Solar questions for small RV roof
The last stage of my project is getting near, I have doubled my battery capacity and wired in my inverter the next step is solar. The problem I'm facing is the small roof of my 25' fifth wheel. Bet...
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No, I don't believe you will find polys less than 26" wide. I looked high and low. But I would not be afraid of mono's. I've seen companies who sell both say that the monos are better in low light than their polys. It's not a settled point one way or the other. Going with what fits is more important than mono vs poly in any event.
Make a map of your roof. Include the heights of the objects. It's up to you whether or not you allow for vent lids and TV antenna to be in the up positions. Obviously you have some control over those depending on how badly you need the sun to hit the panels on a given day. Remember that the TV antenna rotates, so if you allow for it to be up and in use, it can throw a shadow a LONG way.
Then, draw boundary lines as far from each object as the object is tall. The open space is where you can put panels with very little shading.
For a small system 300W or less, most people go with 12V panels in parallel, and PWM.
Here is a thread I started on how to measure your roof for panels:
http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/27520007.cfm
Make a map of your roof. Include the heights of the objects. It's up to you whether or not you allow for vent lids and TV antenna to be in the up positions. Obviously you have some control over those depending on how badly you need the sun to hit the panels on a given day. Remember that the TV antenna rotates, so if you allow for it to be up and in use, it can throw a shadow a LONG way.
Then, draw boundary lines as far from each object as the object is tall. The open space is where you can put panels with very little shading.
For a small system 300W or less, most people go with 12V panels in parallel, and PWM.
Here is a thread I started on how to measure your roof for panels:
http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/27520007.cfm
