I currently have a deep-cycle, second battery under the hood of my truck. It is connected to an 800-watt inverter under the back-seat of my truck.

For days when I expect to be camping at a campsite for multiple days without moving the truck, I want to be able to provide the truck with solar power to charge the deep-cycle battery during the daytime and operate low-wattage appliances like an alarm clock, an AM/FM radio, and a CB Radio – and not have to start up the truck every couple of hours. If I plan to go out hiking, hunting, or fishing in the evening, it would be nice to be able to leave a light on campsite and know my battery wouldn’t start to discharge until close to dark.

I think a realistic estimate to power produced would be:

• 50-70 watt/hour on a sunny day
• 0.5-0.7 kW/hr for a 10-hour day
• 20-40 watt/hour on a cloudy/drizzle day or with moderate shade
• 0.2-0.4 kW/hr for a 10-hour day

Compared to the 2.2-3.2 kW/hr daily that I use in my apartment that is not a lot of electricity. But I am not planning running a refrigerator, electric hot water heater, or a electric stove on it. I also can just crank the truck up when I need more power from the alternator at night when I need more juice to keep the lights on.