Solar panels mounted on truck Tonneau cover?

Couple of these from WalMart

I do, I use 3 12" stakes like these angled onto the ground in the same direction as the panel is angled.

Stakes

Bill-e - "so I could leave it behind to charge while out exploring"

You go ahead and leave it behind on the ground whilest you explore.

Sandia Man wrote:
Only problem I had once was we went for a hike and when we came back the Renogy solar suitcase had been blown off by a gust of wind and was laying about 10' away from our truck. I thought it was a goner, much to my surprise I just dusted it off and reconnected to battery bank and it was performing as if nothing occurred. Renogy is good quality stuff in our opinion. Have done it a few times since but for the most part when the Renogy solar suitcase is deployed we just place it on the ground.

$15 solution to blowing solar panel





Stakes not shown

RedRocket204 wrote:
You could use something like Adjustable Solar Panel Mount Mounting Rack Bracket along with the Renogy mounts. Mount the Renogy mounts on the tonneau cover and the adjustable mounts to the Renogy mounts. That is what I did for the top of my TT. The adjustable mounts can also help maximize the sun angle too. When you aren't using the solar panels, they will easily come off with the adjustable mounts, leaving the Renogy mounts still attached to your tonneau cover. You could also use those adjustable mounts and sit them on the ground, still hooked up producing energy.

Now that is a darn good idea!!!!!! I probably have the material around here to build them myself! Great Great info!!!!!!!!!

You could use something like Adjustable Solar Panel Mount Mounting Rack Bracket along with the Renogy mounts. Mount the Renogy mounts on the tonneau cover and the adjustable mounts to the Renogy mounts. That is what I did for the top of my TT. The adjustable mounts can also help maximize the sun angle too. When you aren't using the solar panels, they will easily come off with the adjustable mounts, leaving the Renogy mounts still attached to your tonneau cover. You could also use those adjustable mounts and sit them on the ground, still hooked up producing energy.

Solar panels aren't that expensive and I suppose you could remove them from the TT and leave the brackets when you sell your TT. WindyNaton 100 watt is $117 with any tax and shipping. Seems like a bunch of trouble to save little...and if you don't sell when you think you will...

Sandia Man wrote:
We have a large solar panel mounted on our TT which did a decent job but I wanted to add more watts and wanted to forego adding another to our TT roof so I picked up a Renogy solar suitcase which out performs the larger solar panel on the roof since it can be angled and repositioned throughout the day. If I'm staying put for the day, I have positioned our Renogy solar suitcase on our metal rolling truck bed cover a time or two, works fine and easily connects to our battery bank.

Only problem I had once was we went for a hike and when we came back the Renogy solar suitcase had been blown off by a gust of wind and was laying about 10' away from our truck. I thought it was a goner, much to my surprise I just dusted it off and reconnected to battery bank and it was performing as if nothing occurred. Renogy is good quality stuff in our opinion. Have done it a few times since but for the most part when the Renogy solar suitcase is deployed we just place it on the ground.

You definitely got lucky! I looked into a suitcase but for the price I could not pass up the 200 watt kit I bought with two panels, cables and a controller/charger for less that $230 at a place that was going out of business.

Pauljdav wrote:
I think the drawback is having to keep batteries in the truck and connecting the truck to the trailer when at camp.

All the batteries and controller would remain on the TT and not in the truck. The only thing on or in the truck would be the panels themselves. I would simply attach the panels to the TT controller/charger via quick connects.

Itchey Feet wrote:
One draw back may be ( truck out sight seeing during day, no charge going to TT batteries ). JMHO

Very true thought about making the cover detachable from the truck so I could leave it behind to charge while out exploring. I was thinking of building the cover out of light weigh aluminum and should weigh less than 50 lbs or so all together so two people could be able to remove it and move it quite easily. It will be held in place like a racecar hood with pins that locks on all four corners.