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LifeInsideJack's avatar
Feb 24, 2017

Advise on Solar Mounts ....

We scored three 250w solar panels in exchange for some work. This is great as this is how we like to pay for things.

Before you get all jiggy on that I'll tell you that Cat is an Electrical Engineer that works for a solar company and we've both been in solar for over 9 years. We have the knowledge and experience of building farms and even smaller off-grid set ups.

The problem is that we haven't installed any on RVs.

What brackets have you used? What did you like? What do I need to be aware of?

Our RV, Jack, likes to go fast. He's easily pulling 75 on the freeways when that's reasonable. So that's a consideration also.

We are having the roof resealed next week and while they are up there they are going to attach the panels to the roof and seal the mounts.

I have to order mounts.

What am I purchasing?
  • Almot wrote:
    Yes, I noticed that small panel on the A/C.
    In summer, and without controller, it could even over-charge a small battery if there are no parasitic loads, i.e. engine battery is disconnected from everything except for this panel. OTH, if there is anything drawing power while in storage, it might not be enough to keep the level of charge where it was.


    I have a trickle charge mounted under the hood. The cord for it runs into the coach. It's easy to keep that going from inside.

    Ultimately Cat wants to convert much of our stuff to 12v. That will involve purchasing 12v adapters for our laptops and electronics. Then we will look at replacing the fridge and eventually the A/C as there are more and more 12v A/C units hitting the market.

    If we could get these devices in place we could unplug Jack. The eventual goal.
  • Almot's avatar
    Almot
    Explorer III
    Converting phone charger to 12V is easy, you can just get a $1 USB charger from Ebay that plugs into cig lighter receptacle.

    Converting things like TV doesn't make much sense, modern LED TV draws very little power. 100W inverter will do - with remote switch, or make it accessible and turn it off when not in use.

    12V fridge of modest 6-7 cu.ft size your solar could handle in summer, will be pushing the limits in winter - not gonna make it on some days, so you'll dip into your battery resources "deeper", and even 6 cu.ft model will be a costly affair.

    12V A/C - have some doubts. Removing that much heat from the trailer to the outside requires a lot of energy - KWH, no matter in 12V or 110V.

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