Solar install so far

Subscribing. I've never dealt with solar and to be honest, when I look into it I get confused. The mechanical side, such as installation of the panels as you show, is the "fun" part for me. The wiring, control boxes (whatever) stump me. As an engineer by trade, you'd think it wouldn't. But I've spent 30 years doing manufacturing engineering...factory layouts, etc. Nothing electrical!!!

Anyway, so far I like your install...I'll follow along.

To provide my input on support in the middle to support the weight, I agree you will need it. Driving along these could start bouncing.

I suggest a simple block of wood or two. Sand and round all edges. Cover in felt (or other material suitable for outdoors that shouldn't mold).

Use velcro on the top of the block to the panel to "keep in place". Also, with a little tension (the block actually supporting middle of the panel), it will keep it in place.

This is just my 2 cents worth of input -- using simple wood. It's what I would try to use/do.

I would be concerned that those brackets are going to get caught on trees/limbs/branches and cause damage. I think a more standard installation with L-Brackets, some Dicor and screws you would have a much more stable and long term installation.

It’s possible they will get caught. I wondered about that too. With the brackets on the roof though it’s essentially gluing and screwing them to a thin sheet of plywood. I may be creating a problem where none existed but I hope to keep this RV at least a decade and in that time likely upgrade the panels.

I’m trying two solutions for support. Thanks for the idea. I bought some cheap adjustable stainless furniture legs from A and I bought the same L brackets and some 3m double sided tape. That kind of defeats the purpose of having the panels be removable but it will just be more bolts to remove and I won’t put screws in the roof.

Calling the four main brackets 1,2,3,4 from the a/c shroud, you could add short ones fore and aft to join 2 and 3, and add two more to go from each side of the metal base of the air conditioning unit (that the shroud mounts to) to 1.

That would stiffen it all. To support it all in the middle from up and down motion, you could jam some wood under as mentioned above, and screw it to the brackets with a piece of carpet under the wood to protect the roof.

If it is like many Rvs the fridge sits on a plywood floor you can drill holes in to let the wires down to the space underneath which might have the power centre or a furnace or whatever. You can go sideways from there to go down to avoid any tanks.

Shade from that shroud could be a problem when the sun is low if you are not parked to avoid that.

Yes shade could be a problem. I tried putting one set in front of the air conditioner but I needed extension wires to wire them. I could have just bought extension wires too. They are monocrystaline panels with PERC technology for high efficiency and that is one of the reasons I chose these from Northern Az Sun and Wind. A great company by the way. Also why I’m wiring them in parallel. I could consider cross pieces. Maybe straight bar to bolt them together. Thanks for the idea.

Since the back end of an RV is more likely to be shaded since RVers mostly back in to a campsite, I believe panels should be on front of an RV roof if panels are not front and back.

I thought I was keeping the wires as short as possible but I just realized I should have cut them shorter on the controller end. Maybe later. Have to redo the butt joints if I do. I got the panels wired but still have not bolted them on. The holes even on the edges make me nervous.
Yesterday I got the Midnight Solar baby box and solar controller wired and mounted. I chose to use 8 gauge solar wire from the panel connections on the roof and #2 wire to the batteries. I had to make a lot of butt joints to make the connections in the box. The larger wires could not pass two through the strain relief nuts. So I drilled two extra holes on the side of the cover. Then I had to use some more flexible pigtail wire to get to the circuit breaker clamps. All this finagling took me most of the day.

With all the difficulties I forgot I wanted short wires.I had to draw the connections to the circuit breakers for them to make sense to me. Additionally the breakers have a ++ side which just means that the bigger load goes on that side so the batteries on the 45 amp breaker and the panels on the 15 amp breaker.

Today I installed the remote device to view the data from the house. I’m impressed with the Victron reporting tools. The battery monitor and MPPT charger are both Victron so they share a Bluetooth connection. I added a mifi router to my phone account for an additional $10 per month and financed the internet mifi device for $14 a month. I can have it turned off if not using it. So to see the status of the battery and solar charge remotely, (but not the battery temperature from the BMV. Need a separate sensor!) I added a $300 Cerbo GX. Of course it took me some time to wire an additional device to the batteries and figure out how to set it up. I didn’t see the WiFi settings in the menu and I think I had to set up WiFi with the QR code. The WiFi password on the label did not work for me when I just typed it. Then I was able to see the WiFi list in the remote console settings and switch to the mifi. I can see the data if the RV is on Mifi and I’m on my home network.

Lots of wiring in this water compartment. Nice that it is easy to get to. Here is the mounted Cerbo GX.

I received the furniture legs and L brackets today so maybe tomorrow I’ll mount the racks. Maybe I will reconsider the placement too.

I also had less trouble getting the wires out of the refrigerator compartment than I feared. There were two layers of plywood with about an inch of styrofoam in between but enough space behind the water tank to move the wires. I pulled them out with a back scratcher. I could not find a wire hanger!

I stuffed stainless steel wool around the wires and sealed with foam.