Help needed fitting solar panels

[Lemut]

Hi All,

I'm at the planning stage but looking to get some help fitting 2 poss 3 panels (still trying to work out sizes/fit) on my motor home .

I'm planning to get a local scaffold company to erect a 'tower' to work off but I need help getting the panels onto the roof. The inside work is no problem but being an old far# I do not fancy moving glass on my own. Can anyone help or suggest someone I could use to fit them for me?

I'm based in Redditch (19 miles South of J4 -M42 ) Crabbs Cross area.

Cheers guys.

Graham

 

[wildebus]

more smaller panels are always easier to lift up and fit then lesser but bigger panels.
FWIW I've always found that 100W panels are not too bad but 200W panels can be a right faff to lift up.

If you are getting a company to put up a tower, howabouts having the panels ready for them to lift up onto the roof for you? once up there, moving them around should be a lot simpler?

 

[Millie Master]

Graham I am an old fart as well and include in my health problems both heart & lung problems which are supposed to stop me lifting heavy objects.
Believe me, even quite large solar panels are not very heavy and I found them to be quite easy to lift and move around.
What type of van are you converting, it must be enormous for you to require any kind of scaffold tower, I did my entire roof work from a ladder leaned up against the side of my van.

 

[Nabsim]

It’s not the weight of panels that causes problems but make sure you don’t pick a windy day

 

[Lemut]

more smaller panels are always easier to lift up and fit then lesser but bigger panels.
FWIW I've always found that 100W panels are not too bad but 200W panels can be a right faff to lift up.

If you are getting a company to put up a tower, howabouts having the panels ready for them to lift up onto the roof for you? once up there, moving them around should be a lot simpler?

Cheers. Good advice.

 

[Lemut]

Graham I am an old fart as well and include in my health problems both heart & lung problems which are supposed to stop me lifting heavy objects.
Believe me, even quite large solar panels are not very heavy and I found them to be quite easy to lift and move around.
What type of van are you converting, it must be enormous for you to require any kind of scaffold tower, I did my entire roof work from a ladder leaned up against the side of my van.

Woro, took the easy way out and purchased a Burstner 727. This gets me to around 8'3" off the ground to roof level. Now I get dissy in thick socks these days but hopefully the tower will give me something solid to work off rather than use a ladder without anyone to foot the thing

 

[Lemut]

It’s not the weight of panels that causes problems but make sure you don’t pick a windy day

Mmm good advice but it's always a bit windy round here. Think I need to take something...

 

[wildebus]

It’s not the weight of panels that causes problems but make sure you don’t pick a windy day

Speak for yourself
When I bolted a pair of 100Ws together (in readiness to make a tilting setup) I found getting them up on the roof seriously hard. Each 100W panel on its own was not a problem. It was quite surprising how much it changed from easy to bloody awkward and near impossible as a one-man job.

 

[Nabsim]

Speak for yourself
When I bolted a pair of 100Ws together (in readiness to make a tilting setup) I found getting them up on the roof seriously hard. Each 100W panel on its own was not a problem. It was quite surprising how much it changed from easy to bloody awkward and near impossible as a one-man job.

Well no if you want to make it hard work

I wouldn’t recommend bolting 4 x 345w panels together and lifting those either but for single motorhome panels weight rarely comes into it that much. Haven’t checked my specs but from memory I think my 150W panels were around 7kgs each. As my memory is decidedly suspect I will check documentation now and report back

Edit: well who would have thought it, my memory let me down lol, my 150W panels are 12Kg each without any brackets or fittings. That makes them 1kg each heavier than my battery’s

 

[Millie Master]

In this situation, I would take my van to a very trusted specialist installer such as wildebus. The reason being that what he doesn't know about electrics and their installation isn't worth knowing about!

 

[trevskoda]

I fitted 2 100w panels easy as my roof has steel roll bars under it to walk on, I used a builders platform with ladders, use a boat deck gland for cables.

 

[Lemut]

Graham I am an old fart as well and include in my health problems both heart & lung problems which are supposed to stop me lifting heavy objects.
Believe me, even quite large solar panels are not very heavy and I found them to be quite easy to lift and move around.
What type of van are you converting, it must be enormous for you to require any kind of scaffold tower, I did my entire roof work from a ladder leaned up against the side of my van.

Hi M,
Lets put it this way, I get dizzy wearing thick socks. If I've got some one in the area I would have a go off a ladder or if I'm on something solid, its not so bad, hence the thought of the tower around 2-2.5m high as I have a feeling people are busy with their own projects. The top of my waggon is around 292cm's from the deck

 

[wildebus]

Hi M,
Lets put it this way, I get dizzy wearing thick socks. If I've got some one in the area I would have a go off a ladder or if I'm on something solid, its not so bad, hence the thought of the tower around 2-2.5m high as I have a feeling people are busy with their own projects. The top of my waggon is around 292cm's from the deck

Not worth taking a risk doing something you are not comfortable with. Even if it were well inside your physical capabilities, you (generic "you", not you specifically) can end up over-worrying/compensating and actually creating a situation in the process.

Here is a post from a Sister forum .... https://wildcamping.co.uk/threads/m...e-north-east-anyone.86963/page-3#post-1196738


For example, quite a few people have titing solar panel setups. I thought of doing this and actually got all the hardware to do it, but when it came down to it, even though I could easily fit a tilting setup I knew I would in reality not be climbing up the ladder to put the panels up and down as walking around the slippery roof of a vehicle is not my idea of fun, so why bother fitting something that will not be used was my conclusion.
So I got up on my roof and installed my panels, but they don't tilt and I have zero regret in not fitting the tilting bits.
Other people are happy to get up on their roofs every day and tilt their panels and good for them I'd be just a bystander with a camera ("You've Been Framed" still pays £250?)

 

[Lemut]

Not worth taking a risk doing something you are not comfortable with. Even if it were well inside your physical capabilities, you (generic "you", not you specifically) can end up over-worrying/compensating and actually creating a situation in the process.

Here is a post from a Sister forum .... https://wildcamping.co.uk/threads/m...e-north-east-anyone.86963/page-3#post-1196738


For example, quite a few people have titing solar panel setups. I thought of doing this and actually got all the hardware to do it, but when it came down to it, even though I could easily fit a tilting setup I knew I would in reality not be climbing up the ladder to put the panels up and down as walking around the slippery roof of a vehicle is not my idea of fun, so why bother fitting something that will not be used was my conclusion.
So I got up on my roof and installed my panels, but they don't tilt and I have zero regret in not fitting the tilting bits.
Other people are happy to get up on their roofs every day and tilt their panels and good for them I'd be just a bystander with a camera ("You've Been Framed" still pays £250?)

Cheers mate, sound advice and thanks for a brilliant idea. l'll use a tripod with my own camera and I'm sure my wife will send the video to them to cover some of the cost of what I'm spending. I'll have a go when we get a bit of good weather so watch the obituaries for an idiot falling off a tower

 

[Nabsim]

Regarding tilting panels I think it’s now a lot easier to get the info for fitting electric actuators and even remote control. I just know I would be seized up before I got half way through doing it though hence my purchase of a folding panel when I went to increase my panels. If you can do it though tilting panels at any time apart from summer are definitely much better

 

[Lemut]

Regarding tilting panels I think it’s now a lot easier to get the info for fitting electric actuators and even remote control. I just know I would be seized up before I got half way through doing it though hence my purchase of a folding panel when I went to increase my panels. If you can do it though tilting panels at any time apart from summer are definitely much better

Hi Nabsim, Thank you for the input but I'm only trying to fit standard, flat to the roof panels. Its getting them up there and fixing them using standard brackets that I'm envisaging having problems with. As I think I've said elsewhere, I get dizzy in thick wool socks

 

[Nabsim]

Hi Nabsim, Thank you for the input but I'm only trying to fit standard, flat to the roof panels. Its getting them up there and fixing them using standard brackets that I'm envisaging having problems with. As I think I've said elsewhere, I get dizzy in thick wool socks


I understand, luckily for me my son in law does my roof work for me