Getting ready for fridge in 98 XJ

[jeepingben]

I've just ordered a 100w solar panel + charge controller that I am planning to mount between the roof rails on my 1998 Jeep XJ. The panel should be enough to run an Indel B 51qt fridge indefinately. It will be charging the main group 34 Odyssey battery and if that gets full, it will top up the second battery.

The panel is 40" tall and I measure the roof rails to be 45.5" apart so I will need to do a little fabricating, but the goal is to make it sit as low as possible between the rails. I haven't been able to find examples of this size panel on an XJ so I will try to take a useful amount of pictures.

This is in anticipation of our Death Valley trip this winter. This will be our longest trip to date as we are leaving from Maine.
Previously my post count wasn't high enough to include offsite images. Once it is I can start including pictures from past trips and pics of the Jeep.

 

[Cascade Wanderer]

Maine to Death Valley? Wow! That will be quite a trip. I hope you can take your time, relax, and enjoy the journey.

Regards, Guy

 

[jeepingben]

The first box of parts arrived today. The panel will fit like the measurements said. I think I will go to the junk yard and get some extra roof-rack parts to make a somewhat removable attachment.

Unfortunately the charge controller in the package has a broken LCD so I need to contact the seller and hopefully get a replacement without having to return the panel as well.

In reply to Cascade Wanderer, we will be taking a little more time for travel than we have in the past and enjoying parts of the journey, but we anticipate some grueling high mile days as well.

 

[jeepingben]

I wasn't able to just exchange the broken charge controller which was too bad because I had gotten an open box deal. The replacement panel and controller arrived and I got an extra set of roof cross-bars at the you-pull junk-yard. Saturday I mounted the charge controller and wired it to the battery.. This was easier for me as I already have a big 12v circuit for the air compressor in that area. While the panel was removed I added an outlet for the refrigerator.

This was as far as I got before leaving for an overnight trip.

Today I worked on this a little more. I decided to hack up my brand new solar panel to make it sit a little lower on the roof. I scribed a line that would have it sit flush all the way across.

Unfortunately the junction box on the back of the panel won't let it sit this low so I cut a little less.

I won't end up using any of the roof-rack parts from the junk-yard for mounting. I need to buy some aluminum to finish mounting to the roof so I moved on to wire routing.

I found a place in the lip around the lift-gate where there were only two thicknesses of steel so I drilled some holes for the wires from the panel, then dismantled more of the interior to route them to the charge controller

 

[jeepingben]

The local sheetmetal place cut me some 16ga aluminum for mounting the panel.

I drilled holes that would let it slip over the rivnuts that hold the roof rack down and drilled some holes to attach it to the panel edge

16ga isn't thick enough to countersink flathead screws but I didn't want to go thicker and raise the roof rack rails. I used some stainless pan-head screws and covered the bottom of the mount with this asphalt tape so the screw heads won't scratch the paint or make noise if the panel rattles going over bumps.

The thickness of the metal doesn't noticibly move the roof rail.

Finished mount