I am planning to upgrade my fridge (to compressor cooler, currently thinking either about Waeco CDF 25 or CFX 35/40), add second battery (in order to get ease of mind to keep fridge plugged overnight even though a compressor cooler should help with that anyway) and I am also thinking about possibility to add solar panel (to give possibility to stay couple of days in same location without risking the batteries).
At this point my plan is to get new ArkPak to serve as my secondary battery instead of installing a fixed double battery system so that I can move the setup from vehicle to another.
With that in mind, I am pondering two option for the solar panel (if I choose to go with them):
(i) Fasten the solar panel to my RTT (James Baroud Explorer Evolution). If this option is chosen, what would be best way to draw wiring? I would love to avoid making holes to the tent, if that could be avoided. Those who have this type of setup, do you have the panels connected during the drive and if yes, how, or is the best way just to plug the panels to the system once you have set camp in a sunny spot?
(ii) Have a detachable solar panel, which would be placed on position once in camp and plugged on the system. This would allow the panel to be directed towards the sun irrespective of the car’s direction and wiring would be easy to place as the panel would need to be set up at camp any way. The RTT has a space for the luggage bag on top of the tent, so I would most likely place the solar panel into the luggage bag or otherwise fixed to the same space and attached to the clips used to fix the luggage bag on place while travelling, so the panel would not really take additional space (we rarely use the luggage bag now).
Any recommendations and experience on how to set up the solar panel with a RTT?
At this point my plan is to get new ArkPak to serve as my secondary battery instead of installing a fixed double battery system so that I can move the setup from vehicle to another.
With that in mind, I am pondering two option for the solar panel (if I choose to go with them):
(i) Fasten the solar panel to my RTT (James Baroud Explorer Evolution). If this option is chosen, what would be best way to draw wiring? I would love to avoid making holes to the tent, if that could be avoided. Those who have this type of setup, do you have the panels connected during the drive and if yes, how, or is the best way just to plug the panels to the system once you have set camp in a sunny spot?
(ii) Have a detachable solar panel, which would be placed on position once in camp and plugged on the system. This would allow the panel to be directed towards the sun irrespective of the car’s direction and wiring would be easy to place as the panel would need to be set up at camp any way. The RTT has a space for the luggage bag on top of the tent, so I would most likely place the solar panel into the luggage bag or otherwise fixed to the same space and attached to the clips used to fix the luggage bag on place while travelling, so the panel would not really take additional space (we rarely use the luggage bag now).
Any recommendations and experience on how to set up the solar panel with a RTT?