Bifacial panels worth it on a RV being flat mounted?

[MrPsychedelic]

Going to be installing a solar setup on the top of my box truck. It will take up the entire roof of the box truck that is 18' long with a couple inches of overhang on the back end. So it wont have much material to reflect anything to the underside. They will sit about 7 inches off the roof, and have about 2.5" on the top and bottom of the panels of roof space.

I'm not sure any of that is worth getting bifacial panels for? It might get an extra what maybe 5 watts a panel with that little bit of space?

I don't want to install any tilting system its just more parts to fail and with the weight of these giant panels I'm not sure I want to have that much material on the roof in to be able to support the panels being titled. The roof will be reinforced every 12" with 2x3s so it will have extra rigidness to it, but I'd rather have as little material up there as possible.

Just wanted your guys opinion on the matter, thanks!

 

[zanydroid]

I’ll bet money it’s worth zero because you need uniform current increase across all series portions of a solar panel to get any benefit. More light on 10% of backside only will in most probability not be aligned properly to have any gain. The bottleneck will be the darkest cell in a string and there are plenty of darker cells in the middle

 

[MrPsychedelic]

I’ll bet money it’s worth zero because you need uniform current increase across all series portions of a solar panel to get any benefit. More light on 10% of backside only will in most probability not be aligned properly to have any gain. The bottleneck will be the darkest cell in a string and there are plenty of darker cells in the middle

That's what I was thinking that it needs most of the panel pulling in the light and not just a small section of it. Bifacials arnt any better in low light conditions compared to standard panels these days either right?

 

[Mattb4]

May not be worth it in terms of extra wattage generated however it may be worth it based on cost. There is a lot of discounts for Bifacial panels at the moment. Just be careful of the specs.

 

[grizzzman]

Going to be installing a solar setup on the top of my box truck. It will take up the entire roof of the box truck that is 18' long with a couple inches of overhang on the back end. So it wont have much material to reflect anything to the underside. They will sit about 7 inches off the roof, and have about 2.5" on the top and bottom of the panels of roof space.

I'm not sure any of that is worth getting bifacial panels for? It might get an extra what maybe 5 watts a panel with that little bit of space?

I don't want to install any tilting system its just more parts to fail and with the weight of these giant panels I'm not sure I want to have that much material on the roof in to be able to support the panels being titled. The roof will be reinforced every 12" with 2x3s so it will have extra rigidness to it, but I'd rather have as little material up there as possible.

Just wanted your guys opinion on the matter, thanks!

Google search
"bifacial solar panels are usually translucent and transparent. They have a transparent back sheet or glass layer that allows light to pass through and reflect off the surface beneath the panel. This allows the panel to capture more light and generate more electricity than a traditional panel, which has an opaque back."

I recently installed a 480/520 Q panel on a family members trailer I am impressed with it's capability.

 

[hwy17]

Bifacial panels had a tariff exemption up until recently, and there may be a lingering price differential that makes them as cheap or cheaper than monos.

So that would be one reason to use them. If they're cheaper than monos then there's no downside to it. Just only count them by their standard rating.

 

[MrPsychedelic]

Bifacial panels had a tariff exemption up until recently, and there may be a lingering price differential that makes them as cheap or cheaper than monos.

So that would be one reason to use them. If they're cheaper than monos then there's no downside to it. Just only count them by their standard rating.

I found them for basically the same price as another panel I'm looking at. I'm picking them both up and the monos are on the way to pick up the batteries, where as the bifacials are the opposite direction. So I'd save like 20 bucks on the mono panels and lose 25 total watts, but I'd save around 80 bucks in gas and 10 hours of my time, so I feel that's probably worth the trade off from not getting the bifacials

 

[hwy17]

I found them for basically the same price as another panel I'm looking at. I'm picking them both up and the monos are on the way to pick up the batteries, where as the bifacials are the opposite direction. So I'd save like 20 bucks on the mono panels and lose 25 total watts, but I'd save around 80 bucks in gas and 10 hours of my time, so I feel that's probably worth the trade off from not getting the bifacials

The other benefit would be glass glass construction, which some bifacials use. In a stationary application I think glass glass is definitely a plus. In a mobile application idk, single glass and plastic backsheet might even be more durable.