Your dream Gamiviti rack

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A quick report on how wonderful it was to deal w/ Tim @nakman and how great his racks are. A friend and I recently ordered racks for our trucks, and I made the trek to Denver to retrieve them. Tim was great to deal w/ re ordering/customizing the racks and took the time to show me the ins-and-outs of installing the rack on my LX. We loaded the other rack on top, and I drove back to Arkansas.

The racks are very well thought out and built; I couldn't be happier. Tim also has some ingenious accessories to accompany them w/ more in the works.

Great guy, great product, great ideas.
 
Anyone have any creative ways to mount a 100watt solar panel directly to the bars?
 
guardcompany said:
Anyone have any creative ways to mount a 100watt solar panel directly to the bars?
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On my travel trailer I mounted the panels with some aluminum Z brackets. Drilled holes to mount the brackets to the panels, then mounted the brackets directly to the roof. In your case you could use u-bolts to secure the brackets to the roof bars

Amazon product ASIN B07194T5VP
 
linuxgod said:
On my travel trailer I mounted the panels with some aluminum Z brackets. Drilled holes to mount the brackets to the panels, then mounted the brackets directly to the roof. In your case you could use u-bolts to secure the brackets to the roof bars

Amazon product ASIN B07194T5VP
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Thanks. I have those brackets. Another option is to mount them to Gamiviti new Stepping Stones but I would need to buy 4. I do really dig the new accessories. Great job Tim.

www.gamiviti.com

stepping stones — Gamiviti

www.gamiviti.com www.gamiviti.com
 
Hey guys thank you as always for the kind words... @erin was great hanging out and installing with you, I'm looking forward to the install pics with those multi brackets in use! @guardcompany I was actually messing with a new solar solution yesterday believe it or not. I've got these new plastic clips in stock now, using them on the fairings, and just yesterday picked up some metal backing plates for them. what that means is I can now bolt down a grid panel using plastic clips, to the top of the rack, which allows you to pop up the panel to angle it towards the sun.

I've been messing with one of those portable power supplies portable power — Gamiviti which can measure your input wattage from a panel, and learning just how significant the blockage from the rack bars and sun angle can be- literally cuts the panel wattage down to less than half of what it could be...

so to answer your question I've used pipe clamps to put a panel under the rack...
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I have used our table slides to help hold up a panel under the rack...
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But my next move is to put a panel on top of the rack, in a way that can move out of the way of a RTT, or other gear, etc. Once I get something worth looking at I'll post back up, but it'll be a combination of plastic clips, plastic grid panel, and a flexible 110w solar panel.

Glad you guys like the new stuff! More to come soon... and as always really appreciate the input for what else you'd like to see. :cheers:
 
@guardcompany alright here you go... as mentioned we take a plastic grid panel Grid Panels — Gamiviti then add some of the plastic fairing clips Fairings — Gamiviti. The new backing washers work really well for the top side, I'm using some flare nuts with teeth on them for the plastic clip side which makes tightening really easy, don't need a wrench for the nut. For this mockup I used 4 clips, and it's pretty decent, if we did 6 it would feel really secure. I might add a little velcro leash or something, just in case (think snowboarding in the 90's) or just more clips, pretty easy to experiment.


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Then bolt a 110w flexible solar panel to the grid panel. Solar — Gamiviti I realize it is not centered, whatevs I need to give that panel to someone else tomorrow anyway.

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So then the whole assembly just snaps onto the rack.

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The advantage here is you're able to unsnap it in seconds, then tilt it towards the sun (or even move it into the sun, if you have extra cable). Again if you turned this 90 degrees it would even fit inside the tracks of your RTT. It's freezing out here... so gonna mess with this some more when it warms up a bit but hopefully this gives you some ideas. what do you think?
 
nakman said:
So then the whole assembly just snaps onto the rack.

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The advantage here is you're able to unsnap it in seconds, then tilt it towards the sun (or even move it into the sun, if you have extra cable). Again if you turned this 90 degrees it would even fit inside the tracks of your RTT. It's freezing out here... so gonna mess with this some more when it warms up a bit but hopefully this gives you some ideas. what do you think?
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Is that two grid panels or one? I love it!
 
nakman said:
That is just one grid panel. Also ignore the other solar panel below the rack...
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Awesome. I’ll be ordering the panel and clips today. Need to get this thing mount before a trip at the end of the month.
 
Side benefit of the grid is you get some airflow under the panel when parked. Solar panels lose efficiency as the cells get hot, so airflow under them makes a big difference in output when your in the desert
 
I just wanted to add how well my experience was with Tim @ Gamiviti. He sent me rendering of what I was looking for and helped guide me to a design that fit my needs. Rack fits great and is very functional. Plus, the low profile is greatly appreciated. Thanks Tim!
 
Well it looks like I'm buying beer at HIH again... thanks for all the support guys! I will update with a little more grid tech once I get time to modify one, I've got some shipping to get knocked out today.. gotta get off the computer.


also if you're not one of the 3 people who follow me on FB (thanks again for the follow, Gary!) you probably didn't see the patches... so if you're a true overlander and want a patch feel free to hit me up here or there or through email or DM on the IG... shoot me your address. I am suspecting not too many need a patch but will put this in its own paragraph should I become overwhelmed and need to delete it someday. Until then, free patches for everyone! :cheers:
 
nakman said:
Well it looks like I'm buying beer at HIH again... thanks for all the support guys! I will update with a little more grid tech once I get time to modify one, I've got some shipping to get knocked out today.. gotta get off the computer.


also if you're not one of the 3 people who follow me on FB (thanks again for the follow, Gary!) you probably didn't see the patches... so if you're a true overlander and want a patch feel free to hit me up here or there or through email or DM on the IG... shoot me your address. I am suspecting not too many need a patch but will put this in its own paragraph should I become overwhelmed and need to delete it someday. Until then, free patches for everyone! :cheers:
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Ok, so I am getting ready to join the club. Working with Tim... and my wife... to determine our final configuration. Was originally looking at fitting for both the 80 and 100, but now I am thinking that we may just keep everything on the 100, as for our use, it has the best ride, room, and power... plus is partially modified, whereas the 80 is still fairly stock. Picked up an RTT this weekend, so went directly to Tim and he VERY QUICKLY (like to the tune of 15 minutes after talking) a drawing and bill of materials. Very excited for this purchase!
 
Mine is on order. It was scheduled to go to powder coating on Monday. Can't wait to get this on my truck. Now I have to decide on an RTT. I have an '88 fj62 with a Tradesman full rack. I may have to modify that one a little but I want an RTT I can mount on the 62 or the 200 depending on what we are doing. I have 8 and 10 year old boys so I need a decent size but I don't want to take up the whole rack. I went with the Expo ++ with the addition 4th plate and the sunroof cutout. I know you lose space but I really like to open up the sunroof and didn't want it blocked.
 
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Love the grid system with the solar panel. Video if the snap clips on my instagram here:

Tim is great to deal with and makes an amazing product! See you at HIH this July.

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