Don't drive behind me either.
One day I drove an Austin 1100 fitted with a towbar across the "Military Road" from Carlisle to Newcastle. Arrived in Newcastle - no towbar. And I wasn't towing anything, it just fell off.
Lost a solar panel
- Thread starter olley
- Start date
One day I drove an Austin 1100 fitted with a towbar across the "Military Road" from Carlisle to Newcastle. Arrived in Newcastle - no towbar. And I wasn't towing anything, it just fell off.
I'm going to squirt some more sealer round the brackets .
If you had said "The glue does work in ideal cases if applied using the correct procedures" I would have agreed with you completely.
Tombola
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which were the same ones that mine came off in France
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OK, please send your reg no. so I can overtake you
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True, I wire brush the Ali brackets and the roof, seems to work.
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I sanded down the roof area, sanded down the underside of full width length aluminium panel brackets with a large surface area. Treated the roof surface with sikaflex primer then used a good thick layer of Sikaflex 522. Left to dry for 24 hours before moving van.
- Mar 12, 2012
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I think I might have been misinformed! As I didn't know the spec of the first and only solar panel present when I purchased the van and I was adding a much larger panel 295w, I was advised that I'd need a 2nd controller so I added another Victron 100/20 and then combined the outputs at the leisure batteries. All seems to be working fine.
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Guess who's getting hab man to go up and check ours when he's over in a couple of weeks to do a job for us
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- Mar 12, 2012
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This is the 295w panel I fitted with stuck down supports. As you can see it's within a metal structure that is fixed solidly to the roof. I plan on fixing the panel to the metal structure with stainless bolts & nyloc nuts indicated in red - hoping that will be sufficient!
If you look through my previous posts you will see I found the details of my original panel, I then added to it with two others.
Original is 100w, I then fitted two 140’s.
That gives me around 20 amps max.
That’s a lot less support than it currently has, why are you changing it ?
- Mar 12, 2012
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Adding
I'm leaving the supports and drilling horizontally through the metal structure into the panel frame and then using stainless bolts and nylocs. As the metal structure is solidly screwed to the roof I'm guessing it'll add some security reducing the risk of a solar panel fly-away!.Subscribers do not see these advertisements
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Gotcha.Adding
AlunandFelicie
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I had a panel fitted by Van Bitz they always screw panels to the roof it’s in their advertising so presumably they have a fair idea of what they are doing
TheBig1
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I cringe when I see some amateur solar panel installs. First the use of plastic brackets, which generally just get stuck on without sanding either the plastic or the wax polished roof. Then the belt and braces attitude of screwing down the brackets leaves too thin a bed of adhesive to achieve a safe bond. The screws are only into thin aluminium sheet and the steel screws react with the aluminium
Now to be clear there is not a modern car on the road that I know of that is not glued together. Body panels are bonded together with basically the same urethane adhesive you all know as sikaflex. Lift the spare tyre if you have one or look under the carpet and you will see the adhesive under the paint. They rarely fall to bits driving up the road
A good mechanical joint needs a good fit over surface area, especially when bonding with urethane. The manufacturers state a bed of 4mm is optimal. This is not before squeezing the joint together, but after. This is why I use inert plastic tile spacers to prevent too much adhesive being exuded out of the sides of the bracket. By all means, drill the bracket, but not for screws but to allow some sealant to fill the hole and increase the bond. Done like this, you need to physically cut through the urethane adhesive to remove the part
Back to that waxed, painted surface you are joining to. If you don't sand back to a rough matt finish, you are risking the top shiny surface pulling away under tension at some point after the adhesive sets
Now to be clear there is not a modern car on the road that I know of that is not glued together. Body panels are bonded together with basically the same urethane adhesive you all know as sikaflex. Lift the spare tyre if you have one or look under the carpet and you will see the adhesive under the paint. They rarely fall to bits driving up the road
A good mechanical joint needs a good fit over surface area, especially when bonding with urethane. The manufacturers state a bed of 4mm is optimal. This is not before squeezing the joint together, but after. This is why I use inert plastic tile spacers to prevent too much adhesive being exuded out of the sides of the bracket. By all means, drill the bracket, but not for screws but to allow some sealant to fill the hole and increase the bond. Done like this, you need to physically cut through the urethane adhesive to remove the part
Back to that waxed, painted surface you are joining to. If you don't sand back to a rough matt finish, you are risking the top shiny surface pulling away under tension at some point after the adhesive sets
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TheBig1
Deceased RIP
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generally white or grey on the underside. The only black part is on the top to absorb light
I think I saw something very similar near here:
///tilting.beaters.stems
///tilting.beaters.stems
This is the what3words address for a 3 metre square location near Exning, Suffolk.
w3w.co
Heading east on the A14, there were two objects in the central reservation on the west bound side of the barrier.. One had what appeared to be parallel stripes on the light coloured surface. It appeared to be the right size for a small panel.
The west bound laybys are all closed around Newmarket but the east bound ones are open
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Anyone mounted panels on a roofrack they don't use? Seems like a good solution what with the need for ventilation and positioning? I have a roofrack that would make the van v.tall should I put a roofbox or bike rack on it - 4m kinda tall which would be a handling and height issue.
Am thinking I might be better off getting a non-installed powerbank solar solution rather than badly installed 'permanent' glued solution.
Am thinking I might be better off getting a non-installed powerbank solar solution rather than badly installed 'permanent' glued solution.
UptheGas
Free Member
Got me worried now 
Had an extra solar panel fitted to the front of the Moho a few weeks ago .
Had an extra solar panel fitted to the front of the Moho a few weeks ago .
AlunandFelicie
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Perhaps the solution for those worried about the security of their panels is to ask the other half if they’d mind laying on the roof as you drive along to make sure everything stays secure up there 
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We were traveling towards Cambridge so could have been the panel.I think I saw something very similar near here:
///tilting.beaters.stems
///tilting.beaters.stems
This is the what3words address for a 3 metre square location near Exning, Suffolk.
Heading east on the A14, there were two objects in the central reservation on the west bound side of the barrier.. One had what appeared to be parallel stripes on the light coloured surface. It appeared to be the right size for a small panel.
The west bound laybys are all closed around Newmarket but the east bound ones are open
- Dec 31, 2010
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I use ratchet straps on my panels when traveling belt and braces is the only way in my view 
TheBig1
Deceased RIP
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A big hammer, 4 inch nails works well. And you can bend the ends over inside so they double up a coat hooksI use ratchet straps on my panels when traveling belt and braces is the only way in my view
- Dec 31, 2010
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Thinking about it I have just glued the brackets down for the ratchet straps kinda defeats the object
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Joking aside in my view any failure of bonded panels is all down to the preparation of the the two surfaces to be bonded together, they glue car chassis together now with no mechanical fixings so a solar panel on a roof should be achievable.
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