Solar (and everything else about my rig for that matter) has been a bit of a journey over the years for sure. First I started with a Renogy 100W "suitcase" but given that I'm an engineer working full time with a laptop, cel booster, inverter, etc it just couldn't keep up, not even close. I'm always entirely off-grid so if I can't rely on solar then I'm running my engine, which obviously I'd rather not do unless I'm moving. The 4Runner's OEM alternator doesn't really like idling with a large load for hours at a time either so long-term it's not a great option for that reason as well. Generators were out of the question, if I was burning gas it was to get into or back from the middle of nowhere.
After a few months of dealing with that hideously undersized system I upgraded to a couple of 100W panels mounted with VHB tape on my roof top tent.
Having them hard mounted was good when I was moving around daily but not so great when parked for multiple days at a time. I could only position the truck in certain orientations if I wanted to make sure they were producing power. Given that I liked getting wayyy out to really remote areas a lot of the campsites I'd find were anything but flat. Parking became a series of tradeoffs - how flat, how much access would I have to open doors, how much charge do I need, etc, etc....
Later on I bought a 300W solar blanket and used that for a while with the 200W panels on my tent. These just fold up and go in the truck when I'm on the move.
After getting rid of my James Baroud just went and got a second 200W blanket, along with some super small panels on the hood that's the setup I use today.
If I'm parked in a good location I can still use the 300W blanket on my tent, just clips in with some carabiners
With a 200Ah lithium battery I can last about a week with all my accessories - fridge, laptop, radios, Starlink - before the batteries get to the point where I need to move to get some charge back in em. As long as it's reasonably sunny I usually go to bed with at least 75-90% charge, especially down south here in Arizona.
