So dope dude. Best thing I’ve read/seen all day! Well played!
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Nice set up Eric - Going solar on my rig and was hoping you could share your system design/advice with me…Powering an ARB fridge, we boost and occasional laptop/cell.
Thankyou,
thogan831
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Love this building I’m following To see how it goes!
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Not sure exactly what info you’re looking for but here are some details and thoughts on my setup.
My original post has links to the panels (I’ve added a 2nd one since my original post) and mounts I used. For my house battery I went with an Inergy Kodiak, mostly due to it having everything I needed in a small and relatively light weight package (I got a good deal on one which helped as well). If I were to do it over again though, I’d consider something else. While the kodiak has worked great, my biggest gripe is how low the voltage is even when fully charged (12.8v). So as it discharges that voltage drops even more which causes my dometic fridge to shut down pre-maturely, even when using the lowest shutoff voltage setting on the fridge. So I had to instead hook my fridge up to the kodiak’s inverter. It’s also a bit annoying that the usb ports on the kodiak are only powered when the inverter is on.
Other than that the system has been faultless. I added the second panel after my camping trip in late December where I did run out of power after a few days due to it being the shortest days of the year and pretty much overcast the entire time.
If that didn’t fill in any missing details you were looking for, just let me know and I’m happy to answer any questions you may have.
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Awesome build! lots of good info here. I Just got my GFC and will be referring back to this post.
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Eric, I have a Quicksand DCLB TRD Offroad and I will be picking my GFC up on 9/3. Belgrade is just a bit of a drive from Baltimore. I have two questions:
- What rear springs are you running? I have OME Dakar Heavy, which have a 660 lb rating.
- Given all the weight on the truck, have you considered regearing to 4.88s or 5.29s?
Awesome build! I will be stealing many of your ideas.
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I’m running the ome heavy dakars as well. So far they’ve done the job, granted I don’t do any extreme wheeling. I think I’ve hit the bump stops a couple times early on, but I can’t even remember the last time. I just this month put some timbren bump stops on just for some additional peace of mind.
Well before I got the gfc, as soon as I put slightly larger and more aggressive tires on, this truck pretty much ran like shit (gear hunting drove me mad). I had some serious buyer’s remorse. I opted to get the orange virus tune which was a huge improvement and kept me from selling the truck. Awhile after getting the gfc I had some 4.88 gears installed and that helped even more. The truck could still use more power, but otherwise I’m pretty happy with it now.
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Siiick build Eric! A lots of great utilitarian upgrades… Thank is for sharing 
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Hey Eric, awesome build! I’m especially interested in your propex install. You show the gas hookup coming through the bumper, but I’m curious where the tank is installed. Do you just carry a tank with you and hook it up when you’re stopped, or do you have it mounted more permanently? Thanks in advance for the info.
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My propane tank is mounted to one side of my swingout. You can kind of see it in the first post in the picture showing my water heater hanging on the opposite side of the swingout. I only connect the hose to the propex when at camp and need the heat.
What is the projector screen size/type? Can’t seem to find. Thanks. Amazing build
This is the one I got, but it’s not available through amazon anymore (except through some other seller and 3x the price):
If you can’t find something similar, you may want to consider just looking for some black out curtain material and rig something up from that.
Love this build, thank you for sharing. Would you happen to have a few images of the rubber washers you used to route the cables into the bed?
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Thank you very much for all your inspiration. Once I saw your truck I said there was no way I’m going with the standard color panels. Your color was the color GFC and prismatic kept recommending. I was like somebody else already has that color and I don’t want it. So this is the color I went with.
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I don’t but they are probably something like this:
I got mine at my local ace hardware.
Congrats! Hopefully the lighter color will keep your panels cooler. Mine can get pretty hot in full sun.
@ervandew Love the use of HDPE panels to create storage in the rear of the truck! Will definitely being using some of this in my build out
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This is a sick build! Wow!
This is really cool build Eric. I really appreciate all of the ideas. I was looking through the thread and cannot find what you used to modify the cushions/panels to allow for ventilation between the truck bed and the sleeping area. I plan on doing this mod early on. So cool!
I cut the panels with a jigsaw, but they should be easy enough to cut with just about any saw (hand saw should do as well). The foam I cut with some good scissors. I recommend starting small and seeing how you like it since you can always cut them down more later.