TCM Alert 820 Travel Lite Illusion

The truck camper forum is thinking more fixed panel on the camper roof not your 4x4 vehicle. Have you checked forum's like Expedition Portal? Have you looked at Aspect Solar or Global Solar? I remember at the last Overland Expo I went to there was a vendor who had impressive solar panels that rolled/folded into small packages and then you could quickly unfold for use. Believe they were even military grade, BUT, they were expensive.

Fixed on my roof and I love it

I installed twice the amount of PVSolar wattage that I determined that I'd need...

I installed them flat on the roof... they are charging my AGM batteries anytime the sun shines, I never have to give them a thought.

They are permanantly stored way up there, out of sight (sort of...)

Wind no problem, theft, not likely

Nothing to cast a shadow on a single cell... no tree limbs or flag poles....

I mounted them above the roof about 6"... they provide shade to our camper roof.

I have recently decided to use the excess power for a project... of course I'll eventually want more panels up there.... you just can't have too many.


Question for portable PVSolar panel users: Where do you store the portable solar panels... with your lawn furnature, decrative campsite fence, flag pole, grill, fire ring, and wading pool... and 3 cases of beer ?

I don't haul a lot of junk... 2 folding chairs is all.

Thought about solar add on but since our old camper came fully functional running on the truck batteries, we have two, and with no battery nor battery compartment we've decided to skip the expenses and hassle of keeping things sorted. We very seldom stay longer than 2 days in any one place, go lots of miles between camping spots, don't use the camper off the truck and carry a Honda 2000w generator for those times we don't have shore power we're fine as is. It's a place to sleep, store stuff, cool off or warm up and otherwise we're out and about. Pretty simple and suits us, but not for everyone.

lookatdirt wrote:
Was looking at the Zamp portable solar power website and thought I'd ask if any of you had used this set up and what you thought about it. I am interested in a portable system, rather than a permanent one, because I often camp in my 4x4, rather than the camper and like the idea of using it in both applications.

Would the 80 watt system be plenty to keep my battery topped off? I am not planning to run any big appliances, just things like the heater fan, some lights, and maybe some tunes.

Would I be better off with a higher amp set-up or is 80 amps sufficient. Or...?

I would say yes. My last TC had one 95 watt fixed panel and it charged 2 AGM batteries and kept my DC compressor fridge running along with the rest of the camper. Only rarely did I need to fire up the Honda generator and even then I would've made it.

Was looking at the Zamp portable solar power website and thought I'd ask if any of you had used this set up and what you thought about it. I am interested in a portable system, rather than a permanent one, because I often camp in my 4x4, rather than the camper and like the idea of using it in both applications.

Would the 80 watt system be plenty to keep my battery topped off? I am not planning to run any big appliances, just things like the heater fan, some lights, and maybe some tunes.

Would I be better off with a higher amp set-up or is 80 amps sufficient. Or...?

I read the article also, I would prefer to have a fixed panel on the roof. Our old Lance has this (not sure of the size, probably not much more than 80 watts) & this keeps our batteries charged when we are boonie camping. Just for reasons mentioned I don't particularly want to move the thing around & then have to store it somewhere! Other than this I did like the new slide Illusion model, still a $30k msrp though. For that kind of money I would have to think strongly about spending almost the same amt $$ for a wood framed versus aluminum frame. I know there's advantages for both, but this is getting off the subject! Sorry

It always makes me smile to see someone so excited about something. That guy sounds WAYYYY into their new campers.

It also always makes me smile to see a box that sits in your truck bed boast things like cherry cabinetry, back splashes, fabrics, countertop appearance, etc. To me a TC is more about function than style, but that's just me.

In the motorcycle world, manufacturers will offer the exact same model with no changes other than paint color and the graphics from one model year to the next. I've seen this jokingly referred to as "BNG" - from the term which seems to always appear in the marketing hyping this year's model - "bold new graphics."

I'm a Travel Lite owner, and I'm happy with my camper. I wouldn't pay extra for the BNG or afterthought-solar, but I like the fact that there's a manufacturer competing at a price we can afford and offering more choices. Best of luck to them.

sabconsulting wrote:
1) It is only 80w.
2) You have to spend time setting it up and putting it away.
3) To make up for the smaller size you need to keep re-arranging it to track the sun.
4) More chance of it being tripped over or walked on if left out at night.
5) Chance of being stolen or lost. So it won't be generating power when you are parked away from your campground during the day because you won't be able to deploy it.
6) You want to keep the cables as short and thick as possible to reduce resistive loss. Portable panels are more likely to have longer thinner cables for convenience.

Steve.

I would add one more, for those that use their truck campers, out west.

The Wind.

On many occasions, I have watched people scramble, out of their RVs, to catch their expensive and glass faced Solar Panels blowing in the wind. Many of them tie them down with shock cords and this only adds to the excitement, as they take the shape of towels, blowing in the wind, as they become airborne.

Portable Solar Panels are a good idea when you are less likely to go out and do things, during the sunny time of day. Many of the retired people, that go to RV Parks use them, as well as those that want to grab some Sun, for short stops. So, they are useful, but my experience with Truck Camper people, is they are more active of a bunch, to sit and watch the Sun move from one horizon, to another.

b

Interesting. I'd still rather have a fixed mount, though something like that might be nice to supplement the roof panels during the winter months.