1995 Explorer XL personal thread

[DemonMudder]

I have no idea, haven't heard much from that guy since doing it

 

[HarryN]

I think I missed something in this thread. I read that solar panels don't like heat, how does it work when the hood gets warm from driving?

It depends on the goal.

If the vehicle is not going to be driven much, and the main goal is to keep the starter battery trickle charged - then the hood mounted 100 watt panel can do that just fine and might be over kill. It would be a good size though if you have a dead starter battery and need a way to charge it up in the middle of no where.

If the vehicle is being driven, then the alternator does the starter battery charging so the panel is sort of just in standby.

If the goal is to keep devices charged while camping, such as phones, lights and similar, then that hood mounted 100 watt panel will be just fine.

If the goal is to power a 12 volt camping refrigerator, then 100 watts of solar might keep in in a very sunny area (maybe) but in most locations it will be far short. You could deploy some ground mounted panels in the sun to help it out. ( 3 - 400 watts)

 

[HarryN]

Well, burning man is coming up quickly so I needed to finish this up for the camp.

A few improvements - mostly to make assembly and transport easier.

The 2x4s add to the base stability and make it easier to tie to ground stakes. They also make it easier for 1 person to assemble as the panels can rest on the 2x4s sort of like a shelf vs trying to support and attach.

The 2 each battle born batteries, solar charger, 120 vac charger, DC electronics and 120 vac inverter are in the case.

The 4 panels are 150 watts each, and tested out running the fridge in my garage.

The image ended up distorted in size, (shrunk it too much in the height) but you get the idea.

It is a heavy duty 6 ft electricians ladder. It looks shorter in the photo than in real life.

edit - added. I am not going to burning man 2022 and have never actually gone there. This is all just really to test my newest version of this setup in tough conditions and around people who are not thinking clearly - just like in a real disaster situation.

 

[410Fortune]

wild setup
so only two panels are catching sun at a time?
I have 8 battle borns running half of our house in a 24V system
They are wicked good batteries and the company is top notch, they actually replaced my first set of batteries after a year because they were not working well in a 48v system without a shunt trip, and they had failed to let me know I needed a shunt trip. At $900 a battery plus shipping this was a big deal! I like Battle born very much

 

[HarryN]

wild setup
so only two panels are catching sun at a time?
I have 8 battle borns running half of our house in a 24V system
They are wicked good batteries and the company is top notch, they actually replaced my first set of batteries after a year because they were not working well in a 48v system without a shunt trip, and they had failed to let me know I needed a shunt trip. At $900 a battery plus shipping this was a big deal! I like Battle born very much

Thanks for looking and commenting.

So the general design is to power refrigeration in disaster relief applications. I do some disaster relief volunteer work and that is what this will be ultimately used for.

It also can power light cooking and charge devices.

If people have refrigeration, then food/ medical supplies distribution and storage are much easier.

The "user model " is "Mom can wake up in the morning, cook breakfast for the kids from eggs and bacon even if the grid is down from a hurricane". It isn't meant to be sexist, just I had to have a customer in mind to design around.

____

On the technical side:

Solar Charging
- Internally it is 24 volt and the solar charging can handle 24 volt x 30 amps, so quite a bit more than the panels shown.
- Since typically a panel will generate much less in a mess than is optimal, and the built in solar charger can self limit - then in theory it could handle ~ 800 watts per direction. I don't own enough panels to test this but it is on my list of to-do's.

- There is an assumption in disaster relief that the solar panels might become damaged and people will pick up "strays", so it has a very wide input voltage range - either panels like are shown or home size panels.

- In a typical "grid tied" application, then solar panel direction can face an optimal direction.
- In an "off grid" application, it needs to generate power over as much of the daytime as possible while being crudely tied down. The two panels facing "east" capture sunlight fairly early in the morning, and the panels facing "west" capture sunlight fairly late in the afternoon - even into evening.

There are two input charge ports to accommodate, with reverse polarity protection, to make this easy and low risk.

There is also a 120 vac charger built in in case there is access to a generator, and actually another port for a different use.
____________

Outputs include:
- 120 vac / 10 amp
- 24 volt
- USB
- 12 volt cig lighter (to light a fire for when people are cold)
- 12 volt anderson (for ham radio use)

 

[410Fortune]

Whenever we have gone camping and setup solar, I put the panels on wheels of some sort so I can rotate all panels to face the sun

I like your setup!! Simple effective and needed!!

 

[HarryN]

wild setup
so only two panels are catching sun at a time?
I have 8 battle borns running half of our house in a 24V system
They are wicked good batteries and the company is top notch, they actually replaced my first set of batteries after a year because they were not working well in a 48v system without a shunt trip, and they had failed to let me know I needed a shunt trip. At $900 a battery plus shipping this was a big deal! I like Battle born very much

As far as the batteries, I have two types that I have tested and qualified for use:
- Battle born for LiFe
- Lifeline GPL-27T for AGM use

Both types fit and give excellent results. I use them in both 24 and 48 volt applications routinely.

The big advantage of AGMs is that they work in much more extreme environments. For instance, when equipped with AGM batteries, it can work down to ~ (-20 F). With LiFe it is essentially limited to ~ + 30 F. They also are more heat tolerant.

In my mind, the big advantage of LiFe is that they can be partially charged routinely - sort of like someone who only fills their gas tank to 3/4 vs full, and of course they are lighter.

People are used to using walmart batteries and don't realize that these Lifelines can keep up just fine power wise with any LiFe battery, in fact in some circumstances will out perform them.

I am curious about why your setup didn't work in 48 volt mode. I will PM my cell phone number to you and if you like, feel free to call sometime and we can discuss.

 

[joney]

It depends on the goal.

If the vehicle is not going to be driven much, and the main goal is to keep the starter battery trickle charged - then the hood mounted 100 watt panel can do that just fine and might be over kill. It would be a good size though if you have a dead starter battery and need a way to charge it up in the middle of no where.

If the vehicle is being driven, then the alternator does the starter battery charging so the panel is sort of just in standby.

If the goal is to keep devices charged while camping, such as phones, lights and similar, then that hood mounted 100 watt panel will be just fine.

If the goal is to power a 12 volt camping refrigerator, then 100 watts of solar might keep in in a very sunny area (maybe) but in most locations it will be far short. You could deploy some ground mounted panels in the sun to help it out. ( 3 - 400 watts)

Thanks for the info! I plan on doing some truck camping this fall, not sure if I want a deep cycle battery, something like a 200W Jackery, or a roof mounted solar panel. (I'm too short to be putting much on the roof, though I do have a cargo bag that's actually supposed to be on the roof.) But camping would put me under the trees, too damn hot sitting under the sun, spring and fall! Want to power a little fridge (would need an inverter) and possibly a little heater, and one or more fans 12 v. Hoping to bring my cat and keep him comfy, LOL. Cheapest effective way is what I'm after! I have a cheaper newish 12v charger for the winter when I drive less, battery does run down only driving 1-2X a week! Need to research on how it behaves as a trickle charger though, might have to buy one specifically for that.

 

[HarryN]

Thanks for the info! I plan on doing some truck camping this fall, not sure if I want a deep cycle battery, something like a 200W Jackery, or a roof mounted solar panel. (I'm too short to be putting much on the roof, though I do have a cargo bag that's actually supposed to be on the roof.) But camping would put me under the trees, too damn hot sitting under the sun, spring and fall! Want to power a little fridge (would need an inverter) and possibly a little heater, and one or more fans 12 v. Hoping to bring my cat and keep him comfy, LOL. Cheapest effective way is what I'm after! I have a cheaper newish 12v charger for the winter when I drive less, battery does run down only driving 1-2X a week! Need to research on how it behaves as a trickle charger though, might have to buy one specifically for that.

If the main goal is for truck camping, then the most common refrigerators to use are 12 volt or dual 12 / 24 volt DC. They don't need an inverter - run right from a "house" battery and fused protection.

There is a company called Dan Foss that put a large effort into optimizing small 12 and 12 /24 volt refrigerator compressors and 90% of the brands on the market use those for camping refrigeration. For camping style refrigerators, you will struggle to find a better solution in 120 vac refrigerators - but they are a bit spendy.

There are a bunch of brands, ARB and Truck fridge are examples but by no means the only ones out there.

Jackery is ok, but nothing special. If you don't need the 120 vac portion, then it is kind of non ideal and not really rated for out door use if there is any chance that it might get wet. It won't work if left outside in sub freezing weather - just like all Li based setups.

______

If you look at the ~ 150 watt panel on the explorer a few posts back, it doesn't take long to figure out that there just is not enough room on top of an explorer for enough solar panels to power a refrigerator - long term. It makes more sense to put the panels flat on the ground in the sun and park in the shade.


My own use case is a bit different. My work shop is a couple of storage units and there isn't any power other than some night lighting. The panel(s) are used to charge up a pack and I use it to power my tools - which are all 120 vac (because I am too cheap to buy battery powered tools)

 

[HarryN]

Well after some goofing around, I am not now thinking about removing the 1/3 side of the back seat as well.

(behind the drivers seat).

It just seems like the perfect place for a cooler or refrigerator.

It is nice to have 3 seats though.

BTW - if anyone is interested in the 2/3 portion that I already removed, it is available as a "trade". Coffee and advice is a sufficient trade.

 

[Fix4Dirt]

Well after some goofing around, I am not now thinking about removing the 1/3 side of the back seat as well.

(behind the drivers seat).

It just seems like the perfect place for a cooler or refrigerator.

It is nice to have 3 seats though.

BTW - if anyone is interested in the 2/3 portion that I already removed, it is available as a "trade". Coffee and advice is a sufficient trade.

can have 4 seats imo, i think a decent size fridge could fit in the 40 of the 60 40, but not sure that center seat is entirely usable all the time.

 

[HarryN]

can have 4 seats imo, i think a decent size fridge could fit in the 40 of the 60 40, but not sure that center seat is entirely usable all the time.

I have already removed the 60 portion of the back seat for the power system. Sorry for not making that clear - post 37.

Removing the 40 portion makes it a 2 front seat setup and 3 of us live here.

 

[Josh P]

Need a 60/40 bench up front

 

[HarryN]

I need to spend some time on my own vehicle.

In the meantime, my youngest son helped a Transit customer with a solar install this weekend. Have to keep the software engineering students grounded in the real world.

The rails are stock 8020 1515 material that people buy from local dealers all over the place.

The mounting kit to the Ford mounting points is a kit that we put together as a package for Transit owners. It is mostly stock parts but since every bolt, washer and seal has to be the right one for it all to go smoothly, we turned it into a kit to save time.

The connectors that go from the rail to the bottom of the solar panel is a stock 8020 connector that I have machined slightly to work better.

We mounted the rails on the van in the past.

The customer has been playing with adding a cross bar at the front for a possible fairing.

Those are 2 each, Newpowa 210 watt panels. 26 x 64 inches each.

 

[HarryN]

Next step - making room for the power station. We removed the 60 part of the 60/40 seat and it is a good size.

This isn't happening as fast as I am posting - this was from earlier, just finally got around to compressing down the photos so they can be posted.

We tried to work today but it was far too hot.

Same great son helping me out removing the seat. I should probably see if anyone would be interested in buying something like this.

These seats are amazingly light compared to van seats.

@EB4X Thank you for the earlier tip on the "hook". I thought that this seat might be complicated to remove, but it is actually super easy.



View attachment 430785 View attachment 430786

I am doing some cleaning up at my shop. (encouraged by my wife of course)

If anyone wants this seat - it can be had for the next few weeks for free. After that, it probably will end up in the garbage dump unfortunately.

Possibly can hold it a few weeks into Dec 2022 if that is what it takes to go to a useful place.


Livermore, CA

 

[Lee's Automotive]

I am doing some cleaning up at my shop. (encouraged by my wife of course)

If anyone wants this seat - it can be had for the next few weeks for free. After that, it probably will end up in the garbage dump unfortunately.

Possibly can hold it a few weeks into Dec 2022 if that is what it takes to go to a useful place.


Livermore, CA

@Fix4Dirt DO ya want that bro cause its way too nice to trash it

 

[Fix4Dirt]

@Fix4Dirt DO ya want that bro cause its way too nice to trash it

Livermore is up by the bay area... long drive sadly. looks like a great seat though

 

[Lee's Automotive]

Livermore is up by the bay area... long drive sadly. looks like a great seat though

I mean yeah far drive but dude that is a really nice seat

 

[Fix4Dirt]

I mean yeah far drive but dude that is a really nice seat

i mean yeah, but thats far far far SF is 6 hour drive give or take lol!!! gas to get there is the cost of some parts lol.wish it was closer by though

 

[HarryN]

Might be able to meet you part way if that helps. I hate to see it go to waste.

Still have not decided if I am going to remove the 40 portion or not. I like having the seat but also like the potential of having the space.

I will be in Sacramento later this month if that helps any with logistics.