Survey. Solar Panels

C

Clive Mott

Funster
Joined
Nov 12, 2012
Posts
307
Likes collected
521
Location
New Milton
Funster No
23,657
MH
Concorde Charisma
Exp
Since 1972
1.How many have had solar panels fail?
2. What type of panel? glass or flexable?
3. When did you last check that your solar panels are working?
Ta. Clive
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
We have had solar panels on various vans other than a slight loss of efficiency no problems. The ones on our house re now 12 years old and still work ell. But you get what you pay for. All are rigid panels.
 
  • Like
Reactions: f6c
Upvote 0
1.Never
2. Glass
3. Everyday

Not had it long though and have been traveling a lot.
 
Upvote 0
1. Never
2. Glass
3. With BT battery monitor when at the van - at least weekly, daily if travelling.
 
Upvote 0
Thanks so far team. It was a clutch of 4 mates and myself, each with dealer fitted flexable panels which all failed within 5 years that prompted this.
 
Upvote 0
Never
Solid Plasticy stuff that most are made from but not glass and not flexi
Every few hours
 
Upvote 0
Ah flexible panels, not noted for reliability. Our neighbour has one on her poptop really the only practical type for that but hers has failed and is now replaced with another flexible.
 
Upvote 0
Had a flexible on a pop top which failed. Bought a replacement flexible but sold the van before fitting so put it on the new van this also failed. Now have a solid panel working fine.
 
Upvote 0
1.Never
2.Glass
3. Every day at least. The oldest in service I have since 2014, still producing nameplate values.
 
Upvote 0
1. Never.
2. Glass.
3. Yesterday.

2 panels 8 years old (transferred from last van) & one 5 years old.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Upvote 0
I had a couple of flexibles. Failed within a year. Looking at the panels it was because you could see the cells had desoldered themselves from the internal wiring due to heat. Almost every cell had a 2mm gap between their terminals and the "wires" (actually flat solid conductors).
 
Upvote 0
cmcardle75 said:
I had a couple of flexibles. Failed within a year. Looking at the panels it was because you could see the cells had desoldered themselves from the internal wiring due to heat. Almost every cell had a 2mm gap between their terminals and the "wires" (actually flat solid conductors).
Click to expand...
When I wanted to fit a couple of extra solar panels, weight was a consideration, so I went for semi-flexibles.
Being aware of failures of semi-flexibles due to overheating when bonded to a roof with no air gap for cooling and along with the expansion and contracting of the panels causing conductor joints to fail, I went for mounting my semi-flexible on lightweight multiwall polycarbonate roofing sheet which gives stiffness to the panel and also allows airflow to dissipate heat away from the panels.
They have been up there for 3 years or so now and neither has failed, so either I'm just lucky or my mounting method is keeping them alive.

1655931632335.png
 
Upvote 0
Two on Tour said:
When I wanted to fit a couple of extra solar panels, weight was a consideration, so I went for semi-flexibles.
Being aware of failures of semi-flexibles due to overheating when bonded to a roof with no air gap for cooling and along with the expansion and contracting of the panels causing conductor joints to fail, I went for mounting my semi-flexible on lightweight multiwall polycarbonate roofing sheet which gives stiffness to the panel and also allows airflow to dissipate heat away from the panels.
They have been up there for 3 years or so now and neither has failed, so either I'm just lucky or my mounting method is keeping them alive.

View attachment 633491
Click to expand...

I don't doubt that this would be effective in keeping the semi-flexes cooler (and hopefully stop them self-destructing). However, if you had the space to mount in this manner, you might as well use reliable framed glass panels at a substantial discount!
 
Upvote 0
cmcardle75 said:
I don't doubt that this would be effective in keeping the semi-flexes cooler (and hopefully stop them self-destructing). However, if you had the space to mount in this manner, you might as well use reliable framed glass panels at a substantial discount!
Click to expand...

I would have preferred glass rigid framed panels as are the other panel on our roof, but as I stated weight was my reason for going with semi-flexibles.
The 2 x semi-flexibles I fitted = 3.8kg whereas the glass rigid framed equivalent = 12.6kg, nearly 9kg more that I could do without.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Upvote 0
Two on Tour said:
I would have preferred glass rigid framed panels as are the other panel on our roof, but as I stated weight was my reason for going with semi-flexibles.
The 2 x semi-flexibles I fitted = 3.8kg whereas the glass rigid framed equivalent = 12.6kg, nearly 9kg more that I could do without.
Click to expand...

I hope you accounted for the weight of the polycarbonate panels! (4.5kg/m2 for 10mm thickness), which would be about 6kg for 200W of semi-flex panels.
 
Upvote 0
cmcardle75 said:
I hope you accounted for the weight of the polycarbonate panels! (4.5kg/m2 for 10mm thickness), which would be about 6kg for 200W of semi-flex panels.
Click to expand...

Jezzz, that's some weighty old polycarbonate twin wall that your quoting. :Eeek:
I used Wickes 10mm twin wall polycarbonate which weighs in at 1.7kg/m2
My panels are 925x 530 and my mounting blocks are 70mm wide on each side, so each panel uses a piece 925mm x 390mm which is 0.7215m2, which = 1.226kg, just a tad under your 6kg. :giggle:

1655934922847.png
 
Upvote 0
Two on Tour said:
Jezzz, that's some weighty old polycarbonate twin wall that your quoting. :Eeek:
I used Wickes 10mm twin wall polycarbonate which weighs in at 1.7kg/m2
My panels are 925x 530 and my mounting blocks are 70mm wide on each side, so each panel uses a piece 925mm x 390mm which is 0.7215m2, which = 1.226kg, just a tad under your 6kg. :giggle:

View attachment 633497
Click to expand...

Trust Google to give me a bad figure for the sheeting! I got suckered in by a picture of a twin wall sheet, but, presumably, the weight value of solid sheet.
 
Upvote 0
Clive Mott said:
Thanks so far team. It was a clutch of 4 mates and myself, each with dealer fitted flexable panels which all failed within 5 years that prompted this.
Click to expand...
Ive had 2 semi flexibles fail, 1 then the replacement. Ive been using framed ever since. I do like Two on Tour solution though, could be particularly useful for PVC owners.
 
Upvote 0
Never.
Glass
Used everyday so think we would soon know!

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Upvote 0
Just as a counterpoint to all the perfect glass ones, when we bought our van it had a rigid framed glass panel on the roof. The glass was crazed and broken, and the panel didn't work. No idea how old it was (the condition of the cabling suggested quite a few years), I removed it.
 
Upvote 0
It’s a valid point, but, to brake the glass does not happen by itself, it needs outside intervention.
Ground mount and grass cutting with petrol strimmer, I know two cases this happened.
 
Upvote 0
True, and I have no knowledge as it had been broken for a while (to be honest, I was surprised to find it up there at all!).
It could have been something dropped on it. Maybe a stone flicked up from a vehicle in front landing on the roof? No idea - but it obviously can happen.
Having read this thread I'll probably put glass on though when I do get around to reinstating solar.
 
Upvote 0
Id be a bit worried whether the polycarb would get brittle after a while and whether the bonding mastic might accelerate that. I suppose in reality it's likely to be a problem for a later owners if does get brittle
 
Upvote 0
The Wino said:
Id be a bit worried whether the polycarb would get brittle after a while and whether the bonding mastic might accelerate that. I suppose in reality it's likely to be a problem for a later owners if does get brittle
Click to expand...

No concerns here as the Wickes twin wall polycarbonate I used is UV protected and it has a nice black solar panel on it to block out the UV as well. (y)
As for the Sika adhesive causing a problem, I've not seen any evidence of that come to light, have you ?
Anyway, my semi-flexible panels are bolted onto the raised roof mounts, not bonded, so easily removable if needed.
 
Upvote 0

Join us or log in to post a reply.

To join in you must be a member of MotorhomeFun

Join MotorhomeFun

Join us, it quick and easy!

Join us

Log in

Already a member? Log in here.

Latest journal entries

Back
Top