Solar installation advice
I'm interested in adding a solar panel and associated kit to my Ford nugget (essentially, a Custom Transit that was converted by Westfalia for Ford) for charging both leisure and vehicle batteries. I'm sort of prepared for DIY but I'd much rather pay a reputable company to do the work.
Therein is my difficulty, with not knowing how good an idea this is. The pros are obvious but the cons ... The install would require a thin, flexible panel (has to be rather than rigid) with wiring fed through a drilled hole in the poptop. Research says that heat is a problem and an airgap has to be left under the panel, which seems to be done with laying glue only in strips. Part of my question is how well this works or if it's likely to end up ruining the roof.
Mainly, it's finding a suitable company. I thought I had one and an agreed price with one of the more prominent companies, but checks indicate a prior company went under owing lots of money and then started up again (which makes me nervous when it comes to warranties). So, if there are suggestions about the pros and cons of solar panels to use as a top-up off-grid, or advice on where to go, I'd be grateful.
Comments
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I have toyed with the idea on several occasions and made the following decision.
Whilst a flexible permanently mounted roof panel might be a nice neat solution, what happens if you parked under a tree. I'd go for a standalone fold out panel that plugs into a socket on the side of the van that is connected to your electrics box.
Colin
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Hi
I have a 300w flexible stick on panel on my fifth wheeler. It was easy to install and requires no air gap. It's approx. 30cms wide and around 3m long. I stuck it to the roof using sikaflex. Wiring was easy to feed through the body on an rv but I've done similar on my pvc with no issues, just plan carefully and take your time. I bought a cheap Chinese dual controller off ebay expecting it to expire after a short time but 6 years later it's doing well.
There's loads of good advice on the web (and some not so good!) and youtube is a great source of info. too. My RV install by myself took around half a day and the rigid panel on the pvc was 3 hours.
I'd say if your handy do it yourself, it's really pretty easy to do. It's quite satisfying camping off grid with power knowing you've done it all yourself
You don't need a lithium battery just get the biggest leisure battery you have room for. In my pvc I have a halfords lead acid leisure battery that's coming on 5 years old and I can easily camp off grid for 5 days at a time.
JK
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Notwithstanding JK's advice / experience - when I asked our Chief Tech at our dealership about this he advised, most strongly not to fit a flexible panel because they had had lots fail within a very short period due to overheating.
I've just bought a 130w portable rigid panel from Falcon Technology which although more expensive than many does have an MPPT controller which is far more efficient than the PWM ones - hence the greater cost. It simply connects to a socket permanently wired to the battery via a fly lead so is easy to set up. Not used it in anger yet so I don't have any experience of actual usage but it worked well when I tested it at home plus it has the advantage of being able to monitor its performance via an App on your phone.
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I was very sceptical with the flexible panel at first r&r but 6 years on it's doing well. Most of the summer months I disconnect the 240v charger! I'm up on the roof once a month to give the panel a clean and in full sun it does get hot but so far so good.
I wouldn't use flexible again purely for the reason that fitted a rigid panel is so easy to do. This spring I'm going to change the mount brackets of the panel on the camper because they've become very discoloured and I'm worried they've gone brittle but that should only take a couple of hours.
I bought the rigid panel along with a fold up suitcase type 100w one from Photonic Universe on ebay. Really helpful company to deal with.
JK
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