TRD Pro Hybrid + Solar Hood Panel Question

Would there be any concerns in getting one of these kits:

https://www.cascadia4x4.com/collect...2-present-vss-system-85-watt-hood-solar-panel

And having it possibly keep the hybrid battery charging all the time?

If I missed a prior thread please feel free to shame me.

 

I'm not sure about "concerns" or install details, but that website makes it sound like it's meant to keep the 12V system charged/tended. Not sure this will have an effect on the high voltage hybrid system as the hybrids come with both a 12V and 288V (I believe) system. Furthermore, I doubt that charging power would even do much for the hybrid battery capacity. For me, there's not a chance I would dig that deep into a complicated electrical system on a hybrid truck for those kinds of marginal benefits.

 

They have an option to use their charge controller to charge your battery...sorry should have specified. I've only seen this on a few vehicles but not the new hybrid so I appreciate the input.

 

One you'll need a charge controller to charge the hybrid battery at 288V and most solar charge controllers are going to be 12v,24v, 48v, etc. Lets say somehow you find a controller and solar panel option that will charge at 288v lets say you find a way to stuff 400watts of solar on the roof/hood/bed.....sooo lets skip down this hypothetical road....if you somehow found a charge controller that would charge the battery at 288v (likely not going to find something under $1500 for the controller and won't find a panel that will be compatible with the controller with out putting multiple panels in series which will be far larger than your truck and say you get to 400watts on a 1.87kwh battery (1870 watt/hr) it would only take 4.6 hours to charge but.... What would be the point? Gas Mileage? Genuinely asking why? Seeing how you can't run anything off the hybrid battery other than when the truck chooses to stay in hybrid only mode I dont' know what it would get you.

Bottom line you won't find solar panels that will be capable of charging the battery at the voltage required, so it doesn't really matter. Just curious what is cooking in the old noggin.

If there was an inverter in the truck it makes sense so you could use the power for something, but that isn't an option as of right now either.

 

I'm not doing a good job explaining so sorry for not being more clear.

Their MPPT solar charge controller that this goes with is setup to go to your battery as well as accessories. My concern was having something like this hooked up to the battery and if it would cause any issues long term with battery longevity. Again....not clear and I appreciate your willingness to entertain my uncaffeinated thoughts this am...I'm not looking to chase down a route to charge my battery...just wondering if this would cause issues.

 

This looks like a great add-on as a battery maintainer or for offroading power.

 

Dumb question….what are you trying to accomplish . The truck charges the hybrid system on its own, so why the extra solar?

 

https://www.lensunsolar.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=84_88&product_id=654

cheaper with more watts

 

The MPPT controller is for 12v and that wont' do anything to charge your hybrid battery. I mean if all you want to do is keep your 12v battery topped off with a solar panel and MPPT controller for $600.00 let er rip tatter chip. As long as that MPPT controller will top off the battery at its proper voltage you would be good to go. Keeping the battery topped off will only increase the longevity of your battery. A car battery is happy at a full charge. Say the resting/charging voltage is 13V on the battery and you were able to pull a full 85 watts of solar say for 4.5 hours a day thats about 6.5 amps of charging per hour (actual power would probably be about 50 watts average over 6 or 7 hours)....and you would have put about 30 amp hours of charge back in the battery assuming no loses. Considering the alternator I believe is a 165 amps unit you could accomplish the same amount of charging by starting your truck for about 11 minutes. Unless you plan on adding an auxiliary battery to store the extra juice I would save the $600.00 (you can idle your truck for 10 of 15 minutes quite a few times before it will cost you $600.00). Thats my 2 cents.