Tripp

I also have a Goal Zero kit (with Li-Ion batteries). The panels are flexible fyi. I would contact the company about getting just the solar panels without the canvas cases. They are based out of Colorado I think and are a great small company that is growing! I'm subscribed and very interested in your build!

dognights

Yep the dual battery setup is a good idea and I already have one put on that I built myself in the standard battery tray. I use these cool batteries called ballistic batteries. They are kinda like an optima battery a bit but are dry cells and completely sealed very small units. They are also very lightweight. I can start my JKUR with only one of the 16 cells that weigh like 7 pounds or something. Im using this kind of as an experiment of sorts as well. After I figure out power for the fridge if I like the solar solution I came up with I am going to build a solar solution for a dry washer that is used for gold panning. I have a bunch of real nice gold claims out near the phoenix area that I have had for years, I have been taking trips out that way for years and I easily pay for my trips with a few days digging around in the dirt. Once I get out there I plan on spending a good amount of time playing in the dirt and would rather not ruin the mood by listening to a generator drone on for hours.

On a side note I look forward to meeting you and some of the others out that way once I finally get out there. Cheers

ZMagic97

Ah I see, you have this figured out really well!

Also, I look forward to meeting you as well, thanks!

Well, since the solar cells are the best bet for you, have you looked into building your own panels? I haven't done it myself, however have heard of a few people doing it fairly cheap in comparison to buying pre-made ones. Not sure of how well they would be for a mobile application though.

dognights

Yep that is the plan to build my own. The hard part is finding the thin film material to build it with. If all goes to plan I will be able to apply the thin film directly to the hard top then clear coat over it so it is smooth and protected from the elements. I will most likely use a Rolls surrett battery bank of which I am working on placement currently. The fridge box I am building will be a top load that you get to from the rear passenger door. It will be located in a custom metal box that will take up the entire rear passenger footwell area so that the top becomes flush with the rear deck lid. The heavy insulation in the custom fridge box Im making will greatly reduce loss when reaching in to grab something cold. This is both due to the super thick wall insulation Im building it with plus the top load configuration reduces loss as much as possible from cool air spilling out.

Ive also been experimenting with a way to cool load the inside of the box as a buffer when you open the box. What I mean by this is that when you open the fridge/cooler box cool air escapes and actually what is really happening is that warm air is entering. The top load design helps with this because cool air sinks and hot air rises but it doesnt completely stop this from happening. So one thing I have been really working on is an ideal type of liner that will act as a buffer to quickly absorb any incoming heat while opening the lid. The theory behind this is similar to keeping your fridge at home mostly full. For a home fridge they call it something like food load. Typically they suggest to keep your fridge at least two thirds full at all times. That way when you open the door to get a carton of milk out the heat in the air that rushes in is buffered by all of the cool dense items in the fridge itself. Loading like this makes the fridge work less hard each time you open the door. So obviously I wont always have the fridge box I am building in my jeep constantly full so to combat this and also at the same time make it more efficient I am experimenting with different types of material to line the inside of the box with that will actually absorb that excess heat quickly when I open the top. Think of it as kind of lining the whole inside with ice packs, without actually using ice packs, but instead coming up with another material that acts similar.

This is a big project but even with the planned move coming up soon I should have it all done by the end of the summer.

sq-pa

Dognight-pm me on this if you'd like or post it on here, but my firm has invested in a few solar firms and although I have a thirty thousand foot view on solar tech, I can ask some of our engineers who are pretty cutting edge on this tech if you'd like. Especially panels-we've done some odd panel configs on buildings and although that's not the tech you're looking for, they're solar geeks so they'd probably find this a challenge. But like I said, I'm not an engineer (I'm just a finance guy) so tell me specifically what you're looking for and I'll relay it to our solar guys and see if they're interested in helping you. It sounds like a challenge so I'd think they would like to be involved in a solar Jeep... I've seen your posts on inverters and batteries, but inverters are our biggest cost and batteries are pretty challenging regarding storing grid electricity (we generate on the 30-100 MW scale depending on the market so that's not your problem).

Sapper12b

very interesting thread, going to follow this ....

bbrown626

China?

Would it be more practical to just add a deep cycle battery in the jeep and hook it to your main battery via a relay to avoid discharging the main battery? Regardless you are going to need a deep cycle battery. You can give it a try while you look for a solar charger.

dognights

UPDATE:

Found and talked to a company called powerfilm. They already make something similar to what I am looking for. I found them after going to some local golf courses here in south florida and climbing all over golf carts to find out the name of the panels I saw on some of the golf carts. Turns out it is this place called powerfilm. They make everything from real small cellphone chargers, to heavy duty military application for deploying solar tents in the desert. I got to talk to one of their engineers. Everyone there seemed very cool so far. Not only can they make something that will stick to the top of the jeep hardtop but they can custom make it so that it follows the ridges on the hardtop as well. They will also let me pick where I want the power dongle to be located. We are going to work on the size and design next week then come up with a typical expected output for the system. Im not sure if it was just positive talk from the engineer but with the area we can work with it looks like the system can produce much more power then I was expecting. I will update after I get some more information from them the middle of next week or so. From just preliminary talks it looks like the custom panel will cost about $1000 bucks or so.

Liquid741

umm, this is a genius idea btw...good luck to you!

V00D0013

I'm interested in their contact information if you got it! Awesome!