Solar Power Systems for Bronco by Cascadia 4x4

[Cascadia_4x4]

Well I had nothing to do today so I installed the panels.
The install is retarded monkey level easy, so that's the good.

The bad is they look goofy as fuck in person. I foresee having to explain what those weird lumps on my hood are many many times.

Also the velcro they use to attach the panels to the hood are not confidence inspiring. You can see the panels flexing and squirming around 70-80 mph.

Obviously don't know how they perform and I almost don't care they look so dumb. I hope they're worth it.

I'm glad the install went well for you. We did our best to make the install instructions as clear as possible.

FYI, its not "velcro" we use as a fastener. Its a product called 3M dual lock which is totally different and is a locking fastener (not hook and loop like velcro). This is why it makes the audible "click" when fastened. We've done a lot of testing on this and we don't expect any to fly off, please let us know if anything does happen though!

Sorry to hear you find them "Goofy" looking! haha all of the other comments we have received have been super positive, so I don't think you'll have much explaining to do to passerbys! They certainly don't look as dumb as those fake vents everyone likes to put on their hoods, and are definitely more functional!

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[Cascadia_4x4]

I had mine installed last weekend as well. They’ve been great so far. Very easy to use and looks great.

One of the best accidental features is that it helps with sun glare since the panels are matte. No more early morning glare on the commute to work!

Thanks for the kind words! I'm glad you are stoked on the product. If you wouldn't mind posting some photos here we'd love to see them

 

[braddavis2017]

Here are some pictures of the product as well as the charge controller and the app.

*screenshots of app were taken inside garage [no sunlight]

I personally am a fan of the dual panels since it offers a better charge, and it subtlety reminds me of a certain vehicle…

 

[smoot618]

You bet! We designed our system with charging power stations in mind. No drilling is required! (just a few screws to mount the 12v outlet).

The way the system has been designed to charge 12v accessories like a fridge or power station is through our plug-and-play 12V accessory charging kit (12V Accessory Kit | Cascadia 4x4 | VSS System 2.0).

The way the system works is:
- Solar Panels + Alternator keep the vehicle battery charged up (this is where the power is stored)
- The 12v accessory outlet draws power from the vehicle battery to power the fridge, solar generator, laptop etc.
- The 12v accessory outlet will always provide power unless the charge controller senses that the vehicle battery is getting to low (the user can set this low voltage cut off via the CascadiaTether ™ App). If the low voltage cutoff is triggered then the system will wait until the solar panels have charged the battery sufficiently to continue providing power to the 12v outlet.

Another odd question, but if I had other solar panels, do you guys know of a way I can hook them up to the same charge controller?

 

[Cascadia_4x4]

Another odd question, but if I had other solar panels, do you guys know of a way I can hook them up to the same charge controller?

Our controller can handle a max of 200 watts so in theory you could combine panels up to that amount. However, it is not recommended to combine panels of different wattage/voltage into one controller as you'll be really limiting the efficiency of the MPPT, its best to keep differing panels on separate controllers. It is fine to have multiple controllers going to one battery. Let me know if you have any other questions! Cheers,

 

[Cascadia_4x4]

Just a heads up to everyone!! We're offering free shipping for Easter weekend with code "EASTERFREE". Valid until April 22.

As always let me know if you have any questions. Cheers,

 

[Cascadia_4x4]

Easter free shipping promo has been extended till April 30! Get em while you can. Cheers,

 

[Cascadia_4x4]

Hey Everyone! One of the Team Bronco ambassadors made a great video about the isntall of our solar system on his truck! This should help clear up any questions anyone might have on the install.

The Bronco kits are also currently on sale!

 

[Billy Goat]

Finally installed mine this afternoon, everything went pretty smooth right down to the end. The only issue I had was after installing the app I wasn't charging. So I covered the solar panels with the boxes they came in and had no lights on the MPPT. Trace it down to a faulty plug. Fortunately I had the battery cable extender so I cut the bad end off and spliced on the one I robbed from the extension with a dab of solder and some shrink tubing and voila back in business.
The only other hiccup I had was I have a aftermarket fuse box lid with watertight receptacles for add-ons so I had to put the controller on the end and decided to loosely slip a big zip tie around it so it doesn't flop loose when I decide to yeehaw it!

 

[Sojourner]

Finally installed mine this afternoon....

Nice write-up and pix. Thank you.

 

[Billy Goat]

Nice write-up and pix. Thank you.

Sure, you're welcome! The only other thing I could mention is it's springtime and there's a lot of crap in the air so I got a little trash under the template with a couple of hairs off my arm but it's all good! Guess I added a little squatch A DNA to it

 

[Cascadia_4x4]

Finally installed mine this afternoon, everything went pretty smooth right down to the end. The only issue I had was after installing the app I wasn't charging. So I covered the solar panels with the boxes they came in and had no lights on the MPPT. Trace it down to a faulty plug. Fortunately I had the battery cable extender so I cut the bad end off and spliced on the one I robbed from the extension with a dab of solder and some shrink tubing and voila back in business.
The only other hiccup I had was I have a aftermarket fuse box lid with watertight receptacles for add-ons so I had to put the controller on the end and decided to loosely slip a big zip tie around it so it doesn't flop loose when I decide to yeehaw it!

Thanks for the write up. Looks great on the red! I'm sorry to hear that one of the plugs was not in good shape, do you know exactly what was wrong? Feel free to PM me. We'd like to make a note of this for our records! Cheers,

 

[Noremac]

Real-world experience.... I just removed a competitor's 65w hood panel from my Bronco.. You are lucky to get 20-30w on a nice sunny day.. thats not worth much for charging anything.

 

[Cascadia_4x4]

Real-world experience.... I just removed a competitor's 65w hood panel from my Bronco.. You are lucky to get 20-30w on a nice sunny day.. thats not worth much for charging anything.

You will find our systems are totally different from the "competition". We know a lot about them as they actually manufactured our very first VSS systems years ago...until they stole all of our IP Our new VSS 2.0 systems are a completely new product.

We rate all of our systems honestly, and you will be able to get 60 watts out of it on a good day. Splitting the system into 2 panels helps with this as it makes the system charge at a higher voltage, the new mounting method also keeps the panels operating at a cooler temperature which increases the efficiency. The panels from the competition are "over rated" by anywhere between 20-40% in our testing

Our 60 watt system should be able to keep up with a 12v fridge no problem with decent sunlight!

 

[PC Austin]

For those that have this installed, how many watts are you seeing?

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