Forum Discussion

towpro's avatar
towpro
Explorer
Apr 27, 2015

solar location on Truck camper

my truck camper has a slanted roof over the bed, and flat over the rear section. I am looking at fixed position mounting of solar panels.
(mostly being used in East coast central US during summer).

If I mount Two 100w panels on the front sloping roof, there will have less chance shadows as only the lid for fantastic fan is between panels. But the con is there could be places where the panels will be on wrong angle for sun. But for where I park the camper at home, it will have around 5 hours of sun per day (trees) and the angled front location would be a positive.


If I mount Two 100w panels on the main body there is more chance of shadows from AC, and Refreg top vent. but they will always be flat so the sun angle will never be worse than horizontal mount location.

What would you recommenced?
  • towpro wrote:
    I was designing in my head, how I could mount them on slanted front and have rear panel mount point pivot. Than I need to dream up a front assembly that would allow me to elevate the front of panel (From ground, using using hook for awning?)
    this way if campground parking position puts sun behind me, I could elevate the front of the panel to have better sun angle. also need to design how to lock them down for on road use. but this operation needs to be done from ground.

    PS: these panels will be parallel.
    I will be using a Bogart Trimetric (already installed) with matching Solar controller.


    My panels can be tilted, but found that I never needed to. I do pay attention to camper orientation when camping for the best angle of the sun.

    I also use to run with 2 gp 24 batteries. <>170ah. After led's lighting, led tv (had a tube type), wave 3 heating I no longer need 2 batteries. I now run a 100ah lifeline AGM. We use 15-22 ah per day. Charge laptops, cell phones, watch 1-2 hrs of tv/movies, read 1-2 hrs...


    Jim
  • I was designing in my head, how I could mount them on slanted front and have rear panel mount point pivot. Than I need to dream up a front assembly that would allow me to elevate the front of panel (From ground, using using hook for awning?)
    this way if campground parking position puts sun behind me, I could elevate the front of the panel to have better sun angle. also need to design how to lock them down for on road use. but this operation needs to be done from ground.

    PS: these panels will be parallel.
    I will be using a Bogart Trimetric (already installed) with matching Solar controller.
  • I cut card board the size of the panels I wanted and found that I could not provide enough room to get around on my roof. I tried placing them all around.
    I decided I wanted long/narrow panels so I found some that was 23"X 57" 100 watt.

    I again did the cardboard thing and found the perfect placement and accomplished the ability to get around on the roof along with enough room to replace the 12X12 vent over the bed area with an escape hatch.







    link to my install:

    http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/24783458/srt/pa/pging/1/page/2.cfm

    Jim
  • If you want them "flat", mount them on the sloping surface with the them elevated appropriately on the low side. Place an air dam to the front edge to keep them scooping air and being lifted off.
  • I would mount them where they are less likely to get shaded. A slight angle to the sun - even a fairly large one - will decrease the output only a little. But even a bit of shade on one part of the panel will reduce it to near nothing. Each cell acts like a current sourc, and they are in series, so if one has no sun it shuts off the whole chain.
  • RoyB's avatar
    RoyB
    Explorer II
    Be sure to read up on MELLO MIKEs Solar Power 101...

    MELLO MIKE's TC Solar Installs

    These guys live for the OFF-TRAIL Days with their TC campers...

    I would start out with two 100WATTS panels installed on each side of the ROOF FAN setup for starters. These SOLAR panel kits are not all that expensive and will let you get your feet wet on everything that is required to use these to charge your Battery Setup. This is my plan for my OFF-ROAD POPUP trailer solar upgrade...



    Roy Ken
  • I would put them in an area where you will still have access to things you may need to clean / repair.

    When I installed mine, I picked the area with most open space, didn't interfere with other maintenance, and provided the easiest route for wiring. That happened to be the slanted roof of the cabover.

    When I did it to my travel trailer, the choice was easier because, the panels are flexible, and they can be walked on.