Forum Discussion

jeremywatco's avatar
jeremywatco
Explorer
Feb 18, 2015

Solar Portable or Mounted

Hi All,

Not trying to open a can of worms here but I've been doing a fair amount of research the past 6 months of solar for my RV and have a pretty easy question.. I think...

I've been looking into RENOGY solar kit's and also the GOPower solar kits. Does anyone have any experience with these? I have 208AH of battery power and on a good day may use 70AH of juice.

I'm a little nervous about drilling into my TPO roof on my Fleetwood storm. Running the wires inside the coach doesnt seem too difficult, but the roof mounting just scares me a little bit.


Which brings me to my main question. Both these companies make Portable solar systems. 100W for Renogy and 120W for GoPower. Ideally I was thinking 200W would be a good start but I'm leaning towards jumping into solar with a portable kit first and going from there. Am I a fool for considering a portable system knowing that the real way to do this is a mounted system?

I'm very handy and usually have no issue doing anything.. just drilling the roof scares me.
Class A
  • jeremywatco's avatar
    jeremywatco
    Explorer
    Feb 18, 2015
    dahkota wrote:
    I have a TPO roof. We have 420W of solar on the roof and are adding 160W more. No problems. I like them attached to my roof because:
    1) I'm lazy and wouldn't bother to set up the portables half the time.
    2) sometimes we park in places where setting up portable solar would be difficult (parking lots, rest areas, etc)
    3) I'm afraid of them growing feet
    4) less obstructions on my roof to worry about than there could be on the ground so I don't have to worry about where the sun is as much.
    5) on my roof, they are always working rather than taking up valuable storage space.


    Is there plywood right under the TPO? Is this something so simple that I literally just screw in some screws, seal and thats a wrap (without the wiring aspect of course).
  • dahkota's avatar
    dahkota
    Explorer
    Feb 18, 2015
    I have a TPO roof. We have 420W of solar on the roof and are adding 160W more. No problems. I like them attached to my roof because:
    1) I'm lazy and wouldn't bother to set up the portables half the time.
    2) sometimes we park in places where setting up portable solar would be difficult (parking lots, rest areas, etc)
    3) I'm afraid of them growing feet
    4) less obstructions on my roof to worry about than there could be on the ground so I don't have to worry about where the sun is as much.
    5) on my roof, they are always working rather than taking up valuable storage space.
  • TucsonJim's avatar
    TucsonJim
    Explorer II
    Feb 18, 2015
    I love having a portable system. I built my own 200 Watt system and I have it attached to 40 feet of cable. I can move it all day long to chase the sun and stay out of the shade.
  • jeremywatco's avatar
    jeremywatco
    Explorer
    Feb 18, 2015
    1BryNelson wrote:
    I'll let someone with a newer rig answer. But putting on roof is not bad. Roof should be checked every year and sealed around protrusions at least every 2 years. Then a complete reseal 3 to 5 years.


    I was just getting confused. Some sites had people just drilling in a screw and covering in dicor.. the instructions say I can do this, or it says I can use well nuts which it doesnt come with and then to cover in dicor.

    If this is as simple as driving in a screw and covering in dicor then decision made.

    Just not sure about this TPO roof...
  • 1BryNelson's avatar
    1BryNelson
    Explorer
    Feb 18, 2015
    I'll let someone with a newer rig answer. But putting on roof is not bad. Roof should be checked every year and sealed around protrusions at least every 2 years. Then a complete reseal 3 to 5 years.

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