Solar is a great alternative. Sadly there are few options out there. I have Idle Smart installed on the truck to make sure the batteries never go dangerously low. It also kicks the motor on to protect from freezing and can turn on and off to maintain cabin air temp. I finally installed an espar heater last september and started to add solar to my system as i noticed much of my idle time was due to batteries draining. Last year at the Louisville truck show I had to idle roughly 10 hours for battery charging over the course of 4.5 days sitting. This year with the 4 panels I have on the roof of my trailer I idled 30 minutes total. Even on cloudy days I can collect enough power to not run the motor during the day time. .75-1.5 kwh. And on full sun days I can collect between 2.5 and a high of 3.45 Kwh. I have since ordered 4 more panels to double my solar array with the intent to be able to collect enough to run a small ac this summer.
What about those solar panels I'm seeing on top of trucks lately
Discussion in 'Experienced Truckers' Advice' started by TruckRunner, Oct 11, 2018.
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What wattage of solar maintenaner would I need to keep batteries charged? My truck doesn’t move much lately, but I would like to keep batteries charged.
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