Solar Panel
I have a new northern Lite and the solar panel is not working is there a fuse? and if iso does anyone know where to look for it it is nor in the inverter converter box with the other fuses and circui...
Forum Discussion
I wanted to avoid rooftop shadows and mounted my panels 6" high. Prior to that I started seeking out fellow campers with higher mounted panels and taking pictures of their setup. Done correctly there is absolutely no technical reason for wind or other concerns. That said however posters often think there will be technical problems or want more limited visibility.
My 60 cell 24V panels are oriented side to side, 6" high on the inside and slope 4 degrees to the edge. The edge is visible from the ground. My panel arrangement means no roof top shadows when the sun is above 10 degrees elevation and no shadows at all for some rig orientations. I could have gone a little higher and been above the A/Cs but chose not to. I also decided not to use the 72 cell panels because fore/aft roof access would have been more restricted.
My 42' MH has limited flat panel mounting space and would have resulted in various sized panels to achieve the wattage I wanted. In addition the serial panel cost with MPPT was only $100 more than parallel. Plus the footprint was less and the watts/sq foot was greater for a given wattage.
I don't know how you and the video reached your conclusions and perhaps I'll view the video. But if you dig into the information on bypass diodes you'll find how they operate and why they can provide better serial panel performance.
You'll find that if a hard shadow is across the short axis of a panel then the bypass diodes provide a short for that panel and pass the amps and volts from the other panels. Hence you still have power from the other 2 panels. It's basic electronics involving diodes. Next week I'll try to find my posts and graphs showing the 10V steps on my panels.
I also found a picture of panel mounting above A/C' length wise along both sides by a commercial solar shop in Yuma, AZ. I don't recall the size or panel size as I was interested in the mounting.
My 60 cell 24V panels are oriented side to side, 6" high on the inside and slope 4 degrees to the edge. The edge is visible from the ground. My panel arrangement means no roof top shadows when the sun is above 10 degrees elevation and no shadows at all for some rig orientations. I could have gone a little higher and been above the A/Cs but chose not to. I also decided not to use the 72 cell panels because fore/aft roof access would have been more restricted.
My 42' MH has limited flat panel mounting space and would have resulted in various sized panels to achieve the wattage I wanted. In addition the serial panel cost with MPPT was only $100 more than parallel. Plus the footprint was less and the watts/sq foot was greater for a given wattage.
I don't know how you and the video reached your conclusions and perhaps I'll view the video. But if you dig into the information on bypass diodes you'll find how they operate and why they can provide better serial panel performance.
You'll find that if a hard shadow is across the short axis of a panel then the bypass diodes provide a short for that panel and pass the amps and volts from the other panels. Hence you still have power from the other 2 panels. It's basic electronics involving diodes. Next week I'll try to find my posts and graphs showing the 10V steps on my panels.
I also found a picture of panel mounting above A/C' length wise along both sides by a commercial solar shop in Yuma, AZ. I don't recall the size or panel size as I was interested in the mounting.
