Panels mounted vertically on travel trailer side.

[Boomerweps]

Currently (pun intended) have 4 CIGS panels (BougeRV compact 100watt) mounted on the curved front and front roof of my RV. Plan on mounting heavy duty self stick hooks on the TT side and hang old flex panels on. Intention is to face TT south when boondocking and hang extra panels east in the AM and west in the PM. I have two mounted solar controllers, Victron 100/30 connected to the CIGS & 75/15 as a secondary/backup. Each has side mounted inputs near the factory POS Furrion input.
I’ve not seen this done except on vans and rigid panels hinged as window shades.
Too much crap on the roof of my Wolf Pup 16BHS, although I have two more standard (long) 100 watt CIGS to install come spring when I can test fit them, to over panel my 100/30 in a 3S2P manner., resulting in safe voltage and current inputs with maximum wattage charging.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Should work great, particularly in winter. In summer they will be about as good as the flat panels in winter.

Panels on curved surfaces always perform worse than flat. They can only perform as well as the least favorably oriented cells.

 

[0truck0]

Sometimes the sun angle is better on a wall than on a flat roof.

I have been toying with putting 600 watts on the wall too. I would hinge it so it could angle towards the sun on either side of trailer, but mostly just park with panels facing south.

Yours is a solid idea.

 

[chrisski]

Unless it's the summer and your far enough south that the angle of the sun is an issue, Should work fine. I just caution about wind.

Wind was horrible my first two years of RVing, but has not bothered me for the last three. Wind would come out of nowhere at sunset or sunrise and go from winds calm to 25 to 45 knots.
=========
I have something where I mount 3 X 100 watt regular panels on the south side of the RV for production.

I opt to not stick them on the wall and instead use them as portable panels and move them three times a day as the sun moves.

 

[OffGridInTheCity]

We have flat (horizontal) panels on the top of our camper and it's been disappointing. We have 1340w worth and they seem to peak at only 400-500w while driving (not shaded). In winter it's worse! The other problem is campsites with trees or obstructions (shade) seem to be way more prevalent and enjoyable than wide-open (no shade) and of course shade kills PV production. Also, a minor nit, horizontal panels collect dirt/crap on the panels since water can't just 'run off'.


We built an all-electric camper (9000 BTU mini-split for heat+cool) with 27kwh battery bank and LOVE the idea of a self-sufficient RV/camper but it has it's challenges. With full bore 24hr Starlink and hot water and TV and computer and electric kitchen etc - we burn 4-5kwh/day for non-conservative camping and then the mini-split is on top of that.

 

[Boomerweps]

Do you use a separate controller for the 70 watt panels?
Although somewhat costly, the CIGS panels are the most shade tolerant panels I’ve found. I went with them for the slmplicity of stick on. Even though curved on my TT front, they produce a lot of power while the TT is stored facing south.

 

[OffGridInTheCity]

Do you use a separate controller for the 70 watt panels?
Although somewhat costly, the CIGS panels are the most shade tolerant panels I’ve found. I went with them for the slmplicity of stick on. Even though curved on my TT front, they produce a lot of power while the TT is stored facing south.

No it's 2p3s (300->300->70 for each string) and feed into an MPP Solar 3048LV AIO which requires >=60v PV for it's charge controller function.

The 70w'ers in the strings raise the MPPT voltage up to 63-68v'ish per string. But I wonder if the 63v (near bottom threshold of the MPPT range for the MPP Solar 3048LV) is the reason I only get 400-500w or if it's just because they're horizontal or both.

 

[Boomerweps]

Hope you researched and did the math for connecting dissimilar panels.
Voltage adds up in series but the amps stay at the lowest panel’s value.
Amps add up in parallel but voltage will be the lowest panel’s value.
And, of course, voltage times amps equals wattage.
Math is your friend
All of my mounted and to be mounted panels have the same specs although not the same physical size. My portable flex panels use a seperate controller.

 

[OffGridInTheCity]

Hope you researched and did the math for connecting dissimilar panels.
Voltage adds up in series but the amps stay at the lowest panel’s value.
Amps add up in parallel but voltage will be the lowest panel’s value.
And, of course, voltage times amps equals wattage.
Math is your friend
All of my mounted and to be mounted panels have the same specs although not the same physical size. My portable flex panels use a seperate controller.

There is no issue with volts/amps or loss connecting 300w+300w+70w as a single string and then paralleling 2 of these.

 

[Aussieguy]

use rigid panel ..... or some type of backer boards

piano hinge them at the top ............then when camped lift them up to act as a awing and get some better sun on top
use two poles to support them deployed...
+ some good sturdy latches to hold them against the side while driving
hatches can have holes for padlocks so latches can not come undone

may NOT produce a LOT while driving North/South .............. for at least half the day
Travelling west .... could get some good results
Going East... forgetaboutit


setup at camp ya can sit under them ... sipping a drink or two