Step one. Bought the van.
Hello Everybody, First post. I camp a lot in tents but after spending three days straight in a tent in the rain at Dolly Sods I swore I'd make a change. Here it is. Bought it Wednesday. Dro...
Forum Discussion
Solar Panels continued -
A painting tip. I found that by standing the panels on end it was easier to spray under the mounting edge on the back.
Also a trash can makes a good painting stand. Easier to spin the panel around like on a lazy susan.
With the brackets painted next make a rubber pad for the angle iron end where it bolts to the penthouse top. The pad will serve to both protect the fiberglass top and hopefully seal around the bolt to prevent water penetration. I have a roll of butyl rubber bought from MacMaster-Carr. This is not the sticky and malleable kind of butyl tape I've used before but more like bike inner tube rubber.
Cut a custom piece for each bracket with a drilled 1/4" hole in the rubber for the 5/16" bolt. Marked both the bracket and rubber pad so they could be matched up again later. The letter I wrote on the bracket will be hidden on the underside when bolted down. I also cut more pads that will go between the brackets and the solar panels. These pads are to act as an insulator between the aluminum panels and steel brackets to prevent galvanic corrosion. The pads had an added benefit which I'll cover later.
Get my box of stainless steel nuts and bolts I ordered from McMaster-Carr. I ordered 1" and 1-1/2" long 5/16" bolts. Ended up also needing 2" long. Luckily I have a Fastenal in town.
Bolt four brackets onto the front most panel.
Mount the other two brackets on the back panel.
Put the panels on the top of the van.
Bolt the two set of panels together. The debris you can see on the roof was knocked off the trees by the rain storm earlier in the day.
With the panels bolted together check that the roof holes line up. I had to make some adjustments to a couple of the brackets to get it just right.
Use some 2x4 pieces to hold up both the panels so I get my hands underneath them to do the final tightening of the bolts holding the panels to the brackets.
Next start working on the wiring.
Again the wood block were helpfully in giving me room to work.
Here is the wires running just under the protective angle iron piece I added to the end of the one bracket.
The wiring is on the drivers side of the van since that's the side the solar controller is on. It's getting kind of crowded under the rear panel. I ended up adding a couple more nylon anchors to tie everything down. You can't tell from the picture but I've only plugged in one of the two parallel cables I made earlier. Without both cables plugged in then I don't have to worry about the the uncapped wires being electrically "alive". I need to know how much slack will be left when they are all plugged in so the unplugged ends are zip tied near their final position.
I needed extra room under the panel to do this work. The advantage of the rubber pads between the panels and brackets is to allow them enough flexibility for me to prop up this corner bracket even higher without having to raise the other brackets.
continued -
A painting tip. I found that by standing the panels on end it was easier to spray under the mounting edge on the back.
Also a trash can makes a good painting stand. Easier to spin the panel around like on a lazy susan.
With the brackets painted next make a rubber pad for the angle iron end where it bolts to the penthouse top. The pad will serve to both protect the fiberglass top and hopefully seal around the bolt to prevent water penetration. I have a roll of butyl rubber bought from MacMaster-Carr. This is not the sticky and malleable kind of butyl tape I've used before but more like bike inner tube rubber.
Cut a custom piece for each bracket with a drilled 1/4" hole in the rubber for the 5/16" bolt. Marked both the bracket and rubber pad so they could be matched up again later. The letter I wrote on the bracket will be hidden on the underside when bolted down. I also cut more pads that will go between the brackets and the solar panels. These pads are to act as an insulator between the aluminum panels and steel brackets to prevent galvanic corrosion. The pads had an added benefit which I'll cover later.
Get my box of stainless steel nuts and bolts I ordered from McMaster-Carr. I ordered 1" and 1-1/2" long 5/16" bolts. Ended up also needing 2" long. Luckily I have a Fastenal in town.
Bolt four brackets onto the front most panel.
Mount the other two brackets on the back panel.
Put the panels on the top of the van.
Bolt the two set of panels together. The debris you can see on the roof was knocked off the trees by the rain storm earlier in the day.
With the panels bolted together check that the roof holes line up. I had to make some adjustments to a couple of the brackets to get it just right.
Use some 2x4 pieces to hold up both the panels so I get my hands underneath them to do the final tightening of the bolts holding the panels to the brackets.
Next start working on the wiring.
Again the wood block were helpfully in giving me room to work.
Here is the wires running just under the protective angle iron piece I added to the end of the one bracket.
The wiring is on the drivers side of the van since that's the side the solar controller is on. It's getting kind of crowded under the rear panel. I ended up adding a couple more nylon anchors to tie everything down. You can't tell from the picture but I've only plugged in one of the two parallel cables I made earlier. Without both cables plugged in then I don't have to worry about the the uncapped wires being electrically "alive". I need to know how much slack will be left when they are all plugged in so the unplugged ends are zip tied near their final position.
I needed extra room under the panel to do this work. The advantage of the rubber pads between the panels and brackets is to allow them enough flexibility for me to prop up this corner bracket even higher without having to raise the other brackets.
continued -
