Truck camper, solar panels and wind buffeting???
I am mounting 4 50 watt solar panels on my Lance 845 truck camper. Open roof space is very limited, so I don't have a lot of options on where to put these panels. The plan as of now is to mount 3 panels at the very front of the camper and the 4th on right hand side, but to the rear of the other ones, creating a L shaped layout. I am mounting them with series 15 80/20 square aluminum extrusion, clear spanning the roof with side mounting plates screwed to the mounting holes for the drip rail.
80/20 series 15
I presently have 4 of these brackets per panel, but as these seem a little light duty to me, I think I am going to add 2 more to each panel along the front.
HQST mounting brackets
This is the hardware I am using to attach the brackets to the 80/20.
80/20 hardware.
My problem is I am concerned about wind buffeting from the air that is forced up and over the very front of the roof. I think this may be made worse by the fact that the front of the panels are going to end up at the very start of the flat part of the roof so any air that comes up and over the rounded front is going to hit the bottom/front of the panels. I can't move the panels any farther to the rear because of the cab over area roof vent. The rear of the panels need to be about 4" off of the roof so I can open the roof vent all the way.I can tilt the front row of panels down in front some, maybe 2" or so, which I think would be the best way to deal with the wing buffeting but is doing this going to negatively affect panel output? And what is the minimum clearance that is recommended between the panels and the roof?
Also, I think I could attach some sort of air dam to the front of the 80/20, but it would have to be pretty solid to it didn't flex and rub on the front of the camper at highway speeds. Anyone know of something that would work or are my only options to custom fab something.
I need to get this right the first time, as we are leaving for Alaska from western Iowa in a little over a month.
Thanks!
80/20 series 15
I presently have 4 of these brackets per panel, but as these seem a little light duty to me, I think I am going to add 2 more to each panel along the front.
HQST mounting brackets
This is the hardware I am using to attach the brackets to the 80/20.
80/20 hardware.
My problem is I am concerned about wind buffeting from the air that is forced up and over the very front of the roof. I think this may be made worse by the fact that the front of the panels are going to end up at the very start of the flat part of the roof so any air that comes up and over the rounded front is going to hit the bottom/front of the panels. I can't move the panels any farther to the rear because of the cab over area roof vent. The rear of the panels need to be about 4" off of the roof so I can open the roof vent all the way.I can tilt the front row of panels down in front some, maybe 2" or so, which I think would be the best way to deal with the wing buffeting but is doing this going to negatively affect panel output? And what is the minimum clearance that is recommended between the panels and the roof?
Also, I think I could attach some sort of air dam to the front of the 80/20, but it would have to be pretty solid to it didn't flex and rub on the front of the camper at highway speeds. Anyone know of something that would work or are my only options to custom fab something.
I need to get this right the first time, as we are leaving for Alaska from western Iowa in a little over a month.
Thanks!
