I have a habit of viewing any video that RU-vid recommends with less than 1000 views. It is my way of trying to help the smaller channels. Keep up the good work.
I’m hoping to do something similar. I want to build a solar trailer with hopefully 3-4kw of solar. Thanks for showing this stuff can be done and real world numbers, it is invaluable.
Fascinating stuff! I've always had a thing for solar and self-reliance. I would love to eventually get a Lightning (currently have a standard F-150) , but with my driving amount and use, it doesnt make sense...yet! I would recommend some residential solar panels, based on the surface area you have, you could install four high-grade solar panels 400W+ each (approx. 1.6KWH+) more than doubling your current setup with no change in surface area. They are only about 1" in height with aluminum frame 20yr+ lifespan/warranty. These days there are about $1/per watt or less, especially on local classifieds. They do weigh about 50 lbs each, so something to keep in mind there. We've installed two 15KWH solar arrays with these type of panels (one at the cottage and one at home), plus too many little projects as a hobby. Never a worry, always pumping power, now over a decade for the one array. Subscribed and looking forward to seeing more as your schedule and budget permits! Thanks for the great video, fun stuff!
Hi and thanks for the suggestion. I decided against framed residential panels early on due to the added weight of the glass and the frame, as well as the inability to curve them to fit the surface I was covering. 400W residential panels are quite large (I have them in my home solar installation), and there just isn't a way to mount those on a vehicle and keep it aerodynamic. The flexible panels I have on the top of the truck/rooftop tent add up to 590 W. This was the absolute max surface area I could cover with the rack and clamshell tent I chose (taking into account the voltage and current compatibility of each panel)...with other rack and tent choices it may be possible to mount more. I have an additional 1000W folding array which mounts on the back of the truck and can be deployed at a site. My extended solar array uses all flexible 100W panels as well to keep the weight down. I'm currently doing bench testing on the full setup and hope to have a video coming out with the results soon.
So happy to have found your channel! Just got to sit in my first Lightning and really loved it. Looking to see the limits of this truck as an off-road/overlander. Keep it up!! Looking forward to your next videos.
I'm glad I came across this video. I'm glad to see what you are doing and hopefully someone from Ford, Tesla and Rivian will look at this as well. I think this is pretty awesome. I love driving trucks specially F150s and I'm a big believer in thinking forward. We've all hated on the Ecoboost motors but they are some of the most powerful engines out there. Now it's time for electric to have the same fight. I would jump to a F150 or even Rivian if the range was close to 500 plus miles but it's not quite there yet but I know things are getting better every year so probably soon. But glad to see you are doing this and very clean setup.
Thanks for the comment! I think we are just 1 or 2 years away from some major solid state battery production…doubling or even tripling range at no extra cost.
Used the same suction cup system in a bike rack and never had an issue at 80mph, probably putting much more force on the cups than you are, and with the air dam, you're actually putting downforce onto it, likely adding to the suction. Great ideas, and content.
Thanks, testing so far has been good but the suction cups definitely need to be checked each time before getting back in the car...I found one of them hadn't sealed properly and managed to go into the orange zone within a few hours.
I definitely appreciate your R&D. Maybe you can get channel sponsorship from Keystone RV or similar. Keystone is leading in solar by including at least 200w on every model. They could benefit from your growing subscriber base who clearly appreciate solar solutions.
Nice work, thanks for posting. Was thinking, would you chance the couple thousand spent on the panels and everything to just the suction cups? Plus, the liability if they fly off and hurt someone? Still a great set-up. Maybe the rack maker will see your post and help to find a more secure solution. Cheers and best wishes.
Very cool and interesting to see the numbers, I have a 68kw array that runs the farm and home. This provides enough for me to run 40amp charge rate for my f150. I have been researching this idea using 5kw battery bank and only a few have heaters/bluetooth so I can monitor the cells. I was thinking of using 550w bi-facials in a 3s configuration so even if one side was not sun oriented the back side would at least be able to assist.
Are the 550w bi-facials single panels or multiple panels? What are the dimensions of those? The best I think I'm going to get in a mobile (portable) set up is about 15 amps @120v from 16 panels
@@the.electric.bluebeard I have a few left over from the main install they are all between 72-78 inches in length. So I could mount three of them parallel to the bed length wise. The 78 inches though would be off the back of the bed by 4 1/2 inches.
Not a roof rack that would carry a heavy load. SeaSucker makes a variety of racks that are meant for lighter-weight items such as bicycles, light bars, skis, etc. The solar panel I'm using weighs about 25 lbs, and the rack itself about 50 lbs. I'm using 4 suction cups and each one is rated for at least 100 lbs, so I don't think there is a lot of risk...just need to check the indicators each day to see if any orange is showing.
If you want to add to the hood as well, I've seen a few FJ and 4runner folks put a wrap on the hood, then glue the solar panel to that. An option if you want to expand the permanently mounted solar realestate. Also +1 on a Patreon. I'm interested in seeing how this ends up as well.
Why not bi-directional tiltable panels on a lockable Lazy Susan system (just for 180 swing), Reflective bed coat. Hell with a little extra math and effort you could probably get an ESP32 and a servo to swing the panels for you. Look at some local maker places.
Cool idea. Do you list the cost of your panels anywhere? Also, if you get bored could you experiment with wind power. I've been curious if a guy could use the portable wind turbines to add power. I live in a high wind area and I suspect that wind can generate more than solar.
Wind turbines might not work at highway speeds which are nearly or at hurricane force. A lot of them will feather the blades, or apply a brake to prevent damage from high winds I have always been curious if someone could optimize something for highway speeds that could fit into air inlets where the air is going to be disturbed anyways and not add to drag. Setting up a small turbine at a camp site could be done, but usually you need to have the thing up 40-50 feet to get some wind speed and would require some set up and storage at each location
If the turbines were stored inside and mounted outside when stationary it could work. They can't be used in motion to generate power, will cause more drag than the power they could generate. So long as removable and mountable, then a very cool idea
I'm curious to know which EV charger you are using. I'd like to find one that can only do 6A on the 120v connection to slow charge from about 1000w of solar panels. I don't see it listed in the description though. Thanks!
Will that power system not power up the Ford portable charger? I see you had a different brand... this is exactly what I plan to do! Panels on top of my enclosed trailer to charge while camping too.
I used a portable charger that allows you to select the amp draw so that I can change it on the fly based on how much power the system is producing. Ford's portable charger is a standard charger with a set amp draw...something like 12 amps.
Interesting idea. What's the total weight of the solar panels and how much payload does that leave you for gear, people and food? Also, with the weight, what is your new overall range for driving?
This is a good question...I have a breakdown of the weight for each item bellow: roof top tent 110 lbs rear rack 50 lbs Front rack 40 lbs Solar Panels (all together) 38 lbs DeeZee box with components 30 lbs For a total of 268 lbs. The max load rating for the truck is 1960 lbs, so that would leave me with 1692 additional lbs I could carry. All my regular gear, plus 2 electric bikes in the bed and a fridge/cooktop in the front trunk would probably be no more than 300 lbs, plus people 300 lbs...so minus an additional 600 lbs would still leave me 1000 lbs under max load. I don't yet know how this will affect range, however, on a recent camping trip I took a similar load (minus the roof top tent but with one additional person) and I got about 2.5 miles/kWh efficiency overall. The big variable is how much drag the tent with the solar panels is going to create...but at 40mph on dirt roads maybe that isn't so significant. I will be testing that out in a future video for sure.
I'd love to see what 2.5 KW translates to off-road at overlanding speeds. On one hand you have a lot less wind drag but on the other hand you have a lot more from mud and whatnot. I really couldn't tell you if you would get more or less range but I will tell you in my experience the GOM is right next to useless if you're doing anything other than driving on smooth predictable road with no wind gust.
You are probably right about the increased energy use for off-road. Saying that 10kWh is equivalent to 20 miles of range is really just a means of putting it in perspective. If I am able to collect 10kWh of power with my system that's about 10% of the total battery capacity of the truck (standard range battery). It would definitely not be quick but you could theoretically charge your battery up 50% with five days of good sun in one spot...whatever range that would work out to be.
@Electric Bluebeard My comment wasn't sarcastic or snarky, I'm genuinely curious, and a fellow lightning owner. I know the mileage numbers we're just to put you in the ballpark. My best guess is you would probably use less electricity off-roading per mile compared to driving on the highway I think I read somewhere that for most electric vehicles the peak efficiency speed (maximum range) was like 20 to 30 mph, but that was based on a vehicle that didn't have to drive motors increasing drag also a pickup truck is gigantic and not particularly efficient. I really wish the lightning would just show instantaneous power in a numerical form so you could just see the efficiency. Side note, I highly recommend not overlooking all of the losses in your system and phantom drain if you really want this system to be usable. And bear in mind those numbers change drastically, for example, if it's extremely cold or extremely hot you may use a few kilowatt hours a day keeping the battery a good temperature. There's someone on RU-vid who made a hitch mounted solar charging solution for his Tesla Model X I thought that'd be cool to attempt on lightning because if I recall correctly he ran into a limitation of exceeding payload and hitch weight two things that wouldn't be an issue on the Ford Lightning and also you wouldn't have to do crazy stuff to your truck like putting on a roof rack or screwing with the overlanding equipment in the bed, just food for thought. Thanks for your videos, I already subscribed.
@@xsterawesome Sorry, I didn't mean to reply like I thought you were snarky, I thought you had a legitimate point. To a certain extent I just don't know - I have planed out a validation test run where I take the truck through Kofa refuge in Arizona, I probably won't know real numbers until I do that trip. You are correct about the losses - I have switched everything over to electric (cooktop, fridge, lights, coffee maker) so as I get closer I'll have to start doing some calculations with that energy use in mind- as well as phantom drain. I did see a video where a guy had made a solar array that was stored on a hitch, however, he used framed rigid solar panels which were quite heavy. I plan to use flexible panels which are quite a bit lighter but more expensive...looking for a deal on a bunch of used ones somewhere that meet my specs.
The ProPower requires the truck to be “on” for the outlets to work. You can charge the truck with the vehicle on, this will keep the ProPower active. to get around this problem of the truck needing to be on, I built a 12v cigarette lighter port and USB ports into the solar charging unit. (The difference between the truck being “on” or “off” and parked isn’t a lot power-wise, but you have to turn the ac/heat and lights off to reduce battery drain. Ford has not yet included a camp mode, that I know of.)
No gas or diesel powered generator for me...I have them but I'm trying to see if this can all be done on solar. If you wanted to stay at a remote location for 30 days and you relied on diesel at some point you would run out and would have to return to a populated area - you can't produce diesel out in the wilderness. On the other hand...a steam-powered turbine might work. You would be able to power it as long as you had access to wood and water. Hmm...topic for a later experiment.
I want to see someone testing Ford’s claim that it can power an entire house for up to 3 days. If it could power my house for 1.5 days AC included I would be interested.
What's your house load or daily kwh usage your typical house uses 24kwh to 38kwh a day the lightning has a 90kwh battery or a 134kwh it can run a 30kwh house for 4 days
@@ALMX5DP they're tiny, they're heavy, they create huge aerodynamic losses, they suck to deploy, they suck to climb into, they suck when you have to use the bathroom, they're super expensive, the wind blows them and the car around to discomfort. Basically they're everything you don't want a tent to be.
