DH,

Any rubber shock absorber pad or anything incorporated into the mounts?
Or did you just bolt them to the frame attached to roof?

 

I just mounted them to the roof supports, without any rubber spacers. I'm interested to see how long they last, they are built a lot stronger than the kind you use on a house.

 

How do these panels work? I mean, can you just leave them on? Will they overcharge? Do you have to remove them when you drive? Where do you mount them?

My main interest is that I park my truck where I can't plug it in, and it'll sit over the weekend. this last monday i had to charge the batteries off my car to start it. I would love for this to be a cost effective solution to keep the batteries charged while it sits during the weekend. I don't need to run any electrical off of it, just charge it while it sits unattended.

thanks!

 

Seems like U got weak batteries OR a weak charging system.

My 2 cents

 

Yes, you could use a solar panel and charger for your batteries. You wouldn't have to mount it, just place it in the sun on or near your truck, providing you don't need it to be mobile. It won't overcharge your batteries over a weekend, and I think the solar chargers control that anyway, "trickle" charging as needed. Doghouse, correct me if I'm wrong.

 

how many panels to produce 1.21 gigawatts?

 

A bolt of lightning!

Well, the truck sat overnight, shut down at 2000, and at 1500 this afternoon i got 3 cranks and it was dead
took 'em 15 minutes on the jump generator to get it to start.
they're gonna look it over and hopefully get it fixed.

it's a 2004 9400i, my guess is the entire battery system came from the factory.

I see these dashboard chargers that plug into the lighter, is there a way to get that charge to go thru the entire system? or would charging the +1 battery be good enough? Actually, i don't need it to charge, i just want to counteract the natural discharge that happens.

Oh, btw, this truck sat overnight in 20 degree weather, so cold was most certainly a factor.

if i had been in the truck using the webasto, i'm positive it would have been dead in the morning.

UPDATE
As of 2300 the shop found one bad battery, and they're now charging the rest. They shut down at midnight, so I'll know more in the morning.

 

To have a panel that maintains your batteries does not have to be very big,..maybe like this one

http://www.talcoelectronics.com/p-68...y-charger.aspx

It comes with its own charge controller, and will keep your truck batteries fresh.

but for recharging batteries that crank slowly from use while truck engine was not running,......you'll need a set of these bad boys

[img]

These will bring my batteries from 10.5 volts to 12.8 in about 45 minutes.
There are 390 watts of power being generated, and they run through a hi voltage charge controller, the spark these throw is clean and blue, and they actually have too muck electrical flow for a 50amp fuse, the fuse get too hot to touch.[/img]

 

yeah, i got it back from the shop, they replaced a battery, and i think/assume they at least cleaned all teh connections. haven't had a chance to look at it yet. But when i cranked it i definitely noticed a difference, even though it took a few turns to get it going.
i'll see how it starts tomorrow after sitting from 1500.
i let it idle for 3 hours before shutting it down for the night.

 

doghouse how much did your setup cost? Where did you get it from?

Does it tell you how many amps it's charging?