NewHilux.net

I have been doing a bit or reading and looking but cant seem to find anything around this.

part1
I have a hilux sr5 diesel installed with a bcdc1225 and was thinking of getting the relay loom fitted in order to run a solar panel.

Question!!
Where have you fitted or had your Anderson plug fitted to connect the solar panel??

part 2,
save multiple posts.

I have an ARB canopy and ARB aluminium traderack and was wondering how anybody has setup their solar panel fixed(under the rack) or moving(ie like on a slide racks of some sort.)

I know there will be shadowing under the roofrack but hey some topup is better than no top up while parked up daily at work in the sun.

I am currently running a 40ltr Engel and looking at either upgrading to a 60ltr or 80ltr ARB due to family growing demands when away

what solar panels are others running?

My solar input anderson plug is in my canopy as my panel is on the canopy roof ( fixed) the cable runs back to the bonnet and through a changeover relay into my redarc charger.
As for your panel you dont want any shade at all it only takes a small percentage of the panel to be covered in order to drop the output out massively ( something like 20% shaded to drop 80% output dont quote me on the actual numbers though)
Recently fixed some solar bores for a bloke and with 600W of panels i could get the pump to stop running by putting my hand on the corner of 1 panel. Which gives you an idea of just how bad shade is.
You also wont get the rated panel output out if theyre fixed flat but thats not as bad as shade

Ive been running an 80w panel on my canopy for years now with the 50 l Waeco running constantly............good when you do a bit of driving but too small on its own.....

Where is your battery manager mounted? I'm going through this at the moment and the suggestion I have from my auto leccy was if under bonnet and a fold out style solar panel, to have solar input through Anderson plug assembly wired with 300mm or so of cable to be used externally of the bonnet when in use and can be put back under bonnet when not being used. Just need to set it up so that it can be neatly put away when not in use. Don't need 300mm of cable and plug flapping around under the bonnet when driving....

Hi Kevvy,

Battery is located in the engine bay passenger side near firewall.
The bcdc1225 is located between the passenger headlight and starting battery on the passenger side

where have you attached it to.

ARB advised to mount my Anderson plug to the left verical plate(looP) of the bulbar , hence my question
ta

bump

Don't have one but don't think I'd like it on my bullbar. Any reason it can't be mounted under the bonnet next to the BCDC?


Cheers
Crit

I got mine installed near my plug for the trailer; I lost its cover over some rough ground once but other than that I have found it pretty convenient there. My BCDC and 2nd battery are installed in the engine bay near the firewall on the passenger side.

Could an auto elec tell me if plugging the panel between the battery and the load would have any negative effects on either battery charge or anything else?

What load are you talking about? If your panel has a built in regulator it doesnt really matter where you join it into your system. If its unregulated and youre using a dc dc charger as the regulator you will want to wire it into your charger with a changeover relay. Not really sure what youre asking? Generally for best performance you want to run your regulator as close as possible to the battery you want to charge. As the higher voltage output from the panel pre regulation will have less voltage drop from the same cable as lower regulated voltage. If in doubt draw yourself a wiring diagram itll help to make sense of it

Yeah sorry I was probably a bit vague. The panel has a regulator on it. Load would be fridges etc. I have a power cable running from battery to a bus bar in the tray. Was thinking of having another Anderson plug come off bus bar for solar input instead of popping the bonnet and alligator clips from panel.
But u answered what I wanted to know in the start of that response, thanks fractured.