Solar charging while camping? "thoughts"

[mkg3]

At some point, if you really want to get rid of range anxiety, then consider something like Pebble Flow trailer. Personally, I don't camp enough to justify cost of any trailer, much less something like this.

That said, plenty of people here on the form appears to own Airstream so this camper is well within the range for those...

https://pebblelife.com/

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[JamboF4]

not worth trying to charge at all?

Miles gained vs volume of equip needed? Likely not

 

[JamboF4]

At some point, if you really want to get rid of range anxiety, then consider something like Pebble Flow trailer. Personally, I don't camp enough to justify cost of any trailer, much less something like this.

That said, plenty of people here on the form appears to own Airstream so this camper is well within the range for those...

https://pebblelife.com/

Have you seen Airstream’s concert trailer: “eStream”. Amazing capabilities..amazing price tag

 

[Calisoulla]

Presumably y’all are camping in the desert southwest? Almost everywhere I’ve ever camped the tree canopy would’ve made this pointless.

located in Las Vegas, usually camp close by Utah and Idaho, but we go up to Montana once a year which I know solar would be less usable due to camping in-between tall pine tress

 

[jjswan33]

To make @mikehmb idea a reality, having researched this to some degree. This is a setup I would propose and the benefit you would gain:

Product List:

2X Hysolis Apollo 5K power stations - $4,995 each
Apollo 5K dual phase setup kit - $170
5X 410 W solar panels - $285 each

~$10,500 total for 2kW of solar, 10kWh of battery and the ability to charge at ~6kW continuous.

So in the end for $10k+ you get an extra 10-20 miles of range and the ability to create 10-20 miles of range on a sunny day. Also I estimate at least 400lbs of weight added for this theoretical system. You can of course scale the number of batteries and solar panels to your desired budget and system capability.


https://hysolis.com/products/apollo?variant=43907472425258

 

[Calisoulla]

agree. Hyundai Sonata hybrid has a solar roof...at least the 2021 model a family member drives does.

more ev's need to implement this

 

[Cycliste]

Thanks, everybody, for the info
I’m going to use this + a solar panel to offload the drain (fridge, electric griddle, blanket) so the truck can sleep

https://www.jackery.com/products/explorer-2000-plus-portable-power-station

https://ignik.com/products/topside-heated-blanket

 

[logan]

I think the best and/or most straightforward way of doing this would be to get a portable larger-capacity power bank with small panels.

Fill the power bank, then discharge it to the Rivian. Repeat.

It might buy you enough to get out of a tough spot. Or at least keep the vampire drain at a minimum.

Which is kind of what you get by preparing your travel trailer for boondocking in the first place. Solar plus lithium batteries as, for example, many airstreams are set up. Then plug in to the 120V. Really probably just handle the vampire drain plus a little though. Which would still be cool I think. I very much like that my trailer's solar keeps its batteries maintained not just on trips but when doing nothing. Kind of wish I could get a solar tonneau cover that hooks to the charging system to cancel the vampire drain.

Anyway, fwiw, I would reframe the problem as making your trailer capable of X amount of storage supporting Y amount of continuous draw. Then independent of the EV charging you get an improvement to your trailer that makes your camping better anyway.

 

[Calisoulla]

Which is kind of what you get by preparing your travel trailer for boondocking in the first place. Solar plus lithium batteries as, for example, many airstreams are set up. Then plug in to the 120V. Really probably just handle the vampire drain plus a little though. Which would still be cool I think. I very much like that my trailer's solar keeps its batteries maintained not just on trips but when doing nothing. Kind of wish I could get a solar tonneau cover that hooks to the charging system to cancel the vampire drain.

Anyway, fwiw, I would reframe the problem as making your trailer capable of X amount of storage supporting Y amount of continuous draw. Then independent of the EV charging you get an improvement to your trailer that makes your camping better anyway.

solar tonneau would be an awesome idea! Unfortunately I have a r1s so I would have to go another route
I guess my best bet is loading my trailers roof with solar and trying to charge off my camper in case of emergency

 

[HighVoltOverland]

If adding a trickle charger to the onboard 12v system, I'm assuming one would need to add an isolator to allow for 2 charging sources (DCtoDC and then solar).
Anyone done this yet?

Additionally, maybe something like this would be useful for minimal aero impact:

 

[docwhiz]

 

[donnascott]

Just had an amazing weekend out in the wild, and it got me thinking about ways to keep our gadgets charged during extended camping trips. Imagine this: a solar panel hookup for our Rivian trucks! It could be a game-changer for those off-grid adventures. Has anyone tried something like this? I'm also curious if anyone has experience using a Charger for Xiaomi, iPhone and Samsung to juice up their devices directly from a solar setup. Efficiency meets convenience, right?

 

[Calisoulla]

to much work :/

 

[docwhiz]

to much work :/

That's what it takes to run completely on solar

 

[Thedude]

solar tonneau would be an awesome idea! Unfortunately I have a r1s so I would have to go another route
I guess my best bet is loading my trailers roof with solar and trying to charge off my camper in case of emergency

You will also need to have a large inverter wired in to make that work. Most trailers don’t have that standard and only power the DC side of the trailer if you aren’t plugged into shore power. Using your trailer you will still need a large battery bank for storing the power generated by your large solar array and a 2kw+ inverter to take the power and make it usable for the truck to charge.

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