NewHilux.net

I have a 2013 Sr5 with a canopy.
Picked up a coue of light weight flexable panels 660 by 770 and am pretty stuck for storage/mounting.
Just chasing some ideas.

Whats your setup in the tub? My mate has a false floor under his drifta draws where he slides the panel under.

Its an option however I dont have drawers but a false floor is an option albeit a heavy one.
So far the best I have come up with is a shelf made of ally angle suspended from the roof rail mounting bolts in the canopy.

Flexible panels? I've got a rigid panel and I plan to set it up on hinges of some sort to be the "Lid" on top of whatever sit's on the roof racks. Even working when I'm driving then. Maybe your flexibles could do similar if you stick them to a piece of ply? Just a thought for thinking "Outside the Box" or tub in this case. Another place to 'semi' permanent fix them might be over the Drivers side canopy windows?

Beware guys, Tasmania had a fatal car crash last month when a stray solar panel came through the windscreen of a car travelling in the opposite direction
Just imagine for a moment, two cars at 100kph closing speed 200kph. Think of what would happen if any object hit your windscreen at 200kph!

martynvella - did you want to mount permanently on the canopy or so they can be positioned once at camp/work?

Gypsy, wise words but it applies to anything not just panels.
Chopps, not a fan of perminant mounts. Thought about a drawer under the roof racks pulling out over the bonnet but means parking the car in the sun, I know the car is parked in the sun a lot of the time but avoid it if I can.
Just after examples of what people have done not what might be possible, trust me, I have thought about just about every option.
Also I have 2 seperate systems, one for the car and one in the camper. Fridge is in the car and camper battery is for electric blanket. I know, getting soft in my old age. So I need to be able to move the panels around a bit.
Laying on the bed in the soft floor camper accomodates one panel but need a couple more.

"Think of what would happen if any object hit your windscreen at 200kph!"
Note ANY OBJECT! I don't have anything outside the vehicle and caravan, if it can't fit inside it ain't coming!
No roof racks, no bikes, no tinnies no outboards... Nothing, just what is contained inside. I did have a 50kg benchtop come off my roof racks some years ago and thanks to good luck nobody was coming behind or in front at the time, and it was tied down with 1tonne webbing straps! Learned that lesson real fast!

I keep one 100W marine style flexi-panel permanently mounted to the roofrack for the times I pull up for an hour or so or when leaving camp for the day but cant leave any loose gear out.
2 panels are kept either in the cab or the camper. No back seat allows for securing panels on back wall.

Is your fridge in the cab or canopy?
Are your panels a single marine panel or multiple panel fold out?

Fridge is in the canopy.
Have only 2 flexable 100 watt panels from Outbax which stuggle to produce60 watts each but Thats another story, so in reallity I have 2 60 watt flexables that I run in series when on the trailer and parallel on the ute but I need to get another two 100 real watts of panel and realise they will be larger than the shit Outbax ones hence looking for storage solutions.
Quite like the weight of the flexables.

martynvella wrote:Fridge is in the canopy.
Have only 2 flexable 100 watt panels from Outbax which stuggle to produce60 watts each but Thats another story, so in reallity I have 2 60 watt flexables that I run in series when on the trailer and parallel on the ute but I need to get another two 100 real watts of panel and realise they will be larger than the shit Outbax ones hence looking for storage solutions.
Quite like the weight of the flexables.

Panel Power OutPut is the precise reason that I chose the solid panel (House Rooftop Type). It gives me 190 watt at 48V. (Just under 4Amps raw current straight out of the panel). I know that Redarc and others don't currently cater for a 48V Panel, but a quick search on Ebay will give you a plethora of others that do. I've chosen an EP Ever 30A unit for my solution. It also provides overnight load control and numerous other functions that other units don't.
I'm currently setting up for only one panel, but the solution is easily expandable to take more panels when coin intake permits. On paper this could be up to around 20 or more parallel panels, of the current type, other panels solutions are also available that'll provide more raw power with a reduced number of panels.
As you've said, storage (& Transport) is the main issue, that's why I'm trying to look outside the box to mount it in a semi-permanent way. I'm also building my whole system so that it is easily modularly connected so that it will power the car fridge (beer fridge) in the shed (or house) when we're not camping etc.

My original set up was a 180 watt 36 volt household panel with a victron 75/15 reg worked brilliantly but it went with the hard lid on the trailer when i put the soft floor tent on.

I have a cheap Kings 110W panel permanently mounted between roof racks on the canopy. Connected to a 75/15 Victron in the back. Charges a 105Ah Century under the bonnet with a Projecta dual battery unit paralleling the aux battery with the cranking battery. Runs an Engel 40L fridge 24/7 in the tub.
On a really clear summers day I have seen over 120W, but normally 60-90W.
Only real maintenance is topping up demin water into the battery every few months.
One of these:
https://www.4wdsupacentre.com.au/advent ... NrEALw_wcB

No way I can see to add pictures.

Yeah - the light weight of the flexipanels is what sold them for me too
My panels are totally different dimensions at 550 x 1150ish so wont fit in the drawers either but I have good side access through the canopy and can store them at the head board end where the drawers fall short of full tub length by a couple hundy mil . I just wrap them in a beach towel.

HK,could be where I end up, try not to park in the sun but its usually where it ends up while camping.