100w solar panel fitting.

[whitemice]

I have scored a couple of 50w semi flexible monocystalline panels and dual battery controller and 4mm sq. double insulated wiring from various places in UK for 200 quid total for a 100w system producing @6A max. at 12v.

Will be fitting to the amby camper probably this week or next and will do a how to and source thingy for anyone interested as and when i start..

[derv23]

Hmmm good score . I'd like to see your how-to on this.

Something i'm keen to replicate....hopefully...in tine.

[whitemice]

Cool,

i received the two panels today and they are ok, i have a few ideas regards getting the wires into the roof space within the panel junction box.....drill the bugger!....rather than faffing around having wires into grommets etc. , I have the 4mm2 cable to feed to the engine bay, a controller that does the main and leisure battery independently, the connectors for the batteries, heatshrink and will probably use some gash ally checkerplate kicking about for heatsink load dumping on the controller.

Need to pick up some adhesive now and that's everything ready to go. The panels are only around 2.5-3mm thick so i will bond them directly on the fibreglass roof, probably with sikkaflex 521 which i will score local.

I intend to start the job friday/saturday methinks as tomorrow i'm commited elsewhere.

Watch this space .............

The panels are £99 individually and £159 a pair delivered which is a steal really, they flex both lengthways and widthways.

[BigMonty]

So you will be worshipping the Sun God now ?

[whitemice]

So you will be worshipping the Sun God now ?

hA!

Today I've figured out where all the wiring run locations through the roof etc.will be going now and have also decided to put the controller on the passenger side in the cab so i can see it and keep it out of the engine bay, main problem with my motor is it's got no more useful room on the firewall in the bay with relays and gubbins all over the top area and the only necessary space with flat metal is too near the V6 manifolds and rear heater hoses that run to the separate heater system in the back and it needs to be mounted on metal for heatsinking as i'm over the 4A limit at 5.9A.

Tomorrow I just need to score a 310ml tube of white Sikaflex 291 rather than 521 at the chandlery for helping to stick on the panels and also need to score some fuses and holders one for each panel positive and one for each battery positive and that will be everything i need to get it started and done.

I'll do a list of all the gubbins used with some product links at some point and do some pics of it as i go.

I scored a 300w inverter downtown today on a Maplins special for £19.99 it looks pretty well put together with a fan in it and has a fag lighter(150W) and a battery clip(300W) lead- made by Nikko, be handy for a laptop, li-po chargers for my planes or whatever, Maplins state a rrp/normal price of 50 quid and i can't imagine it being sold any cheaper.

[whitemice]

This is the regulator i'm using, it's fit and forget, basic fare but with various electronic gubbins so you don't need to faff about with switches and stuff and can just drive, the alternator split-charge relay will kick in anyway and do any charging to the main and leisure battery when driving.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/dual-16a-solar- ... tor-266145

These are the panels, the seller does a 20A one too which would be great for basic battery maintenance in an installation using the above controller, the 50W panels only weigh just over 2kg each so on roofs that cannot be walked on like the double skinned fibreglass amby and most vans the load is spread and they don't need brackets etc. delivery was 3 days and the price is excellent for this type of semi flexible which will fit on most compound curves easily.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/50W-Semi-Flex ... 231ffeccf4

I will post pictures of how to do it in the next few days, off to get those fuses now.

[whitemice]

Got one of the panels on today, it's stuck on with sikaflex 291 which i did in a lattice, tripling at the edges, on to the van after cleaning with farecla g3 and turps followed by cleaning with petrol lighter fluid and cleaned the panel backing with lighter fluid.

I sat the panel on the roof and laid masking tape all round about 3mm from edge of panel.

I drilled a 10mm hole through the panel junction box first and then into the roof cavity and then applied the 291 after removing panel and fed the attached wire through as i placed the panel.

I tooled the 291 and removed the tape then went round with my finger to get a smooth and neat interface on the grp roof, lighter fluid cleans any 291 off with a cloth.

The factory attached lead, which originally exited the front of the junction box, is about 120cm and i used a claw pick-up tool to drag it across to the fluorescent light area where i had removed the light then i used a 6mm plastic bowden cable outer and taped the wire end into it and fed to the aerial position which has a removable cover inside which gives me about 10cm of cable to play with as i intend to fit fuses here.

I fed blue pos and black neg 4mm" solar cable through the aerial cable hole which was bored through a wooden cross beam by Hanlon at birth and down to the passenger side top windscreen area and down the pillar inside the van.

I'll do some detail pics tomorrow as i did not have time, the junction box just has masking tape over the removable cover for the time being and the roof vent is just sitting on by it's own weight as i removed it and use a stool inside the van and can gain access to the roof through the opening and a step-ladder outside.

[whitemice]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YievWIX9AKk

[jonochap]

Never heard of them, who were they? Are they? Likin the classic east side punky feelin tho

[whitemice]

Devo dude, klass.

Both panels fixed now. Need to seal up junction boxes next they are just taped over for the night.


pic of drilled junction box and re-routed cable through drilled roof.

[whitemice]

Reference las post, one tip when using PU like sikaflex is like in this instance i use masking tape to maintain a good line and then tool it thin at the tape then remove the tape before set and then using lighter fluid squirt it along the PU and before it evaporates use your finger to smooth the PU to a perfect interface with the grp or paintwork romoving any ridges that would collect muck.

Door pillar drilled and bare metalled to match controller heatsink, controller needs 300 sq cm over 4A so a transit should do at 6A, did it with wire cup on drill.


Used some thermal compound i had kicking about to get zero air and gapfill heatsink.


Dual battery controller/regulator fitted and compound cleaned up with turps. Positioned passenger side slightly above lower door hinge. Recycled stainless self tappers used.

[whitemice]

N/S light fitting removed and you can just see n/s panel cable which runs to the aerial point aforementioned.


The aerial cover plate removed and the panel wires and extensions though cab area can be seen as well as the blue coloured bowden tube which is plastic outer used in model aircraft, it's 48" long.


The darker blue bowden tube has just been used to pull the o/s panel cable which is taped to it to the aerial position from the o/s light position.

[whitemice]

These are the marine quality waterproof fuse holders, cost £2.41 from local chandlers - 4 off in this install, I don't use crap from halfords etc..


Here i have soldered the wiring, the tape visible is to hold the heatshrink again marine outer and doubled with electric aircraft type inner, if you don't tape it it will just slide down and frap up with the heat and you start again!
One tip when soldering this way is to tease the strands a bit to get them to engage nicely and then use a bit of masking tape near the end of the strands wrapped round so to hold the strands neat for good soldering. 100W iron used.


Here the heatshrink has been shrunk using my zippo lighter and soot wiped of with turps, the two 2.5mm squared panel positives go to 4mm sq. blue solar cable and the two 2.5 negs go to 4mm black solar.


Another view.



Fed through for this.


I've actually finished the install and wired up the controller and both batteries and even fitted a voltmeter above the controller on the panel side but did not get any pics done as light was failing so i'll do some today sometime.

I think it all works ok as the voltmeter is illuminated and at dusk when i fitted all the fuses it was reading 7.6v and the next i looked it was out, there were no controller lights lit at that voltage.

Just need to sort out the junction boxes now.

I was thinking of putting a diode ahead of each panel fuse and then i could put a voltmeter behind them for individual panel monitoring but at the mo' i can't be arsed, you also lose 0.3v each diode even with schottky's and panels in parallel do not need any diodes anyway as the controller does that job, the ones pictured in the junction box are bypass diodes that came fitted (ok for series connection) they are doing no harm so i'll leave them on.

[whitemice]

For a 'normal' roof van this is amazing value and even simpler to install! Would not fit on the amby so i had to go for two 50W panels for 100W. If space is tight then there is scope for trimming these types of panels by around 2cm each edge easy job at a local plastics laminate specialist with pro equipment or even using a jigsaw with a down cut blade , the transparent layer is heat and vacuum bonded eva plastic stuff.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/160826485485; ... 26_rdc%3D1

For simple battery maintenance then one of these would be perfect.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/20W-Semi-Flex ... 25720210ca

Thing about these types of panel is they do not need to be fixed you can just take them and lay them anywhere, the main advantage over framed glass stuff is the weight they are about 1/5-1/6th the weight per watt.

My set-up would cost at least a grand or more if using say a caravan/motorhome dealers and re-labelled or branded stuff.

[whitemice]

So you will be worshipping the Sun God now ?

And Vishnu.