I will be mounting solar panels on two flatbed utility trailers, one 18 ft and one 12 ft long. I have a 3-acre flat lawn area that I can use to position them. This way I can be mobile and take them with me when I move and avoid the county nonsense. Wondering the best way to ground them, an 8 ft ground rod I suppose. Also, it will be a long run possibly 400 ft to the inverters so series wired panels would be best for this application?. Thanks for any input.
Solar panels on flatbeds
- Thread starter bones1
- Start date
Good thinking. Panels will be mounted to the trailers with an aluminum gridwork laying flat with quick-release hitch pins so I can remove them easily if needed. I can get 16 250 watt panels mounted between both trailers. If this sounds like a really dumb idea please let me know.
Shading from fenders or any railing around the trailer will hurt your production. Be aware of that.
Not sure if you use your trailers much, but if the panels needed to be mounted high enough to avoid the shading described above, maybe put some legs on your frame or legs with some sort of skid, so you could slide the entire assembly in or out without huge effort. All of that glass and metal will get pretty heavy.
Not sure if you use your trailers much, but if the panels needed to be mounted high enough to avoid the shading described above, maybe put some legs on your frame or legs with some sort of skid, so you could slide the entire assembly in or out without huge effort. All of that glass and metal will get pretty heavy.
Using a garage door track with the curve would make the setup angle adjust easily.
Woof… I’m just trying to imagine high winds that could flip a flatbed trailer…
Here in NC we get some 40 or so wind gusts regularly… tears up some fencing tosses trash cans around…
I remember when I lived in SD, winds regularly gusted around 70mph… that was miserable to deal with… never had any trailers flip though… are hurricanes prevalent in the area?
MichaelK
Solar Wizard
Let's assume your 250W panels are putting out 7+amps at 30Veach. Wiring 8 in series would give you ~240Vmp, and maybe ~320Voc at freezing. Throwing that into a voltage drop calculator, I see this. Not too bad. Keep in mind though for voltage this high you will need either a controller or AiO with a very high voltage limit. Some Growatts I believe are in the 450V region, but most component charge controllers in this voltage range are going to be very pricy, 1000$+. This MorningStar goes up to 600V.
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I'm just being extra cautious. A flat trailer with panels acting like a big wind catcher - I'd rather be safe than sorry.
It's rare to get hurricanes or wind above 40 mph here in southern Maryland, usually pretty calm. The smaller trailer weighs 1400 lbs and the larger 18 footer weighs 2400 lbs empty but those larger 4 to 6 in diameter post-screw-in anchors would hold them down for some insurance and possibly double for a ground rod.
LazyDragon
New Member
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I'm interested in this topic also. I want some panels on a trailer so I can move them seasonally. I'm in the forest in the PNW with 100' trees around. The sun is a moving target seasonally and the trailer would let me get some production during months when my primary array won't see any sun at all.
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