In looking at different ways of mounting solar panels in my Scout (similar to early Broncos, extended wheel base Jeeps for size comparison), one of my thoughts was to put them directly on top of the roll cage in place of the bikini top. I virtually never remove the bikini top any more anyways, so losing that ability wouldn't be an issue to me. The downside being that I lose the ability to move it to face the sun, but living in Phoenix I think the sun exposure would be sufficient.
Given that it's a 50+ year old truck that rides like the proverbial crap house combined with off roading in the desert/rocks, I wonder if the typical solar panel would survive long term being hard mounted to the vehicle. Are there "heavy duty" panels I should be looking at for this? I've been Googling this, but it's hard to figure out whether I'm looking at stuff that's truly meant for harsh environments, or just using nifty marketing speak to take advantage of those that don't know any better...namely me
Given that it's a 50+ year old truck that rides like the proverbial crap house combined with off roading in the desert/rocks, I wonder if the typical solar panel would survive long term being hard mounted to the vehicle. Are there "heavy duty" panels I should be looking at for this? I've been Googling this, but it's hard to figure out whether I'm looking at stuff that's truly meant for harsh environments, or just using nifty marketing speak to take advantage of those that don't know any better...namely me
