Seeking best plan for a solar panel battery maintainer hookup.

[Daveinva]

As I wait (... and wait... and wait) for the stop sale to lift on my new truck (2025 Hybrid w/AGM), I'm plotting how to stack the deck against a weak battery. Thus, I'm seeking step-by-step advice given my use case (and to start-- yes, I've read about a dozen threads here about solar chargers, but none of them gave me the precise answers that I'm looking for).

1. During the week I have a 8-mile round trip commute that I may not drive every day anyway (between public transportation, a motorcycle, and a bicycle, I have a perfect diversity of commuting options). Either way, I'm not sure I'm going to be driving enough on the regular to keep a battery happy over the duration.

2 I live in a condo building with no place to plug in a battery maintainer down in my garage space (really annoying with my motorcycle, but NVM!).

3. I park outside at work and can get good sun from any chosen side of the truck, so I'm interested in a solar trickle charger setup with a NOCO Genius in between.

4. I want to use the panel on the INSIDE of the cab, I don't want to crack a window and put a panel outside each day. I'm okay with losing a lot of the power through the window-- I figure any power is better than no power whenever my truck is parked outside.

So, given the above, what's my best COA?

1. Hook up via the rear seat battery, run wires from under rear seat to the panel, and after I park, hang the solar panel from the handhold in front of a passenger window.

2. Hook up via the engine bay connections, run wires through firewall to cabin, use solar panel on the dash, or if they're long enough, all the way to the rear window.

3. ... another option I'm not thinking of?

For aesthetics and simplicity, I really like COA #1, but I don't know if it's easy to run wires that way.

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[inline_five]

I have run solar maintainers for over 15 years on my vehicles as I park at the airport lot for 3-5 days at a time and during the winter especially it ensures reliable starting.

I have found the best chargers are the 20w and up variety and I face south. I place the charger on the front windshield (inside) with suction cups and place a window shade behind/under it.

The current 20w panel I have now will get hot and leak glue, so I can't let it touch my glareshield. I have a plug I made that I can disconnect the wiring easily and store the panel in my back seat area when not needed.

When I transition my Maverick to airport duty, I plan to mount it in the bed behind the back glass using a mount I bolt into the side of the bed. I plan to run the wiring to the under hood jump points.

 

[OleFordGuy]

In the OP use case, imo i'd just buy a EB and not worry with all this charging and battery issues in many of the hybrids. from your post, no more than your driving it, it could be more headache than than its worth in gas savings per month/year. probably not the response you like but that's my 2 cents.

 

[JMJB]

Regardless if you're running the wires from the interior to the underhood connection through the firewall or running the wires from a bed mounted panel and under the cab to the underhood connection , be sure to add a fuse near the solar panel .
Just sayin' .......

 

[Daveinva]

I have run solar maintainers for over 15 years on my vehicles as I park at the airport lot for 3-5 days at a time and during the winter especially it ensures reliable starting.

Thank you for the constructive feedback, much appreciated.

For others-- allow me to clarify, I plan on driving a lot on weekends-- I have a minimum 75 mile round trip to visit my better half, plus all the camping and dirtbiking I'm getting the truck to enable, thus I want the fuel efficiency of the hybrid. It's just that during the work week, I don't anticipate doing a whole lot of driving, and what driving I do drive, will mostly consist of short trips.

Again, welcome anyone with specific recommendations for my situation.

Relatedly-- anyone have any experience with a setup like this, welcome thoughts. They don't have a specific form factor for the Maverick, but I'm presuming at least one of these shapes will fit on the Mav's hood.

https://lensunsolar.com/collections/hood-solar-panel

 

[heady]

Solar maintainer is a good idea for any vehicle that sits any length of time outside, all lead acid batteries benefit from regular float charging. While the 25's shouldn't have the parasitic drain issue it's a good addition regardless.

As far as I know, a Noco Genius doesn't have a solar charge controller in the lineup, but you'd ideally want a temperature compensated mppt controller that has an AGM charging profile for the solar panel, many options will come with one already mounted on the panel. I'd probably just plug into the cigarette lighter 12v power port, and get one of the 30-40w portable panels that fold up and pack down thin so you can take it off the dash and tuck it away easily instead of one of the bulkier car-specific solar battery maintainers. Cheap and easy.

 

[OleFordGuy]

Thank you for the constructive feedback, much appreciated.

For others-- allow me to clarify, I plan on driving a lot on weekends-- I have a minimum 75 mile round trip to visit my better half, plus all the camping and dirtbiking I'm getting the truck to enable, thus I want the fuel efficiency of the hybrid. It's just that during the work week, I don't anticipate doing a whole lot of driving, and what driving I do drive, will mostly consist of short trips.

Again, welcome anyone with specific recommendations for my situation.

Relatedly-- anyone have any experience with a setup like this, welcome thoughts. They don't have a specific form factor for the Maverick, but I'm presuming at least one of these shapes will fit on the Mav's hood.

https://lensunsolar.com/collections/hood-solar-panel

Your welcome, your new information related to weekends etc adds clarification

 

[MakinDoForNow]

As I wait (... and wait... and wait) for the stop sale to lift on my new truck (2025 Hybrid w/AGM), I'm plotting how to stack the deck against a weak battery. Thus, I'm seeking step-by-step advice given my use case (and to start-- yes, I've read about a dozen threads here about solar chargers, but none of them gave me the precise answers that I'm looking for).

1. During the week I have a 8-mile round trip commute that I may not drive every day anyway (between public transportation, a motorcycle, and a bicycle, I have a perfect diversity of commuting options). Either way, I'm not sure I'm going to be driving enough on the regular to keep a battery happy over the duration.

2 I live in a condo building with no place to plug in a battery maintainer down in my garage space (really annoying with my motorcycle, but NVM!).

3. I park outside at work and can get good sun from any chosen side of the truck, so I'm interested in a solar trickle charger setup with a NOCO Genius in between.

4. I want to use the panel on the INSIDE of the cab, I don't want to crack a window and put a panel outside each day. I'm okay with losing a lot of the power through the window-- I figure any power is better than no power whenever my truck is parked outside.

So, given the above, what's my best COA?

1. Hook up via the rear seat battery, run wires from under rear seat to the panel, and after I park, hang the solar panel from the handhold in front of a passenger window.

2. Hook up via the engine bay connections, run wires through firewall to cabin, use solar panel on the dash, or if they're long enough, all the way to the rear window.

3. ... another option I'm not thinking of?

For aesthetics and simplicity, I really like COA #1, but I don't know if it's easy to run wires that way.

Hood mount solar hooked to jump posts. I don't know what controller, if any this has but connecting to jump posts is what you want to do. $308 with mppt controller less 15% dads day discount the 4th through 15th.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://lensunsolar.com/products/ford-maverick-lensun-60w-hood-flexible-solar-panel?srsltid=AfmBOopBJO-XY4pzNSNSc6cqLJhvjk6zP4qMS3ZNvWfZrGuSbSv__pjw&ved=2ahUKEwiRleLb7OGNAxWJGEQIHeORG3QQFnoECCoQAQ&usg=AOvVaw3e_Drvj8_2zrZy69DPEHoN

 

[inline_five]

In the OP use case, imo i'd just buy a EB and not worry with all this charging and battery issues in many of the hybrids. from your post, no more than your driving it, it could be more headache than than its worth in gas savings per month/year. probably not the response you like but that's my 2 cents.

IMO all modern cars should have 20w-30w panels build into their roofs. Lead acid/AGM batteries benefit from being fully charged 24/7 and last the longest that way. I have a five year old Wal-Mart special lead acid in my airport car that still is solid because I routinely keep the battery charged.

With modern cars constantly deep cycling the 12v battery due to all the things they run under the surface, there is no downside with these chargers and with a price of <$30 for a 20w panel with BMS keeping the battery topped off while the sun is present, I see no reason to not always have one.

 

[OleFordGuy]

Won’t argue about all the electronics these days, guess my thought process is I’ve kept “modern” vehicles in my driveway since the 70’s, currently have a MY24, MY22, MY18 and MY11, all loaded with the fancy features. The MY11 has had 2 battery replacements, the others zero, never had a battery related issue. They’re all fords. Even all way back to the 70’s in all the vehicles I owned, never had a battery issue/replacement until good bit past there rated years of warranty. The bottom line is ford has a battery software calibration issue with their hybrid they still haven’t figured out. Customers shouldn’t have to be put in a position of having to buy chargers/maintainers for something driven on a regular basis. Thats my side of the story and opinion. Others may differ and I have no problem with that.

 

[Robot-Wrangler]

Regardless if you're running the wires from the interior to the underhood connection through the firewall or running the wires from a bed mounted panel and under the cab to the underhood connection , be sure to add a fuse near the solar panel .
Just sayin' .......

Fuse at the battery or power connection to prevent the wiring becoming a runaway heating element. The solar panel can't generate enough power to melt properly sized wiring, but a battery or power source CAN.

 

[Daveinva]

I'd probably just plug into the cigarette lighter 12v power port

My understanding is that the 12v power ports don't stay hot for more than 90 minutes after shutting off. Plus, even while it's live, will a panel charge a battery in reverse through one?

 

[heady]

I didn't check this truck yet specifically, but I checked the manual and it recommended not leaving things plugged into the 12v socket overnight, which made me think it was always hot which is the norm for pretty much every vehicle I've had. There are lots of solar chargers that use the cigarette lighter port for that purpose due to that reason.

 

[MakinDoForNow]

I didn't check this truck yet specifically, but I checked the manual and it recommended not leaving things plugged into the 12v socket overnight, which made me think it was always hot which is the norm for pretty much every vehicle I've had. There are lots of solar chargers that use the cigarette lighter port for that purpose due to that reason.

It's not that they stay hot forever but stay hot for up to 90 minutes OR until the 12v soc drops to 12.1v. (= faster to get to sleep time) if nothing is drawing current the cig port is turned off sooner. Also the manual says to not charge battery using the cig style port, use the jump points.

 

[JDMaverick]

I have a 24 hybrid and it has an AGM battery and at this point I have had no problems with it. Sometimes it sits for a week and sometimes a day and no battery problems. Some days a few short trips and no battery problems. I did purchase a portable jump starter just in case and have never needed it so far. Don’t overthink this because most people ( but not all) here report problems not good things.

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