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40 Watt Wind Deflector Panel



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40 Watt Wind Deflector Panel

I installed a nice 3 pound 40 watt flex panel on my wind deflector to keep my second / backup battery topped off. This brings my total to 275 watts.


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    That rocks! I think I'm going with aluminum. How thick is the sheeting?
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    Thanks!

     

    Yeah, this was a good sized budget upgrade that I have zero regrets doing, over 70K camper road miles now with it. The "wing" is 1/16th sheet aluminum attached to a truss and brace system of 3/4" angle aluminum behind it via 6-32 stainless steel hardware, that is attached to a Thule rack mount via 3 x 3/8th SS hardware ( note hardware placements in photo ). I store things like a long window washing pole, solar shower and a dry bag with various tie downs and rope behind the fairing and lash it to the rack mount. Structurally speaking it has been flawless and in once case withstood 140 mph winds as I was doing 75 going west on I-80 in Nevada with a 65 mph headwind that was blowing semi trucks over.

     

    I see a lot of good ideas for wind deflection on this site, but this is "creme-de-la'creme" for my needs and looks legit. In my opinion and experience, these types of cab-over campers *really* need something to at least quell the nasty wind buffeting one can get from various sources like a semi blasting by in the opposite direction. This was one of the very first mods I did upon the installation of my camper.

     

    I'm a strong believer in solar too so what I have now is 40 watts on the wind fairing, a 135 watt panel on the rooftop and a 14lb. 100 watt panel that slides out from underneath the cab-over and can even be fully removed and angled anywhere via a 15 foot extension cord. This super flexible 275 watt solar system works with two charge controllers feeding two deep cycle marine batteries that total 160AH. The goal here is to park for not days at a time, but weeks without ever turning over the motor and it simply works. 

     

    I use this rig for my work so I have no issues with putting good engineering and some money into it...

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    Photo
    NorthernFocusCreative
    Sep 04 2013 02:28 AM

    Sweet! I like it. I am looking at getting some solar panels for the roof of my Alaskan Camper from Goal Zero next week. I am really excited about working with them again to show case some of their new products. They make some really cool stuff check them out (http://www.goalzero.com

    I really like your wind deflector idea thank you for sharing. Now, I am going to have to do more research on the subject. :)

    JK

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