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Solar Panel Mount on FWC Roof Question

solar renogy Fleet FWC roof rack

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#11 Josh41

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Posted 31 January 2018 - 10:28 PM

Unfortunately, Renogy's 150 still will not span the tracks.  So I will buy some Z or L aluminum at my local Metals Supermarket and install the 100W panel on the aluminum across the Yakima tracks. After reading more, it seems like 100W won't quite cut it between shade, angle, latitude, etc.  So another panel is in my future.

 

Here's the question: Does the other panel have to be 100W? Can it be more or less?  And, what about getting a fold-able panel for the second and plugging it in to the rear solar panel plug? If the fold-able gets full sun and the roof panel is shaded will it be a problem?

 

As an aside:

I found the wires needed in the battery compartment that come down from the solar plugs on roof and rear of camper, I hooked up a battery to the roof plug and identified the  + and - wires (they were red+ and black -) and the shielded end of the plug is the +.  


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#12 Vic Harder

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Posted 01 February 2018 - 03:12 AM

Unfortunately, Renogy's 150 still will not span the tracks.  So I will buy some Z or L aluminum at my local Metals Supermarket and install the 100W panel on the aluminum across the Yakima tracks. After reading more, it seems like 100W won't quite cut it between shade, angle, latitude, etc.  So another panel is in my future.

 

Here's the question: Does the other panel have to be 100W? Can it be more or less?  And, what about getting a fold-able panel for the second and plugging it in to the rear solar panel plug? If the fold-able gets full sun and the roof panel is shaded will it be a problem?

 

Sounds like you don't have a controller yet.  Which one are you getting?  Ideally, if using a PWM style controller, the two roof panels would be the same.  If MPPT style controller, you should hook them up in series and the max current of the two panels should be similar/identical. 


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#13 rando

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Posted 01 February 2018 - 05:07 AM

There are plenty of other panel suppliers besides Renogy - DMSolar has a 160w panel that will span the tracks, Eco-worthy also has a 160W panel that should span the tracks.   If you are planning on an MPPT charge controller (which you probably should), you could also consider 24V panels which come in larger sizes, many of which will span the tracks.  The only drawback with 24V panels is that it makes is harder to add a portable panel in parallel as it would also have to be a 24V panel. 


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#14 BobM

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Posted 01 February 2018 - 05:28 AM

Here's how I mounted my Renolgy 100 watt. I bought a couple of aluminum angle and riveted them to the panel. I then mounted that setup to my Yakima racks:

https://youtu.be/zpgk5YocDyo
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