Another Solar Question

[HTownB]

If I wanted to put a solar panel over the bed, I’d there a way to connect the inverter to charge the battery without using the charge port? Basically curious if you could make that system work without having to manually plug / unplug every time you go for a drive.

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[Fred6v]

The amount of solar power you'll receive from a bed mounted panel would be negligible for charging the truck. You would need a huge array of panels to charge the truck any significant amount. To learn more check out Will Prowse's solar power channel on YouTube. He has multiple episodes on how he charges his Tesla from a large panel array.

 

[kylealden]

I'd be shocked if you could do that without throwing all kinds of errors in the car, and equally shocked if the car will let you drive while receiving current to the inverter. And there's no scenario in which the gains would practically offset the added weight, cost, and complexity of panels.

There just isn't a realistic scenario for solar charging an EV today beyond extremely far-flung hypotheticals. Save your money ?

 

[ajdelange]

If I wanted to put a solar panel over the bed, I’d there a way to connect the inverter to charge the battery without using the charge port?

Yes there is but it isn't available to you. Your inverter would require an interface to the BMI. If the BMI says the battery can accept charge it commands the inverter to pump current into the battery. This is what happens in Powerwalls and similar systems.

Basically curious if you could make that system work without having to manually plug / unplug every time you go for a drive.

Practically speaking, no.

 

[Dohmar]

Totally not worth it.
If you have a solar array however, you can get a Zappi v2 charger that has an option to only charge from a solar array.

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