Added Solar :-) (1 Viewer)

[Evildoody]

Well that is the solar fitted, I installed 2 x 150W PV's @ 25% efficiency
Connected to an MPPT charge controller (EPEVER Tracer 4210A) < overkill, but means I can add more panels if I require.

 

[Revolvor]

Are you going to add any trunking to protect the cables?

 

[Evildoody]

Are you going to add any trunking to protect the cables?

I wasn't planning on adding trunking, but will be adding cable clips to secure the cables to the roof, the tie wraps are just temporary.
As long as the cables are secure and neat, I don't see the need for trunking - MH is 3.2 M high, so what you see in the photos are only ever likely to be seen from the air in the future

If I ever get helicopter/airline pilots/youths on motorway bridges complaining of the eyesore, I may consider trunking

PS. Cables are waterproof, element proof - as far as I am aware, they are as protected as they need to be?

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[Vansflyer]

Which panels did you use ? We are just on the edge of fitting 300w

 

[Scotsblood]

Having stayed in a friends Swift with loose cables on the roof and been kept up during a windy night by them flapping against the roof I will be putting ours in trunking!
Just need a dry day to do the work.

 

[Evildoody]

Which panels did you use ? We are just on the edge of fitting 300w

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[Vansflyer]

Ta

 

[Evildoody]

Having stayed in a friends Swift with loose cables on the roof and been kept up during a windy night by them flapping against the roof I will be putting ours in trunking!
Just need a dry day to do the work.

They will be secured to the roof using cable clips, so trunking is not really needed in my opinion as they certainly will not be flapping around.

 

[Revolvor]

With mine, I was worried about the cables being caught by branches from low-hanging trees. It's why I also always point my uni-directional TV aerial backwards, to make it less likely to be damaged if I encounter branches.

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[Robert Clark]

May I ask why you chose flexible panels over rigid ones?

Were you not concerned about the potentially shorter life?

 

[Shrimp]

Hubby changed our single panel for 2x100w recently, he thought he had everything sorted & fixed down. Driving was a different story, one cable was 'jittering' on the roof, and they were in trunking!
Sorted now thank goodness.

 

[Pausim]

May I ask why you chose flexible panels over rigid ones?

Were you not concerned about the potentially shorter life?

Didn’t know there was a problem of longevity with flexible panels. Would appreciate some more information on this.

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[Robert Clark]

Didn’t know there was a problem of longevity with flexible panels. Would appreciate some more information on this.

If you use the search facility on FUN you will find a number of threads referring to this issue

Personally I would always use rigid frames panels over flexible ones.

 

[Evildoody]

May I ask why you chose flexible panels over rigid ones?

Were you not concerned about the potentially shorter life?

Primarily weight, the panels I purchased are ETFE so have a much better lifespan than the PET kind. So my panels "SHOULD" have a life expectancy of up to 10 years as opposed to PET with their 5 year lifespan (if you are lucky). I am also unlikely to still have this van longer than 5 years, let alone 10 and at that time I will look to see how solar technology has advanced for my next purchase.

Here is a comparison between ETFE and PET panels :-

http://www.lensunsolar.com/blog/what-is-different-with-lensun-flexible-solar-panel-with-others/