Every item onboard must do at least two jobs

hello all,

everything must do at least two jobs. i'm transferring this bit of wisdom from the boat world to our new-to-us 3124. has anyone considered trading the fore and aft window awnings for solar panels? as the articulation hardware is already there, it seems like a pretty easy swap. just wondering if someone's already done this and how it might be working out.

[B_and_D]

I'd be worried about the panels getting damaged while on the road. Rocks kicking up, etc. We call ours a "rock guard". We only have one on the front. And it did get damaged going down the road .

Keep those ideas coming! I love to hear about new possibilities for the TM.

D

[BrucePerens]

I wonder how difficult it would be to ruggedize a solar panel. If it works OK with polycarbonate instead of glass, it might be tough enough for the front window cover. But it also has to stand UV, and polycarbonate tends to get yellow as it absorbs UV. The band gap energy of a silicon PV cell corresponds to visible light, so yellow will absorb some.

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Originally Posted by Robius

hello all,

everything must do at least two jobs. i'm transferring this bit of wisdom from the boat world to our new-to-us 3124. has anyone considered trading the fore and aft window awnings for solar panels? as the articulation hardware is already there, it seems like a pretty easy swap. just wondering if someone's already done this and how it might be working out.

However, that's a great idea, but only on the rear rock guard because the front is prone to getting "rocked" and in the biblical since I might add. The only problem I see is that that hardware isn't very stout and one good size solar panel can weigh up to 40+ lbs....although if you were to put a flex panel (which is super light about 6 lbs. https://www.amazon.com/Giosolar-effi...ex+solar+panel) on it, it would probably work just fine. Not only that but these flex panels can easily bolt directly to the rock guard for simple mounting and maintenance.

Thinking about the front rock guard, if you had some kind of mounted track that the panel could slide on, where one might be able to slide the panel out to the end of the track and then flip it over to the backside (which you could cover with something sturdy) for travel and then turn it back around to the cell side when set up would be a cool thing. The big problem I see would be getting the wires to the charge control box. Most all the solar set ups that I have seen are on the back of the TM. So if I were to do this I would have to route the wires down a lift arm, under the trailer and to the back where all my electronics are stored. I think that would be more trouble than it's worth.

But the rear is another story with great possibility. Hmmmmm??? Another 100 watts would be cool though!
Tom

[jwrrph]

Robius,

This is an awesome idea!!! If you do it, please post pictures and steps!!