Cargo box VS Solar
I've decided to use a cargo box and wanted to get different opinions if it is possible to mount a solar panel on top of the box to elimate the "shadow" effect on my panels. The box also opens up on ea...
Forum Discussion
~DJ~ wrote:
I would do option 1. By the time the sun got low enough to cast a shadow over the panels from the box you're not getting enough sun to worry about.
Then you have to decide if the box is sturdy enough to hold a panel in 60 mph winds!!
x2 - if the sun is so low you are getting significant shade from that box then you would probably be generating only a tiny amount of power from them anyway.
I certainly wouldn't mount a panel to the top of that cargo box. I see a very high risk of wind load tearing it off - that cargo box lid is undoubtedly designed only as a lightweight weather cover, not to structurally support the wind load at highway speeds (or during a storm, or a combination of both). Plus if it tore off it might not just be the panel sailing across the highway, but the plastic lid and anything you packed in that cargo box.
Steve.
