Expected Solar Yield, Key West

Update:

Picked up the panel yesterday. 245 watt poly.
Ordered to Eco Worthy and Blue Sea switches.

This morning warshed the roof, measured and ordered cable.

Tomorrow will try to remove one of the luggage rack stands. Too hot once the sun gets up. It looks like removing one will give me room to mount the panel ala the Almot method.

Thank you for the mounting tips Almot. The rear roof slopes to the rear so likely the panel will slope if I used equal height mounts. I'll take a level up tomorrow and chek.

For mounting, wiring the Controller I'm thinking a hinged panel. Easy to mount and wire. Swing out to set and check. Swing back for travel.

Joel

Sorry, misread: the OP meant 4.1/2" high panel mount, not 1/2" thick. No problem, but if you can mount it lower, you do better. I would rather removed the rack and covered the screw holes with roof sealant that I already see there in abundance. I had to lift the panel 3.1/4" to clear the plumbing vent.

1/4" thick or 3/16" aluminum angle will work.

It can be a 2-piece Z-bracket - a 6" piece of 4x4 angle with a piece of 1x1 to make a horizontal lip that you mount the panel on.

My preference was a one-piece L-bracket as shown. With rivet nut in the panel side. The only drawback of L-bracket is that it has to be parallel to the rear wall, not parallel to the sides of trailer. Otherwise the bracket won't align well to the panel side on the sloped roof.

Or maybe I got your plan wrong. If you keep the rack, you can mount the panel on those rails, without additional anchor screws in the roof. Just make sure it has few degrees slop.

greenrvgreen wrote:
Solar Troll here. For comparison, I have two Renogy 100w "bendable" panels that weigh 4 lbs each and are the thickness of a tarp folded once. I have them on enough wire that I can make sure they are always in sunlight and pointed at the sun.

In those conditions, I am charging with 110 watt hours every hour the sun is above the trees, 10 hours per day last week in Oregon. If my math is correct that means I got 90 ah per day, give or take.

This is on a system that requires no drilling, no mounting, is completely portable (I've been using it with my tent), and has a TCO of $500. I believe if I used an (expensive) MPPT controller the harvest would be somewhat better.

HERE'S MY POINT: Aiming is everything in Solar. I wish somebody had told me that before I mounted 600+ watts of Kyocera boat anchors to my TT roof. Oops, I wasn't going to say "boat anchors".

Every person has different ways of looking at it and different ways of filling there needs with different budgets. A few hundred watts on the ground can do a pretty good job as long as you want to deal with the downside of portables. Personally I can't wait until my panels are on the roof and I don't have to deal with it anymore. Maybe I'll mount 720w and keep the 220w as a portable.

BFL13 wrote:


Jim, I got to hate my 27s which were so hard to get their SGs back to baseline. Love my 6s!

The Interstate grp 27 that came with the trailer four seasons ago is still going strong. It carried the trailer for a few cold cloudy days last fall when the panel was only putting out 4a and we ran the furnace day and night. Most days the solar keeps it in float and the auto charger pampers it at home. A pair of 6v was the planned upgrade when the time comes.

I didn't go after the Grp 27s that if good, would have been a nice deal. (and so close too) The thing is it is we don't know we are getting the trailer back yet, adding to the pile in the garage is senseless until we do.

joelmyer wrote:
Plan to use 4" angle iron (aluminium) screwed to the roof and 1" angle on the panel.

Questions:
1. Any problems with the panel that high (4 & 1/2 inch)?

2. Any problems with the controller (Eco Worthy 20) in the battery compartment like BLF showed a picture of his?

3. What about 110V house light switches for panel and battery disconnect?

4. Is there a place Atlanta GA to pick up a panel & avoid the shipping cost?

Joel

1) No problem with my 4x4 angle, 1/4" thick, 245W 40lbs panel, mounting hole 3/4" from the top of the angle. Here. People told me that I overdid it, so with 1/2" thick aluminum you don't have to worry. Remember to leave 3 deg - 4 deg tilt on the panel, this is necessary to shed the water and debris. Mine is tilted higher on the photo, I was toying with "real tilting" that involved support legs, but decided that it wasn't worth the trouble.

2) Eco has an internal temperature sensor, not a remote one. So it should better be in the same temperature zone (or close) as the batteries. If you can't meet both temperature proximity and the need to keep it away from fumes, you have 2 choices:
A. Get a controller with remote temp sensor
B. Get AGM batteries.

3) No. Get 12V breakers or DC fuses for panel and controller. For battery disconnect there is nothing better than Bluesea 3-position selector switch. Those that look like a kitchen timer.

Solar Troll here. For comparison, I have two Renogy 100w "bendable" panels that weigh 4 lbs each and are the thickness of a tarp folded once. I have them on enough wire that I can make sure they are always in sunlight and pointed at the sun.

In those conditions, I am charging with 110 watt hours every hour the sun is above the trees, 10 hours per day last week in Oregon. If my math is correct that means I got 90 ah per day, give or take.

This is on a system that requires no drilling, no mounting, is completely portable (I've been using it with my tent), and has a TCO of $500. I believe if I used an (expensive) MPPT controller the harvest would be somewhat better.

HERE'S MY POINT: Aiming is everything in Solar. I wish somebody had told me that before I mounted 600+ watts of Kyocera boat anchors to my TT roof. Oops, I wasn't going to say "boat anchors".

joelmyer wrote:
BFL, sorry for the transposition, I spent too much time on the Budget Light Forum.

My 5er is probably similar to yours, a compartment up front with propane on one side and batteries on the other. Storage compartment behind a metal/wood wall.

I put a hole in the wall and mounted the inverter up on the roof of the storage compartment. Until I saw your picture I was planning on putting the Solar Controller on the storage compartment side of the wall.

The propane/battery compartment has openings in the floor and a side vent for the batteries. There was a battery box with a vent pipe that went away when I put new batteries in replacing the factory issue.

Hmmm... have to think about all that.

Joel

You could put the controller beside the inverter and run short wires to the inverter's terminals so the controller shares the inverter's wires from the battery.

However, you do want to be able to see and operate the controller without having to crawl into the crawl space. Also the controller is to be mounted vertically so air can flow behind it from bottom up.

Jim, I got to hate my 27s which were so hard to get their SGs back to baseline. Love my 6s!

Joel

I hope they work out. I check craigslist daily here and my four panel totaling 940w cost me a grand total of $270. I'm getting ready now to go check on a pair of 2 year old grp 27 batteries for $40 about 6 blocks from me.

BFL, sorry for the transposition, I spent too much time on the Budget Light Forum.

My 5er is probably similar to yours, a compartment up front with propane on one side and batteries on the other. Storage compartment behind a metal/wood wall.

I put a hole in the wall and mounted the inverter up on the roof of the storage compartment. Until I saw your picture I was planning on putting the Solar Controller on the storage compartment side of the wall.

The propane/battery compartment has openings in the floor and a side vent for the batteries. There was a battery box with a vent pipe that went away when I put new batteries in replacing the factory issue.

Hmmm... have to think about all that.

Joel

JID thanks!

I may toodle down there tomorrow. That saves me shipping.

I had tried Craigslist but clearly didn't know what search terms to use.

Joel