No van but I lived in a 4runner for 3 years

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Joined
Mar 13, 2023
Messages
6
Reaction score
13
Location
Southern AZ
Howdy all, just wanted to introduce myself. My vehicle of choice is currently a 4Runner as I prioritized "go anywhere" over comfort and space. After spending three years traveling the US I'm currently living in southern AZ and still travel part time!

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Looks as if you were set up nicely. I love the 2nd photo.
 
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.

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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.

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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.

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If I'm parked in a good location I can still use the 300W blanket on my tent, just clips in with some carabiners

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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.

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Thanks. I have a 200 LiFePO and a 286 w residential panel on my roof. Plenty of juice here in the SW, but I spend a lot of time in the PNW, and have been toying with the idea of getting some flexible panels as well. Never thought of using a flex panel on top of my canopy!
 
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