Complete Solar Install for Boondocking

[DonMcKay]

Originally Posted by WeekendEscape RV

We are missing a couple pieces so all I can do is mount the panels today and can't tie them in just yet. Time to scrub the roof and install them!

Attachment 132588

Looks good we are looking at a solar system on our windjammer in the very near future. I am planing on 4 6 volt 230 amh batteries and close to 500 watts of solar panels. Pure sine inverter and a tracer 40 amp mppt controller

[WeekendEscape RV]

Well, we finally have a video uploaded. Don't laugh too bad as I am very unfamiliar with the editing software but I will learn.

I had no idea the video quality was that bad on the Sony! It is getting tossed in the trash. I guess I'm looking for another camera as well now. I can run just the Nikon for a bit if need be though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbJalD8q9eQ

[WeekendEscape RV]

I pulled it. Will make another with better footage and cover the complete install in one. Sorry for the tease

[WeekendEscape RV]

I messed around and didn't get any video of me drilling through the roof but I did get some showing where I ran the wires. Work on the roof is complete! Now if I can beat this sinus infection we will be good to go.

[Kenny kustom]

How did you fasten the panels to the roof?
I have 200w of go power flex, thinking about putting 3 more up there

[WeekendEscape RV]

Originally Posted by Kenny kustom

How did you fasten the panels to the roof?
I have 200w of go power flex, thinking about putting 3 more up there

Eterbond RSW tape, Solaflex, and Dicor

[Kenny kustom]

Originally Posted by WeekendEscape RV

Eterbond RSW tape, Solaflex, and Dicor

I have the tape and the dicor.. I thought solaflex was pipe insulation?

[WeekendEscape RV]

Originally Posted by Kenny kustom

I have the tape and the dicor.. I thought solaflex was pipe insulation?

Sorry, it was Sikaflex. You are correct

[WeekendEscape RV]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkw-o9ifB0g

This one turned out better although I was in a rush.

[mwtracht]

Thanks for all your efforts to give us beginners some help. I was wondering about your choice of flexible over solid panels. Someone I know did an install on his trailer and went with the solid panels on the grounds that he thought they would be tougher and have more protection from things like branches and hail. Would appreciate your thoughts on that since you have been down this road before.

[WeekendEscape RV]

Great question. I originally purchased four 150W solid panels with the nice heavy plastic mounting brackets that match the color of everything else on the roof.

One evening we were watching a couple YouTube videos when a suggested video of a flexible install popped up. We watched it and knew it was the direction we wanted to go. I get on the roof minimum three times per month installing and removing the cover as well as clearing the slideout of debris before closing. The solid panels I have would make maneuvering tricky at best. Solid are a bit more durable to the elements but they are visible from the ground, will catch air when going down the highway, and cannot be walked on. For us it was strictly a personal preference and not performance/cost based.

Thank you so much for your question and if you every have any question or wonder feel free to shoot me a message. I have been working in the power generation and transmission industry for going on 12 years. If I didn't love it so much I believe I would retire early and travel more.

[ScottBrownstein]

Agree completely, but there is one drawback with flexible panels that are attached to the roof...HEAT! While it is unfair, you get far more solar radiation in southern latitudes, but in exchange it gets a lot hotter. Solar panels are most efficient when cold, like North Dakota cold. Bonding them to the roof means that they will get significantly hotter and lose efficiency. Air space under them allows them to run cooler in the same environmental situation. this temperature coefficient is pretty big such that the best solar months in Florida are April and May...not July and August.

Otherwise it is much cleaner and mechanically safe to have them in contact with the roof itself.

This stuff is never simple, but that is why it is so much fun to think about.

[WeekendEscape RV]

True. They will get hot. For our application it should not be an issue. If we were full timers then we would not have ran them. These will be used 1/2-1 day per month in total. The rest of the time they are shut off.

[Kenny kustom]

Why would you shut them off?

[ScottBrownstein]

My thought as well. He might have shore power where he stores and if, like me, he is a Republican, he doesn't mind using it vs solar to keep his battery SOC up.

On second thought, I like the magic!

[WeekendEscape RV]

Yes we are hooked up to shore power all the time and yes, we are conservatives and yes, the magic is awesome!

[ScottBrownstein]

Thought so. I don't want go too close to the edge with the site admins and I have to be careful but I haven't met a lot of "liberals" in RV parks. Maybe in the boondocks and "closer to nature."

Maybe we should talk about nitrogen in tires as that used to be safe.

[WeekendEscape RV]

Maybe I can talk you into breaking bread if ever our paths cross? I know this autumn we will return to the Ozarks for a couple weeks. We typically meet up with one other RV couple there from Evansville, Indiana.

Back to the solar; I just ordered 6-100AH AGM batteries! That should keep us going for a bit.


Oh, and correction, we will use the solar 3-4 days per month on average.

[mnoland30]

I mounted a flexible 100 watt panel on my roof and ran the wiring in conduit down the front of my ROO. I didn't want to drill holes in my roof. I like your cover.

The disadvantage I've found with the flexible panels in the sun year round is that the plastic oxidizes, and I've lost some output after two years. If I had it to do over again, I'd go with glass covered panels, and drill through the roof. I think I will have it to do over again in a couple of more years.

I'm wondering what you are using all of that power for? I get by with 100 watts here in the southwest. Once in a rainy week in Montana I had to use an auxiliary 30 watt panel facing the morning sun. Other than that, we rarely go below 80%.

[WeekendEscape RV]

For extended boondocking