Solar panel mounting ideas

[r3g]

Hi,
I plan to get these panels for my build. They are 385W each and they're for an identical van so what you see here is how I want them :

https://static.wixstatic.com/media/e6d5e2_f405a09c...

The brackets and clips used are a mounting kit that you can buy for them, but the panels and mounting brackets are actually meant to be put on a house roof. Although I've spoken to the builder of this particular van in the pic and he's assured me they are fixed securely and won't move, I'm personally not comfortable with the way the panels are secured - it looks a bit Heath Robinson to me and clearly there's no lateral movement protection should I decide to get the back end out.

A close-up from the front : https://static.wixstatic.com/media/e6d5e2_6eb23eba...

Does anyone have any knowledge or experience of a better bracket and holding clip solution for these which would be slicker than the mess you see in the pics? I want the brackets to run front to back like that, either on top of the roof ribs or in the recesses, mainly for air flow reasons. Also, he says he's drilled and screwed the brackets into the roof but I don't want to do that and am hoping (!) sikaflex 522 would be adequate to secure the brackets without needing to turn the roof into a colander.

I don't want to use one of those massive van roof racks that you see them use on Arctic expeditions.

The panels are 20.5 kg each.

[r3g]

Caddyshack said:

Those are massive panels.

I have just one on our 7.5t lorry.

The panels normally have an ally surround that you can drill through, I just made up some L brackets, I think you could use what he used and just add some extra brackets where you feel comfortable. I have a double lined roof so could screw through and I used a blob of tiger seal under the screws to add extra security and to stop any leaks.

Yeah, I know the 'usual' camper solar panels are drill-able in the frame, but these ones are not, as can be seen by the thickness of the frame edge on the right side of the 2nd pic. Camper specific panels are generally puny in order to fit around the numerous vents, antennas and apertures found on the typical camper / motorhome roof, but I want as much as I can fit on which means something like these. Open to suggestions for other panels with the same or greater overall capacity if they have better options for mounting, but they'd need to fit transverse and no "wider" for obvious reasons.

[r3g]

Caddyshack said:

I cannot see why you couldn’t drill the bottoms of those side panels, you would really need to look underneath them to see if it is just ally and a void behind.

I am amazed what just 1 panel does along with a split charge system, I have 100ah leisure batts and hardly touch the batteries apart from night, I have a fridge, a freezer, diesel heater, phone chargers etc running off mine and I take the overspill to top up the starter batteries. You could take a small geni if you need to and save a lot of hassle with one smaller panel unless you plan to run lots of inverters for things like microwave etc.

I've just noted on JA's site they do a 405W panel with a frame and mounting holes underneath so am looking at that. Stangely the exterior dimensions are stated to be same . I need the headroom for potentially running a PC chewing up to 200W per hour for 15 hours + other bits as a worst case scenario. Already got a 608Ah lithy when Fogstar had them on offer for £1500. There'll be B2B as well so no geni needed!

I saw a video of a guy who built a frame for his van roof using some off-the-shelf racking brand. I forget the name of it now, Quick Rack or Easy Rack or something, but it was kinda 'plug and play' for this sort of thing. Will have to see if I can find the video again to see what it was called, but could basically secure anything to it at any place along it, which would be ideal if it could be suitably aligned with the holes in these other framed panels I've just discovered. More investigation needed.

[r3g]

Caddyshack said:

Yeah, that 200w will need a bit of oomph then.

Worth looking at how a computer has a 3 pin plug going to a 12v adapter and many people go from 12v solar and battery to inverter to 3 pin to adapter to computer when the computer can probably run direct from the 12v…same with the pc screen and many other items. I did this with our tv and DVD player….just lobbed the adapter away.

Riddle me that again, I don't understand it! I'm not clued up on electrical matters at all, Are you suggesting that I won't need a big inverter to run all this off 12V and I can just use some "12v adapters" instead? Do you have any examples/YT videos to edumacate myself on this sorcery?

There are a few 12V mini PCs on the market but they're not common. Most of the mini PCs run off a 65W brick transformer to mains like every laptop. But the other peripherals would all still needs mains because there isn't such a thing as a 12V 24" screen.

[r3g]

Caddyshack said:

You will find that most computer stuff actually runs off 12 volts, the big adapter blocks drop the 240v mains 3 pin down to 12 volts but you already have 12v coming straight out of the van. We I literally chopped off the block and wired the normal tv straight to the 12v. We have done this with routers and all sorts.

I don’t have any vids etc, I just tried it and it works. My friend has done it on his narrow boat too. You lose a lot of energy going from 12v van up to 240v inverter. You then lose again dropping that 240v back down to 12v using the computer adapter.

Look at any laptop battery, it will be 12v.

I think most pc’s have a 12v step down inside the box…you would need to check.

No idea about the latter - didn't even know this was thing! Will have to investigate. The PC is straight 240 mains, no transformer. It's IEC 320 C13 to C14 to a 'hub' then the hub goes straight to the wall.

The rail name I was trying to think of is Unistrut . This could definitely work with some suitable L brackets, but the panels would need to be able to be side drilled for that to work best. Or some 80/20 extruded ally rail perhaps. But both of these are very rigid and I don't know if the roof on the Boxer is completely level front to back. If it's not or there are ridges / ribs then obviously that wouldn't work without cutting it into sections. Renogy do some basic panel mounting kits which may work for this. https://uk.renogy.com/products.php?product=Solar-P...

[r3g]

Steve Kimberley said:

I have one of these, 400w Perlight Black panels, mounted on L brackets. Very happy with its performance, but like all panels it's dependent on the currant bun.
(I also have 70A of DC-DC for when it rains ).
https://www.hdmsolar.co.uk/products/perlight-400w-...

Edited by Steve Kimberley on Friday 9th February 17:37

I need to make some calls to these panel suppliers and find out what the situation is with the frames and if they actually have any. The pics on the websites typically only show a top down view. These larger size ones are designed for house roofs as obviously 400W isn't yer average panel size for a motorhome / camper, and they seem to mount with clips (as per my photo links) rather than screw into the side of the panel frame which is better security for something that's going to move and get jostled around.

I'm seeing a builder on Monday who is also a fabricator so I reckon he'll have some good suggestions for a good way of doing it. Whilst talking it over with him on the phone, he was telling me about a friend of his who had a 'stealth' camper van conversion and had put a glass carrier frame on the offside and then mounted 2x 400W panels to it in addition to a 400W roof panel ! He got a custom cover made to go over the side panels when he was travelling to protect them and obviously deter any light fingers, then when parked up somewhere in the UK winter, would position that side of the van facing the low sun and get nearly as much power coming in as you would do in the summer with your usual roof panels. I thought it was genius !

[r3g]

Scrump said:

I have a pc power supply for use in my van. It has 12v input and whatever the pc needs as output.
It is just changing the voltage and going DC to DC which I understand is a lot more efficient than going DC to AC to DC as it would be with an inverter.
The supply I have is something like 80w so no good for you but the concept is the same.

Yeah 80W is laptop territory. I realise that using a laptop rather than a PC would instantly solve a lot of problems but I don't like using laptops for a variety of reasons and wouldn't suit my use case without a bunch of compromises that I'm not willing to do. I'd rather not change anything with my current system at all, but if the inverter route proves to be problematic and I end up not having enough juice due to the conversion inefficiencies then there are plenty of mini PCs available now which run off the same power brick transformers as laptops and the monitor uses one too as they pull around 90W iirc so there are options to run all the important stuff off DC with a bit of work.

I looked at how one goes about "converting" a tower PC to run on 12V but it involves a lot of chopping and moving wires on the internal PSU which I don't want to get involved with. I'd rather no go down the mini PC route either tbh as I just can't be arsed with the hassle of installing everything and moving everything across. I know from bitter experience that what should be an 'easy' 30 min install of an OS and your stuff, always turns into at least a full day job as inevitably something will throw up an error or some compatibility issues requiring hours of research on the internet to find out what the problem is and how to fix it. I am NOT a patient person!

[r3g]

Not possible to use the corner mounts as the size of these are as wide as the van roof.

[r3g]

ferret50 said:

Turn through 90'?

But why do you feel the need for so much power?

My B to B charge controller running with that one sensible size panel gives me two days sat without starting the engine!

Can only get 1 panel on if turned the other way. If you've no EHU and there is 2 weeks of constant grey as is typical in the UK Autumn through Spring, then you're not going to be running a constant 150-200Ws for very long without sizeable battery storage. Panels are much cheaper than lithies and also better than running the engine.

It's better to over-spec it and not need it than under-spec it and later regret it. Your little panel will work fine for you in the height of summer as you're probably a typical user who only needs it to charge your phones and interior LCD TV and LED lighting. My requirements are power hungry and potentially needed all year round when most people have their van or motorhome tucked away in storage.

[r3g]

Caddyshack said:

I think these will work if the bottom of the L shape is longer and goes under the panels as they need to come back from the overhang and back on to the roof.

They can't go that close to the edge. The panels are too wide. They even exceed the mushroom mountings.

Saw this video... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czmFyIR1jS0

[r3g]

ferret50 said:

So what will you use for leccy in the winter when it is dark for 16 hours a day?

I am in tne UK not northern Norway.

[r3g]

ferret50 said:

Panels on my garage roof in N Norfolk where producing powa from 0830 to 1530 in Dec and early Jan!

That's a fair point. I didn't look at it from the angle. An extra lithy might be required or more likely, I'll change the tower PC to a mini-PC which only sip power in comparison and can be wired DC to DC so there's an immediate saving there by not having to invert it. Anyway, I'm not usually in the UK for a lot of our winter time so might not even be an issue.