Fitting Solar Panels Other Places ?

RAW

Forum Member
Has anyone fitted solar panels to other places on their van's.
Examples:
At the side
On the Rear Doors

What sort of results have you had ?

TIA
Robert
 

wildebus

Forum Member
Has anyone fitted solar panels to other places on their van's.
Examples:
At the side
On the Rear Doors

What sort of results have you had ?

TIA
Robert
Here are some ideas from Brian (RV with Tito) on Youtube for side mounted panels

and an update to the above video

I am doing a setup for someone at the moment and they have solar mounting limitations due to available "real estate". We are almost certainly going for a mountable setup (so positioned once stopped) and probably mounted on the side of the roof of their High Roof VW T5. Now the High Roof T5 has a similar kind of roof setup to the Mk1 Sprinter, so this idea would be transposable to the Sprinter - and actually more so as the Sprinter Roof is all metal so you could secure with magnets, whereas the T5 High Roof is some kind of GRP.


I like this guys setup and that kind of thing is something I have considered doing on my van to add a couple of hundred watts of PV


BTW, there are some nice install videos on RV with Tito that are enjoyable to watch as he does stuff properly and uses good equipment. Worth having a watch :)
 

RAW

Forum Member
Thanks @wildebus for your pointers
I am thinking that I could potentially fit 2 x Narrow'ish 200 WATT Flexi on the Rear Doors giving me 400 W there potentially, maybe go with the PVC pipe type mounts idea.
My question would be though, are there any of the cheaper Solar Makes that are decent ?
There are many sellers of Solar Panels on EBAY, and quite a few Chinese ones, I have watched some items and some look similar though some shipped from UK and others from China. Also wary of the Wattage as they are not always the Wattage that they are stated to be e.g a 200W panel might come shipped as a 100W panel from disreputable sellers.
To that end I am wondering which of the Cheaper ones are any good, does anyone know ?
I am potentially looking at
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Wate...dule-Kit-for-12V-24V-RV-Car-Boat/164011316410

OR
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200W-fle...-Connector-for-Camping-Car-Yacht/143486804350

However unsure if either are any good or if there is a particular Chinese manufacturer that is better than the rest, for example @wildebus said he has a particular supplier in China.

TIA, Robert
 

wildebus

Forum Member
I am still wary of any flexible panels personally.

Something I was minded to do on my LT (aka Sprinter like yours) was fit an awning rail like the one the caravanstore slides only, but on the other side. then fit some of the awning strips onto panels - then you could slide them along the rails, use props like the plastic piping to raise up like RV with Tito, and have them look a bit like the dutch blinds (think that is what those blinds are called) over the windows.
I would use glass panels for this.

As an aside, I see the top link was for stuff from the USA. I was asking last week at the post office how international deliveries are going (got an order to send to Switzerland) and was told that stuff to and from the US have pretty well ground to a halt - so be prepared for delays there!
 
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wildebus

Forum Member
Think I know what an awning rail is but not sure what you mean. Could you send me a link please ? Thanks
This is the typical rail that an awning slides onto. This is a Fiamma one and the Fiamma Caravanstore slides onto it (this picture shows a smaller Caravanstore, hence why so much of the rail is visible)

Rail
by David, on Flickr
You then have an awning strip with a bead that slides onto the rail.
This would cut these into the lengths you need. I would say it would make a very secure mount for something like a PV panel and when off, it is pretty discrete.

You can paint them as well, so for your blue van, you could colour-code so it blended in if you wanted? For example, this is an awning rail on my VW T5 that I sprayed the same colour as the van so it is not noticable.

IMG_20170703_134830
by David, on Flickr
 

RAW

Forum Member
If you want deployable panels you put out when parked, then a series of smaller panels I think work well - and the Victron Panels that onboardenergy sell are reasonably priced for the quality and size - https://www.onboardenergydirect.co.uk/shop/solar-pv-panels.html.
the smaller panels will be easier to store away.
Thanks for all that, I am looking for something that I can have on the Van permanently, not got that much storage so deploy-able panels not an option I feel.
 

wildebus

Forum Member
Thanks for all that, I am looking for something that I can have on the Van permanently, not got that much storage so deploy-able panels not an option I feel.
I think stacked slideout panels on the roof might be the best way to go if you don't want to demount when travelling? Side mounted could be an issue. Rear door mounted could work well but will have limited use for that location.
 

RAW

Forum Member
I think stacked slideout panels on the roof....
Yes, could be the way forwards though a lot of work. Will have to look into that, was looking at something that was low cost and not that much work as an interim solution so Rear Doors could be a workaround.
 

Millie Master

Forum Member
Late to this thread, but if anyone is going to fit additional solar panels then surely they ought to be mounted in such a way that they are fully effective?

So if this is the case, then if they are mounted to the upper sides of a van with their top edges level with the top point of the roof on strongly attached hinges. In transit they would be hinged down and clamped securely to the sides of the van, but on arrival at the pitch they would hinge up to be level with those others on the roof on telescopic rams and then locked into position.

Phil
 

RAW

Forum Member
just as a glazier Carrys sheets of glass
Now there's an idea, perhaps I could get some sort of rack fitted to side of van to carry full size Solar Panels and use the latest Solar Panels like these which I really like the spec of midsummerwholesale.co.uk/pdfs/lg-datasheet-neon2-320-325-330.pdf
I could have the Panel come up on telescopic risers or just simple Sticks, only issue would be space to extend or deploy them
Don't think panels need to be level with each other, they just need optimum light
 

Millie Master

Forum Member
I honesty do believe Robert that if you ever do decide to fit some solar panels to the sides of your van that if they were a near full depth, like you see with glaziers vans, then they would be exceptionally accident prone, whereas if they were (say) only 60 cm. deep then they would be up out of the way taking into account the tumble home of a vans sides.

Phil
 
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RAW

Forum Member
whereas if they were (say) only 60 cm. deep then they would be up out of the way taking into account the tumble home of a vans sides.
Fair Point, so might be worth then fitting direct to side on solid hinges if the side is flat and parallel enough at the fixing points.
 

RAW

Forum Member
Seems like a whole load of pfaff.... Can you not just mount them on the roof out of the way?
Roof is a Faff as curved, will have to get special brackets made and as @wildebus stated it would be a good idea on the roof space I have to do the sliding drawer option which is posted in a video above, that would be a lot of work. Especially as Van is finished inside so would have to take ceiling and cupboards down probably to get access to underside of the roof.
 

Nabsim

Forum Member
I still think a roof bar system is the better option. Not sure how panels would fare on the side of a van with wind when travelling. Certainly wouldn't work for me as I often squeeze through gaps narrower than my cab lol
 
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mistericeman

Forum Member
Could you not manage with unistrut brackets and channel....
I have a fairly ready supply of different 'spare' brackets etc workwise ;-)
 
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