280 watt solar install on Nash TT with video

Question

About a month ago I installed a 280 watt solar panel setup on my Nash 25c and filmed it. The Nash, like all Northwood products, come pre-wired for solar so it was easier then a complete new wire run. I am very happy with the performance of it so far. I transitioned from a arctic fox truck camper to a travel trailer and removed my one 140watt kyocera solar panel from the camper which I had installed about 3 years ago. I managed to get another 140watt kyocera solar panel and bought a PWM charge controller by blue sky, a sun charger 30. I chose to locate the 2 panels on complete opposite ends of the RV as where I live in British Columbia it is heavily treed and its pretty rare for the entire RV to sit in the sunshine. So my idea was to do this so at least one of the panels would have a better chance to be in sunlight and it would also give me more freedom in parking or situating the RV when camping. I am mainly a 3-5 nights at a time camper with about a few 10+ day trips a year thrown in. Never do we camp "plugged in" only dry camping but our power usage is pretty low so this much solar was definitely overkill for my needs but I was counting on not getting full output from these panels because of shading etc.

Links to the solar install:

Solar Install Part 1

Solar Install Part 2

Hope my video helps out some people.

pianotuna · Answer

Lovely install. I hope it performs better than your wildest dreams.

bfl13 · Answer

Good work, and very informative videos.Of course, being nosy as hell, I was trying to figure out where you live! :)  Anyway,Only thing IMO is that some folks have found they wished they could remove a panel to work underneath it, so they wished they had mounted it with brackets so they could leave the bracket in the roof, but just unbolt the panel.  You can do that with an extra bracket at each point.  (Two Ls instead of one Z idea)I like the use of the cargo rails.  Did the same in a different sort of way back when I had the 130w panel arranged to be on the roof or on the ground.  I made a wooden tray so I could shift it about however.I get no luck with solar at Rathtrevor at all.  Maybe 1/2 an amp part of the day so I don't even bother with solar in the provincial parks around here.  In the warm half of the year we have had off-grid camping in the open, so the solar has really paid off. Totally different game and also for long term instead of a long weekend. Can't say about off-grid in the open or part open in the cold half of the year (where is that you can get open off grid in winter?).

dirtpig · Answer

pianotuna wrote:Lovely install. I hope it performs better than your wildest dreams.Thank-you,  so far it has worked great, i am used to the way solar works and what to expect from having a 140watt installed on my old truck camper for the past 3 years.  I just returned from a 10day trip in the bush and we had some garbage weather for about 8 of those days so i was pretty amazed that the system was able to keep batteries between 60-80% for the entire time even though we were using furnace at night (down to about 9deg C a few nights) Im not talking about crazy furnace use, it just came on maybe 3 or 4 times each night.  I had one day of sun but we were surrounded by high mountains so only about 6hrs of sunlight but it was able to almost fully charge my 2 6volt trojans.

dirtpig · Answer

BFL13 I am in the heart of QB! The cargo rails idea came to me as I was not going to use them and i figured thats less holes being put into the roof, the nice thing is that panel happened to fit perfectly with about a 1/2" on each side to spare.

The mounting hardware i used were those Z brackets but i used bolts and nuts to secure it to the panel, i am able to get my hand in there with a wrench and loosen the nuts and remove the panel from the roof if i wanted to get under there every few years or so to clean. I do see how it would be easier to use 2 L brackets for removal purposes and it would give u a bit more height and airflow under there.

dirtpig · Answer

BFL13 wrote:I get no luck with solar at Rathtrevor at all.  Maybe 1/2 an amp part of the day so I don't even bother with solar in the provincial parks around here.  In the warm half of the year we have had off-grid camping in the open, so the solar has really paid off. Totally different game and also for long term instead of a long weekend. Can't say about off-grid in the open or part open in the cold half of the year (where is that you can get open off grid in winter?).Im not much of a provincial park camper, i prefer the wilderness campsites if u even want to call them that.  The winter time is an exception though as we dont have as many days to take off so we do go to rathtrevor or miracle beach then. (plus its only $11 night)  Like you said, solar is useless there because of heavy shade and extremely low sun angle (if its out!).  Where do I get solar charging in winter?  Would have to be lakeside and southern exposure.  Here is a picture taken in late october on a rare sunny day!  You can see how low the sun already is, I think any later in the year you would need tilting panels to benefit.

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280 watt solar install on Nash TT with video

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