Anyone ever lose a solar panel off the roof?

DAS26miles wrote:
Yes Randy, Thank you again.

No, thank you for helping me with my Kenwood 2 meter ham radio. I ended up selling it, pretty much unused and bought a FT817ND instead... Studying for my General. Much tougher than the Technician's test.

Yes Randy, Thank you again.

DAS26miles wrote:

NinerBikes wrote:
RV owners that park in the shade of the forest trees probably shouldn't be considering roof mounting their solar panels. Portable would be more useful, where you can catch some sunshine so that the panels can do their job and recharge your batteries for the full day. 100 watts of solar panel isn't very much, which last I heard, was all you had.

Randy, i bought 2 100 watt panels and have them on the roof. Now I'm wiring in the Renogy solar 100 watt suitcase so I have the portability option.
Also, the Suitcase has a controller that's got better parameters for equalizing, 15.4volts
Keeping the S.G. up there!

You learned well from that experiment. Your batteries will thank you with good performance.

Now I know why I run my Genny, never lost one of them, ever!!!

Fingers crossed!!! :)

NinerBikes wrote:
RV owners that park in the shade of the forest trees probably shouldn't be considering roof mounting their solar panels. Portable would be more useful, where you can catch some sunshine so that the panels can do their job and recharge your batteries for the full day. 100 watts of solar panel isn't very much, which last I heard, was all you had.

Randy, i bought 2 100 watt panels and have them on the roof. Now I'm wiring in the Renogy solar 100 watt suitcase so I have the portability option.
Also, the Suitcase has a controller that's got better parameters for equalizing, 15.4volts
Keeping the S.G. up there!

NinerBikes wrote:
RV owners that park in the shade of the forest trees probably shouldn't be considering roof mounting their solar panels. Portable would be more useful, where you can catch some sunshine so that the panels can do their job and recharge your batteries for the full day. 100 watts of solar panel isn't very much, which last I heard, was all you had.

Agree if all you have is 100W of solar.

But when you've got 700W or more on your roof, and are not trying to run that A/C or other extravagances (is that a word?), shady spots can be ok. Especially in the summer when the days are long.

We were getting 58Ah (765 Wh) per day at a full shade spot a few weeks ago. Not a lot, but enough. And it would have been difficult to find a big enough sunny spot there that wouldn't disappear or move in a short time.

The short, cloudy, rainy days of Oct to Feb are a lot worse, even though all the leaves are gone. They're really hard on the batteries.

RV owners that park in the shade of the forest trees probably shouldn't be considering roof mounting their solar panels. Portable would be more useful, where you can catch some sunshine so that the panels can do their job and recharge your batteries for the full day. 100 watts of solar panel isn't very much, which last I heard, was all you had.

I am using StickyFeet solar mounts on a fiberglass roof, but have decided to also use 1 or 2 hollow wall anchors as per my RV manufacturers recommendation. Will cover with 3M marine 5200. Just don't want them loosening up in high gusty winds.
Had encountered very high gusty winds going from Flagstaff to Meteor Crater in the 40-60 mph range head winds in our old Winnebago class c. Scan gauge said 4 mpg. Going back we going 15 mpg,

DAS26miles wrote:
I see that the ABS stickon mounts come with side spoilers.

I hope you don't mean ABS mounts for panels. Plastic mounts isn't a good idea, and so is anything stick-on. Some people had luck with sealant-only on fiberglass roofs, no screws, but screws are better.

Use aluminum brackets and stainless fasteners.

Speaking of hurricanes... Left my trailer in Mexico for hurricane season. After the hurricane homeowners gringos were talking that solar is such a pain, panels flew off the roof again, etc etc. I was like, - "what"? This can really happen? :)

1/4" thick aluminum bracket on each corner, 5 screws per bracket, half of them in rafters, Dicor under brackets. Darn thing will survive the trailer. Could've used a thinner metal but needed 4x4" angle to clear the vents, angle that big doesn't come in 1/8". Overkill, I know. Initially designed to sustain sudden 40 mph winds when TILTED - imagine the forces on 250W panel. Flat array generates enough power though. No tilting for me.

Off the shelf brackets are often flimsy.

This air looks cleaner than I expected. Could be the vehicle wing.