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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Hi rjsurfer,
How much battery capacity do you have?
I chose to do parallel/series to get the best of both worlds.
I'd do no less than 60 watts per 100 amp-hours of storage. If space is a problem then MPPT may give you about 8% more battery charging in the day. Some folks say the charging day starts earlier, too, but I have no way to document that.
Use a quality controller that has temperature compensation.
Tall mounts may help the panels to get "out of the shade". Being tall may allow for more cooling on the underside of the panels.
I'd love to replace my awning with solar panels.
Solve the "less output" by adding an extra panel.
Flat on the roof is much better than stored away when trundling down the road. That is more of an issue with trailers than motor homes, as alternator charging may often be made quite effective.
There is no way I'm climbing a roof in the middle of a wind storm to detilt panels. Besides, I get about 3 amps in the rain and 7 amps in leafy shade at solar noon.
How much battery capacity do you have?
I chose to do parallel/series to get the best of both worlds.
I'd do no less than 60 watts per 100 amp-hours of storage. If space is a problem then MPPT may give you about 8% more battery charging in the day. Some folks say the charging day starts earlier, too, but I have no way to document that.
Use a quality controller that has temperature compensation.
Tall mounts may help the panels to get "out of the shade". Being tall may allow for more cooling on the underside of the panels.
I'd love to replace my awning with solar panels.
Solve the "less output" by adding an extra panel.
Flat on the roof is much better than stored away when trundling down the road. That is more of an issue with trailers than motor homes, as alternator charging may often be made quite effective.
There is no way I'm climbing a roof in the middle of a wind storm to detilt panels. Besides, I get about 3 amps in the rain and 7 amps in leafy shade at solar noon.
RV daytrader wrote:
you like to get less output cause you cant tilt and point the panel at the sun...THEN flat on the roof makes sense!!
