Steves JK

[dobbo56]

Thankyou, much better. And clever too.

[Steve F]

Roof rack kit has arrived Looks like my next free weekend will be spent welding



Cheers
Steve

[Dru]

Steve

We need to talk. ;-) too many good ideas. Roof top boxes mounting system, rear bar power plug. Good. Very good.

Actually, you need to talk with Kerry, I'm all thumbs but I'm easily directed.

[Steve F]

Used the solar setup over the last 3 days Parked the Jeep and it didn't move after that. It ran my 50lt Waeco, charged tablets and ipads, ran lights etc, all from the 66AH battery array and the 80W solar panel. The battery was fully charged when the sun went down so had no problems running stuff overnight when it was cool and the extra oomph during the day meant I could crank the fridge up in the low 30's heat so the beers got icy cold quicker than I drank them. Without the solar I would have had to run the Jeep a couple of times to give the batteries a boost.

Having the power point on the rear bar also meant the internal one that the fridge is on while driving was free for other stuff and the fridge could be kept in the shade.

Really happy with the setup so far. I've also decided to mod the roof rack design a little so I can slide in my spare 20w panel so the batteries get a little top up all the time or for those times I can't pull the panels out and want to crank the fridge up a bit.

Cheers
Steve

[Steve F]

2 hours from a pile of steel to the roof rack, all pressed together at the moment but I'll weld it later today and add some tabs for the solar panel etc



Cross bars under way, I just had to get the flapper disc on the ends of the bars to add a small taper and then smack them together with a rubber mallet. Will drill and plug weld these I think.



Once the cross bars were done I used the drop saw to split them.



And then smacked them on to the main bars with a rubber mallet, I'll weld the split and treat it like a plug weld to attach them to the main bars.





Then I split the end pieces, used a wedge to spread them slightly and pressed them on to the end bars and side bars.



All done, it mounts to my rack frame the using the current cross bar mounts and will replace the bars and basket. The gap at the back is wider to fit a solar panel.

Now to weld and paint (or powder coat)



Cheers
Steve

[Steve F]

Roof rack painted and 40W of solar ready to mount on it as well. Gives me a total of 120W of solar with 40W always on and always connected to the dual battery setup. Means when I can't get the 80w panels out, such as truck stops or arked in my driveway, I can keep the fridge running.



Two of these panels going in the bottom section of the rack, will still leave room to mount stuff over the top but will provide some power when parked in camp for the day. They will total around 1080mm in length (rack ia 1200mm between side bars) and pretty much fill between the bars front to back.



Cheers
Steve

[Steve F]

Roofrack done and back on Frame still fits so I must have welded the rack nice and square.







Cheers
Steve

[Steve F]

Added one 20W solar panel, one more to go and then wire them up Box just up there so I could check the panel was low enough to not have anything rest on it, basically needed it below the bars, ideally right between them to protect it from branches etc. I also plan to keep the rear section of the rack as clear as possible with just long items, like the tent pole bags etc going across it.



Nicely tucked out of the way





Mounted with some homemade style rubber mounts, allows a little bit of movement and flex.



Cheers
Steve

[Steve F]

Both panels mounted, so with these (not wired in yet) and the 80w folding panels I have 120w, these wired to the second battery setup and the 80w portable able to go to main or second battery. In theory I just need a few hours sun each day to get the 66AH up to full charge after a night running the fridge with 120w. Perfect for extended camping when the Jeep isn't driven.



Cheers
Steve

[Steve F]

More bits on the way, already had some mounts that fit the rack, 4 of them.



So order a few quick fists to mount to these so I can easily mount a shovel etc to the rack, now looking at a way to mount the MaxTraxs



Slowly having less dependence on the inside of the Jeep for travel

Cheers
Steve