smaller panel to avoid any bends…..Jack

 

[ShadowsPapa]

There is zero need to top off your battery when parked. That’s why your vehicle has an alternator.

Additionally, $470for a 90w panel is utter ridiculousness. 200w is like 200 bucks.

Disagree - I run things from my truck's battery when I'm truck camping. I can keep the truck battery topped off while using a cooler or TV or other stuff and know that after two days, the truck will start and it won't have been sitting with batteries taken down low on a deep discharge.

I hate drawing the battery down far, then charging it up using the alternator - that's not what an alternator is for. People misunderstand the reason for an alternator.
These are start batteries, not deep discharge batteries.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Have you considered an option of one of the portable jump starters? I carry one always. They will work your your or someone else's vehicle and they are $100-ish. A solar panel for your use case is a lot of trouble to go to for very little gain IMHO.

The point for me is our start/crank batteries aren't deep cycle batteries. They are starter batteries. Alternators aren't meant to keep recharging a battery that's deeply discharged.
A battery that's constantly discharged and charged will not live as long.
Best to keep it topped off at all times.
A solar system is a good way.
You can run a lot of accessories and never draw the battery down. Why abuse the battery? Keep it topped off - and the solar panels will be plenty to run a lot of today's modern accessories like coolers and so on.
IMO, it's a great idea - solar panels, keep that battery at full charge all the time, and still be able to run some small accessories. Never worry about the crank battery being so low you can't start.
Jump packs are for emergencies - not because people treat a crank battery like a deep cycle battery.

 

[OldSarge]

The point for me is our start/crank batteries aren't deep cycle batteries. They are starter batteries. Alternators aren't meant to keep recharging a battery that's deeply discharged.
A battery that's constantly discharged and charged will not live as long.
Best to keep it topped off at all times.
A solar system is a good way.
You can run a lot of accessories and never draw the battery down. Why abuse the battery? Keep it topped off - and the solar panels will be plenty to run a lot of today's modern accessories like coolers and so on.
IMO, it's a great idea - solar panels, keep that battery at full charge all the time, and still be able to run some small accessories. Never worry about the crank battery being so low you can't start.
Jump packs are for emergencies - not because people treat a crank battery like a deep cycle battery.

To each their own brother!

 

[PuddleJumper]

uh...seems like a lot for what purpose? To buy a new battery every 3-4 years instead of every 2? That seems like a long payback period to me. Being in SF, I would think your battery doesn't take the heat beating ours does down here.

Does this thing permanently rest on your hood or do you remove it every time? what's it going to do to your paint finish?

generally these output enough wattage to run and idling dometic fridge. so you can leave your fridge running and its not actively draining the battery plus it can sometimes keep the battery topped off and the fridge under the right conditions. I see this setup a lot more common on Toyota rigs. and they have been doing them for years and achieving the desired results. Its makes more sense when u look at it from an overlanding perspective. lots of energy hungry gear and the truck isn't on all the time to charge its battery so constant state of discharge.

 

[Camaroboi13]

Vehicle batteries can lose voltage just sitting. High heat can speed up that voltage loss. The parasitic drain that is common in almost all vehicles is the most common reason for battery power loss. Jeep traditionally has demonstrated a greater parasitic loss then other vehicle brands. To say that there is, "zero need to top off your battery when parked" is incorrect and grossly misleading.

It takes weeks if not months for a vehicle’s battery to drain that much. I haven’t ran my old hot rod in 6 months and I can go fire it up right now.

 

[JeffreyDV]

I saw an ad for these recently and was very intrigued until I saw the price. As an alternative I considered attaching a flexible solar panel to the front section of my tonneau cover. This would cost considerably less money. In the end, I decided it wasn’t something I need at the time but I may try it someday.

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