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StirCrazy's avatar
StirCrazy
Moderator
May 12, 2026

Time to start looking at solar.

so got up on the roof yesterday and measured everything up.  so what I end up with is basicly 4 spots I can put a solar panel.  

so drivers side front is 56" x 32" rear is 72" x 44" pasenger side front is 64" x 28" (there is an existing 100watt panel there right now) and the rear is 81" x 32" . 

so my delema is the panels I wanted to use were 320 watt panels but they are 64.6" x 34.7".  so the pasenger rear side starts to prevent a issue.  I could sneek another inch off of that side but that would still leave just over 1.5" sitting proud of the side of the camper.  would it hurt anything...  probably not. I am planing on putting a box awning on that side in the future anyways.  

so thoes panels are a 24V panel "N" type solar cell so more efficient and so on, and believe it or not a renogy branded panel.  do you know how hard it is to find a panel in that 200+ watt to 380 watt range, and how much more expensive they are than a 500- 600 watt panel.. oh man..  

anyways that setup would give me 640 watts with two panels.  

the other option is to go with a 195 watt panel by eco-worthy, I didn't know they were branding panels now, but hey.  these are a bifacial panel so if mounted right they would give you up to 220 watts, but I won't be mounting them right so what I should see is maybe 200 and some increased low light preformance.  but they are 52.6" x 26.4" and I could get 4 of them for about the same price as the renogy panels maybe 50 bucks cheeper but it will take more to mount them.  the big thing is I will end up with 780 official watts but up to 800+ in reality.  but they are a 12V panel.  now the open circuit voltage is only 23.7V so in theory I could run all 4 in series and have very high voltage coming into the solar controler or I could split them into a serries/paralel setup

so the big question, who hear is running a seup with smaller panels, how do you have them setup and how are they preforming?  

2 Replies

  • Camper_Jeff___K's avatar
    Camper_Jeff___K
    Navigator
    May 12, 2026

    I have 5 panels, all GOPOWER and one Zamp 115  watt.

    All are in paralell with 10 gauge uf resistant wire inside split loom. They are from different times, incremental installments. 

    180, 190, 200, 200, these 4 are the same size. Then I added the Zamp 115 watt more square than rectangle and it has the exact same specs as the others so it's a good match that fit a space. This year, I had another area on the roof that kept pestering me, so I installed another long narrow 100 watt GOPOWER. I have the Zamp 115 and GP 100 wired paralell with each other for combined 215 watts on a 10 gauge. The wires run down next to the sewer vent. Since the panel voltage is a more efficient higher 24 volts, I opted to run those wires down to the Victron 150/70 MPPT solar controller where it becomes battery voltage. From there, it's I think a 2 gauge cable to a Victron Distributer bus and either to the house or batteries as needed. 

    I opted for paralell wiring because in a partial shade condidion, you only loose 1 panel output instead of the whole series string. With 10 gauge wire on each paneloutputting 200 watts. About 15 amps max on a 30 amp rated wire, the line loss isn't significant. 

    I tried my best to find exact size, tight fitting panels and decided they didn't exist. What I did get were good quality, mono crystal panels that were a decent price. I do have most of the roof space covered and there is enough space for 1 more in the back, 1 in center right, and 20 across the front of the cabover. I could nearly double my solar filling those spaces but then, I'd have no roof access to service and maintain the camper. Another consideration is, I left space between the AC unit and panels to minimize a shadow being across a panel and loosing power. The tighest most efficient space fitting isn't always the best thing. Best wishes on your install.

    • Camper_Jeff___K's avatar
      Camper_Jeff___K
      Navigator
      May 12, 2026

      Here's the installation video from when I replaced and added solar panels a few months back in Quartzsite. You may or may not find it useful. Also, my new Victron 3000 watt inverter charger install is working beautifully

      https://youtu.be/ra7SQb04od8?si=dc5H3TTlBA3X0dZe

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