So with all this solar talk we realized we needed a simple way or mechanism to transport the solar charge controller and all cables that go to the solar panel as well as to the Cricket

At the beginning it all started as a simple project, but off course with me and my geeky daughter involved it turned out to be something a bit more involved…. I mean all things considered we had the extra space and some parts laying around.

It all started with a simple medium “Harbor Freight” case as pictured below…..

Then with a quick visit to the local home improvement store we had a piece of birchwood cut to size by using the bottom foam filler as a reference/blueprint. Then a couple of bolts, nuts, screws later we mounted the controller to the case and tested directly to the taxa… with an SAE socket we installed in the box and extension cable.

And this is where all things went wild…. 🙂 since we were already here why not continue and add ports for stuff in the box and also be able to use it stand alone with a smaller LFP battery pack that connects to the same SAE port……. so we decided to add a dual QC3.0 USB fast charging port and a 12v socket along with a “Neutrik NAC3MPA-1 powerCON Chassis Connector” we saw on a couple youtube projects to connect the solar panels easily to the box. And that’s how we ended up here…..

We went with a “Victron SmartSolar MPPT 100/20 Solar Charge Controller 100V 20A with Bluetooth” as we are trying to charge a 100AH LFP (with a 180W array currently). An MPPT controller was something we wanted for this project and this one will give us more than what we needed in case we want to expand the solar array in the future.

As you can see it ca run our second fridge as well through the 12v port (remember there is a dometic fridge already inside the taxa)

Ultimately as you can see in the last couple pictures there is space left to the right of the electronics to store the solar cables and the SAE extension cable that connects to the taxa….. ultimately we could in the future just put a 12v 40AH flat LFP battery pack in there securely and make it into a completely self contained 480WH portable solar pack.

Thanks for stopping by.