movable solar panels/built in system?

Bert the Welder wrote:
Anyone have their charging/control system built in, like it would be from the factory, but instead of having your panels roof mounted with cables running through the camper and through holes in the roof, you have the cables loose and have the panels free to move around your site to chase the sun? Cables acting like a long ext. cord. Perhaps the cables hooked up to a pig tail in one of the exterior storage cabinets or ?. And I don't mean one of those all-in-one systems like Jackery(sp?)
Thanks!

Regarding Holes in the roof......Based on your user name, assuming you're a welder, I will assume you are also a craftsmen. With the high quality materials that are available now days and the likely-hood that you are better craftsman than the people who built the trailer...with the smallest amount of research, you can do a better job than they ever did at the factory. I recommend steering away from factory installed set ups and factory pre-wired solar(ready for solar). In my opinion, waste of money. I totally re-did my factory installed solar that worked OK at best, now works amazing.....in my opinion.

A Phoenix area dealer advertised 2 weeks ago 295W 60 cell panels for $100 and 250W used for $50.

24V panels require a more expensive MPPT controller than 12V panels with PWM contoller. Portable panels have their use. Various pros and cons for any system.

I've run various wires that are not visible in the living areas. Holes in the roof don't leak when properly sealed. You already have hundreds of roof holes from the mfg.

Try a portable panel or two and see if it works for you.

with cables running through the camper and through holes in the roof

You're gonna get a lot of conflicting info with this cause the "type of solar" you use is like the argument regarding Diesels Vs. Gassers. I have 450W solar "mounted-hard" on the roof(non tilt-able". I really beefed up the the wiring and placement of the controller and I never need to use a generator. I winter camp in temps down to the teens and 20's. I use my furnace at night and the 4-6v's I have are generally fully charged by noon. Meaning....there are different ways to build solar and most any way you build it can work if it is built with some thinking and planning.

It's not that practical of course, but then you can park in the shade and have panels in the sun. You can use the glass panels, they do not have to be "portable" only need to be able to be ported/moved.

Voltage drop will happen, but power will still get to the batteries. It is just a matter of how much voltage drop you can be happy with.

I had a friend do a portable and used regular household orange extension cords as his cord. he did not need a lot of power, so this worked, but it was dumb.
Even dumber he kept the 120 plugs and made that his DC 12v plugs, but he never mistakenly plugged that make-shift DC cord into a 120 outlet that I know of... He is smart, but sometimes he is very dumb. Anyway, you can run a length of cord from a panel if you like your panels sitting out on the ground.
I would never do this unless I just wanted a spare booster panel if I had to park in the shade.

You have the space to transport and store portable panels?

The length of wire you are talking about in gauges needed for the current would be expensive and heavy. You would also have voltage drop since you're talking about DC. It doesn't seem like a practical approach. Ours does just fine on the roof.

Rob

I started with movable panels. I got tired of dealing with it. Most portable sized panels are incredibly over priced. Large 60 cell panels like you would mount on the roof can be purchased for around 50 cents per watt. You could put 325 watt panels up there and they would only cost you about $170 each. If you try to buy small 100 watt panels for portable they will likely cost $100 or more each.

2oldman wrote:
Portable panels get old real fast. They're big and heavy.

X2

Picture needing to continually move a 4'x8'x3/4" sheet of plywood around.. Bulky, heavy, not easy to move, setup, take down then deal with winds knocking it over..

While individual panels may be smaller than a sheet of plywood, they are often pretty large (IE 100W panels are often 2'x4')and you most likely will end up with multiple panels to deal with.

Stick it on the roof and pretty much forget about them and rarely ever have to fuss with them. One and done.

Portable panels get old real fast. They're big and heavy.