Martyn22 Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 This to all the Engineers and Fabucators out there, l wish to make a frame and props to raise my solar panel up at an angle, have already been advised to angle at 35° or 55° my panel is a 130 amp and is about 14 KGS and is 1.500 long and 670mm wide by 46 mm thick. I have thought that if l stick an aluminium angle around all four sides fit 2 x 4" hinges to the bottom long edge then fit a prop about 3/4 from bottom edge and using 2 strips attached to a bracket on the roof of van one strip would give me the 35' the other srip would give me 55° l have heard of adhesive mastic that will allow me to fix angles but what is it called and from were? All advice would be welcome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knaus Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 Hi we have had our solar panel fitted to our roof rack for 10 years it lays flat never had a problem with it not charging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 I'll ask again, what's the problem. At certain times angled panels produce less. Many on here have a lot of experience of solar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 Martyn, You will only get any benefit from angling your panel if you then rotate it to follow the path of the sun. This will likely mean rotating it every half hour or so throughout the day. If you don't bother then it is quite likely your total daily output will be less than if you laid it flat! So if it is fixed to the roof of your MH do you plan on rotating your MH every half hour or so to keep it at maximum output? If not then don't bother! That's my take on it and I stand to be corrected if I've got it wrong (but doubt it very much :D ) Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave C Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 Keithl - 2015-04-05 3:05 PM Martyn, You will only get any benefit from angling your panel if you then rotate it to follow the path of the sun. This will likely mean rotating it every half hour or so throughout the day. If you don't bother then it is quite likely your total daily output will be less than if you laid it flat! So if it is fixed to the roof of your MH do you plan on rotating your MH every half hour or so to keep it at maximum output? If not then don't bother! That's my take on it and I stand to be corrected if I've got it wrong (but doubt it very much :D ) Keith. When I had a narrowboat I had solar panels that would follow the sun automatically but I admit it was a bit of a Heath Robinson affair (although it was fun to design and build). It worked OK but was of far too heavy construction to go on the roof of a motorhome. I don't have solar panels on my motorhome - not yet anyway. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martyn22 Posted April 5, 2015 Author Share Posted April 5, 2015 Theres no problem, but having seen a lot of vans that park up for more than a month have panels that are angled, l understand what you have said about having to constantly moving the van to get the most from the sun. Has any one done any resurch on the best ways to get mor sun, l already have 130 watt panel and wonder if laid flat it gets more sun than if it was fixed at one angle all day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 Martyn This longish article http://www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk/helpandadvice/technicalhelp/power/solar-power/ includes the following advice "If you invest in a solar panel, make sure it’s positioned to take advantage of the midday sun, which is the strongest. This is almost directly overhead in summer, but lower in the southern part of the sky at other times of the year. Angling your panel towards the sun will increase the energy it generates outside of the summer months.” A roof-mounted solar panel angled to face the sun MUST be more efficient than one that is not, and a panel that can be angled MUST be potentially preferable to one that cannot be angled. This should be self-evident. The other side of the coin (and also self-evident) is that it’s simpler to securely fix a solar panel ‘flat' on the roof of a leisure-vehicle than attach it so that it can be easily angled when the vehicle is parked but also be 100% secure when the vehicle is driven. And (as colin advised when you asked about tiltable panels before) the potential efficiency gain over a flat panel may not be worth the effort of making the panel tiltable. This USA article has frequently asked questions about RV solar power systems http://www.solar-electric.com/rv-solar-power-faq.html/ including "Are tilting or adjustable solar panel mounts worth the effort? In general - no, but it depends. While you will get more power if you tilt your panels to catch the sun better, the amount of improvement is not as much as most people would think. For example, if the sun is 30 degrees off from how your panel is set, you will lose around 13.4%. While a significant amount, you have to consider the extra expense of the tilting mount, the additional labor to install, the extra wind drag on the RV, and the hassle of having to climb up on the roof at each stop to adjust them. If you park for longer periods of time in the same place or are a "hardcore" dry-camper, then they might be worth it." I suspect that members of this forum who have a straightforward roof-mounted solar panel system (rather than the ‘satellite TV dish’ type) will all have chosen to have the panels ‘flat’ on the roof not tiltable. If you wanted hands-on advice on how to contruct a tiltable frame, probably your best bet would be to seek it from a forum with many RV-owning members, as tiltable panels are popular for RVs. Regarding your proposed construction method, I’m wary of your “2 x 4” hinges” suggestion and concerned by your sketchy knowledge of adhesives. If you do decide to go ahead with a tiltable system, I believe you’d be better to use a commercially-produced frame rather than try to make one yourself. This link identifies some UK firms specialising in RV solar panel systems and also has images showing examples of tiltable panels. https://www.google.co.uk/?gws_rd=ssl#q=uk+rv+solar+panel+tiltable+frame Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 Martyn, there's a good reason I keep asking you what and/or when the problem is. Angling a panel will in theory give a greater output, but it's not that simple, take our system, in say June we might be parked up near a solar farm in Cornwall, at 1pm that solar farm will be pumping out full power from its angled panels, our panel will be putting zero into our batteries as they will already be fully charged. In november we where in Somerset, for once I kept an eye on battery state and panel output just so I could answer questions on here, the only time the battery took longer than ideal to charge was when it was 100% overcast, in these conditions an angled panel might well produce less. You might have different requirements to us and not have the ideal system for your use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martyn22 Posted April 6, 2015 Author Share Posted April 6, 2015 Kansas yes l understand you l also works well but it needs the help of also driving around, when l stay for more than 12 days in 1 spot without any driving winter time in Spain my batteries got so low that there not enough power to use the heater although l was able to put lights on and run 12 volt TV all my lights are LEDs my thinking was to get more from my solar panel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 With panels so cheap now probably easier to add another panel, as said unless you are prepared to move the panel or van every couple of hours to keep it facing the sun a flat mounted panel will give more output over a full day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 Martyn22 - 2015-04-06 3:58 PM Kansas yes l understand you l also works well but it needs the help of also driving around, when l stay for more than 12 days in 1 spot without any driving winter time in Spain my batteries got so low that there not enough power to use the heater although l was able to put lights on and run 12 volt TV all my lights are LEDs my thinking was to get more from my solar panel I'm guessing by now your panel should be keeping up with usage, and this happened in Dec or Jan? Your panel is a fair bit bigger than ours so I guess you have greater usage, maybe a laptop you use everyday? or an inefficient tv setup? Have you checked the battery to make sure it's ok? On another thread you asked about MPPT's, these only realy show a significant advantage when you have about 200w or greater panel. If the weather was generaly sunny you might get better output by angling panel, but you would need to position panel to get best angle at midday. If the weather was overcast angling panel will at best have no effect or it might reduce output. p.s. personally if all else checked out I'd fit an extra 60w panel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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