Big Red

Started looking at solar power for camping

For some time now, I’ve wanted to learn more about solar electricity. I have read books on it and know how it works in principal, but I have basically no first hand experience as it comes to solar power. At the same time, my electrical load is growing on my truck when camping, especially once I install the CB radio installed in my truck.

Ramsond-100-WattWhy I Am Thinking Of Going Solar

I hate having to turn on the truck to charge the battery every couple hours, especially when I am sticking around a campsite all day rather then traveling. With higher gas prices this year, due to being an election year, I am thinking of spending more time at a campsite – especially if I do more hunting and fishing this year.

Idling the truck works okay for creating electricity, especially in summer evenings when the darkness is short, and I’m usually not back to camp until 8 or 9 PM. But sometimes when I am hanging out in camp – especially in the morning – it’s a pain to have to start the engine up and listen to the racket it makes, in the quiet of the woods. A solar cell would start charging the battery as soon as the sun rises, and by the time I awoke, the deep-cycle would probably be almost fully charged.

I worry about idling my truck a lot too. Car and truck engines are not designed to idle at a set speed for long periods of time. While engines are a lot better then years past, I’ve always felt it puts a lot of strain on the engine doing this. That said, I had my previous truck until it was 13 years old, and the engine ran fine. I got rid of it because I wanted a new full-size truck and the old one had increased mechanical costs from things like brakes and suspension parts that kept breaking down in the boonies.

I’ve started looking at solar panels, especially in the light of the fact that solar power has come down so much in price. They say it’s about $1 a watt, although for the most part the solar panels I’ve looked at are closer to $1.40-$1.50 a watt. Even at the $1.50 watt price it’s not unreasonable, as I’ve seen several 100 watt panels below $150.

Not only that, but the modern solar panels are mono-crystalline, so they more produce more electricity in less space. The 100-watt mono-crystalline panels I’ve seen have dimensions of roughly 3.5 feet by 2.5 ft. Pretty darn small, especially compared to the amount of energy they generate. Have you ever tried generating 100 watts riding on stationary bike? It’s a lot of work – despite the fact we use incredible amounts of fossil energy in our homes. Even if I get only 50-60 watts out of the panel, that’s still a 1/2 a kilowatt hour per day.

Solar Panel Inside

Storage box I am thinking of building to store my solar panel when not using it camping.

Why I Don’t Use Solar Power Right Now

I’ve pondered solar power on and off. I’ve thought about mounting solar panels on my truck cap, but generally have frowned on the expense and the cost-benefit ratio. The reality is idling my truck to charge up the accessory battery works fairly well, and is low cost compared to driving it there and back.

Most of my energy use is at night when I am at camp for the night, sitting by the campfire, listening to music, lighting up the flag, the decorative lights, and LED lamps for general camp lighting. The sun doesn’t shine at night, so I would still have to use the alternator and idle as the battery runs low. Finding direct sunlight sometimes can sometimes be challenging at campsites far back in the woods. That’s why you have to make sure you have enough wire of sufficient gauge to put a solar panel a far distance away. But at 8.5 amp of current, the wire size shouldn’t have to be enormous.

I also had concerns about mounting the solar panels on the roof of my truck, going through car washes or if trees brushed along the roof top of my soon to be jacked up truck. I also figured it would reduce my fuel economy by wind resistance, canceling out all benefit to mounting it on the roof.

But the main reason I put off going solar, wasΒ  it just seemed like very little power for a lot of money. Spending like $200 bucks for 5-6 amps of power, didn’t seem like a good use of money, especially when the alternator puts out so much current. However, unlike an alternator the solar panel runs whenever the sun is up, while the alternator only spins when the engine is running – typically 10 minutes every 1.5-2.5 hours.

Untitled [Expires November 30 2024]

Solar panel prices have come down a lot lately, and while they produce a lot less electricity then a big gas engine that is running, they produce it all the time when the sun is shinning.

Putting Off Lifting My Truck Until May or Later Now

I think what went from early October has shifted to early April then to late April and now until May or maybe later. May is a little tricker with work, but I think I will wait until then to wear the tires down a bit more. At some point though, I am going to do the lift kit or I will have to stuck getting another set of tires and an alignment – so I better it do before then.37460_467969787515_637912515_661868When I was out picking up some work clothes, I parked down from a Silverado pickup like mine with 35s and a 6 inch lift. That really is an about perfect amount of lift. A 6” inch lift plus roughly 2” inches from the bigger tires brings you up to 8 inches. That might not seem like much, but when your talking about a 4×4 truck that already has decent ground clearance and a relatively high stance, that’s pretty high. Not sure if I’d want to go higher. People do sometimes go higher – and I want to have wheels with enough backspacing to ensure if I decide to go to 37s later on by adding a body lift, that’s always an option. But I’m not sure if I’d really want to do that.

Partly the delay is a money thing – this winter has been full of big heating bills and just everything else has got more expensive – part of it’s my schedule. I don’t want to fill up either of the last two weeks of April, as I am planning my first extended weekend camping trip then.

BEARCAT980SSBLikewise, I am putting off ordering the CB Radio and antenna for my truck for now. I think I know what I want, but I want to delay spending the money for a bit, and it’s just two darn cold to be out there working on my truck. When I install the radio, I plan to pull the battery and the windshield washer fluid container to see if I can find the leak and either replace the malfunctioning low fluid sensor or just short circuit it to fool the computer.. Maybe it’s the leak that’s causing a valid low fluid warning, but I have my doubts. Whatever it is, I should be able to fix it once the weather gets nice.

Cold weather, insufficient funds, and the fact I don't drive my truck that much in the spring. But once the weather warms up, I plan to jack it up, and put in my CB radio.

Nice Truck.

What can I say? I just sometimes enjoy looking at videos of sweet lifted trucks.

Been Looking at CB Radios

This springtime I plan to install a CB Radio on my truck, partially for emergencies but mostly so I can hear what the Big Rigs are talking about on the highway and chat with others who have CBs. I often see trucks on the back roads with CB antennas, and it would be fun to be in communication with them.

Citizen Band radios have somewhat fallen out of popularity, for common use, due to cellphones and their need for long antennas, but a lot of off-road groups and truckers still use them, and it would be fun to hear what people are talking about on the open road, especially on long road trips.

IMG_13637It turns out CB radios aren’t that expensive, but I want to get something that is a good quality, offer years of reliable service, and will last. I am looking at the ever popular Cobra 29 LTD Classic, or actually probably the same model with the WX option, so I can get weather stations on it.

I could get a cheaper, high-tech digital one (like the Cobra 29 LX or a Uniden Digital Radio), but I’d rather have something that is more likely to be reliable in a dusty, dirty truck I take up to the woods. I don’t like dinky switches that appear on the high-tech radios.

Cobra_29WXNWST_025Unless I can find a better solution, I will probably be stuck mounting the antenna on the hood rail. Which sucks, but with the cap and the kayak on the roof, other mounting points are difficult. I want to be able to remove the antenna with ease, so I will get a quick release, so I can still go through relatively low-clearance locations.

The top of the antenna will probably be around 9 feet from the ground (with a 4 ft antenna on the hood plus height for quick release and spring), once my truck is lifted later this spring (the hood will be about 4′ 8″ from the ground when lifted — it’s 4′ now). Been busy measuring things.

The DEC says forest preserve roads have a clearance of 9-10 feet on average, so I shouldn’t hit too many things. I also checked and saw that a clearance of 9 feet is good for most roads — except maybe the Southern State Parkway, where one bridge has an actual clearance of 8’6″ on the outer lanes. Worst comes to worst, the spring on the antenna will save it, or the $25 antenna will have to be replaced.

Thinking of installing a CB Radio on my truck in the next couple of weeks, should the weather get nice.