diy solar

diy solar

Stacked Panels with a slide out feature when parked.

that's one of my concerns as well. Don't know if valid. Belts a great when you pull - but what's with pushing?

I would mount a linear actuator central in the panel - while a belt drive needs to be at one of both sides. If you got a drawer slide which isn't moving perfectly smooth the panel might get twisted and brake.
it’s probably another one of my overcomplicated engineering fantasies, a current sensor on each motor could allow safety stop if the readings are more than a certain amount or different beyond a certain percentage.

really interested in belts, because when properly engineered they can be incredibly strong and durable.

realistically linear actuator is what i intend to use if get around to tracked solar or mechanically deployable solar
 
Not that these are super cheap but some of the best price I have seen for long sliders with lockers. Started thinking about this not only for a van or RV but also monohull sailboats.

https://www.ovisonline.com/40-Locking-Drawer-Slides-Full-Extension-P1601.aspx
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This is one area not to cheap out on. Have to consider dust dirt rain etc that they will be exposed of. Best to have stainless ones or rust issues will be an problem down the road. But typically the drawer slides will be the most expensive part of building something like this. Also having lockable ones like this means you will have to climb up top to release whereas having something like the actuator to hold it in place or get very creative and doing a electric latch system.
 
After having this solution in the real word for a couple of years now (post 14 of this thread) I just wanted to offer this for consideration.

What can go wrong and what are the potential implications if it does?
Examples being - you are in an accident or the panels deploy accidentally going down the interstate - so where is the entire 200lb rack going or where are the 37 - 47lb panels going and what are they going to do when they get there. Because of this I went with a structurally overbuilt / heavy design and manual slide outs.

A couple of other things to consider
#1 - if you are going for maximum watts per square inch you are going to stack and overlap your panels which in my experience added a significant amount of complexity and thus to a manual slide out design.
#2 - The 36-45" slides are going to be really expensive get dirty and rust. I originally wanted to go with the slides in post #1 but they were insanely expensive to ship each unit.

Good luck everyone.
 
overcomplicated engineering fantasies
hehe :)

when I'm building projects I'm always trying to use as many standard of the shelf parts as possible.
The less you customize the better.

There thousands of mass manufactured parts available. Which you can configure and combine in billions of combinations.
Customized parts are difficult- you don't get long term reliability data and you have a huge issue when something fails down the line.
#2 - The 36-45" slides are going to be really expensive get dirty and rust. I originally wanted to go with the slides in post #1 but they were insanely expensive to ship each unit.
I've read about that.

My decision was then - not go with the sliders and instead remove a few items of my roof. Like the TV antenna and a ventilation Fan. Will see how far I get with that approach.

Wonder if there is a like a ration you could apply to internal volume to Solar Panel needed.
 
How robust are panel frames considering the stress would all be on the frame ends and there's no indication of welds. Mounting the panels on my minivan I reinforced the ends to prevent twisting. Still there's a 6.5 ft unsupported span between the front and rear edge.
 
How robust are panel frames considering the stress would all be on the frame ends and there's no indication of welds. Mounting the panels on my minivan I reinforced the ends to prevent twisting. Still there's a 6.5 ft unsupported span between the front and rear edge.
Depends on the panel manufacturer.
Some require to mount on the long side and some allow mounting on the narrow side.

I had worked panels with like very flimsy frames which had to be mounted at the distance 20/60/20 of the long side.

And I had panels with a very beefy frame - where the manufacturer actually provided the mounting system - which gripped the panel only at the top and bottom - so the long side was completely unsupported.
 
How robust are panel frames considering the stress would all be on the frame ends and there's no indication of welds. Mounting the panels on my minivan I reinforced the ends to prevent twisting. Still there's a 6.5 ft unsupported span between the front and rear edge.
AS others have said i think its up to each supplier. My are Sunpower and built like a tank but after 23k miles so far have never had an issue with them.
 
Do you need something auto or can you reach them fairly easily? Like he asked above what is the vehicle? My first direction would be to use the 80/20 build configuration and come up with a frame that you can mount the panels on drawer slide outs stacked but in the design you need to consider locking mechanism and if you are using an actuator of sort to move them out.
something manual would be better since where we use these is really sandy and hot and dry etc etc .... I'm 5'2" if I stand on my tip-toes and push 105 lbs soaking wet - wearing a coat - holding a cinder block so typically when I get somewhere I just drag out the panels and lay them out -- but apparently after a few of them have got ran over (seriously - fricken huge desert and they somehow decide to drive by the only object for 50 miles ... anyway) one of the guys said he why don't you just hang them -- 100% of the guys were like - yep no problem -- 100% of the girls was like - are you kidding us???
 
Put them on a hinge at the top of the trailer. Swing them up into place (horizontal) for operation. Lock them down in the vertical position for travel.

I'm considering doing something like that on my trailer. I have a cargo ramp on the back. I can put the hinge above the cargo ramp so the panels will swing out of the way and let the ramp come down.
 
My other idea are Solar Panel Window Awnings for the RV:


1639736934105.png

I measured and the Hardware for Hurricane / Bahama Clamshell Awnings is very close to fit for Solar Panels.
Not on top of the Awning - the Panel is the awning.

Secure it against the side of the RV when traveling - and fold up with the stakes when parked.
one of the guys said he why don't you just hang them -

If you would have a the panels hinged against the side of the RV it would be much easier to fold up and down, since most of the weight is carried by the RV. Further you can adjust the angle to account for seasons and where you park.

 
A tri-fold on the roof makes sense to me.
In travel they would folded and secured.
In travel the bottom panel- fixed- is facing up piano hinged to a second leaf that faces down with the third leaf piano-hinged and facing up.

One could either manually unfold them for parked (awning) or use an actuator that would extend unfolding them. The actuator could have an advantage as you could utilize that to hold them in place at a more optimal angle for one string (of course both reducing the efficacy of one string and shortening the ‘awning effect.’

So if you had the panel leafs configured say 4S4P with 27x60” panels you could have two strings flat, fixed to the roof - 3 panels arranged lengthwise. The two folding leafs would achieve ~56” of awning extension at full deployment, running 15’ front to rear.
Conversely, a 4S3P arrangement with the panels 90* to the length of the RV would achieve an awning extension of ~120” (ten feet) fully deployed with a running length of 108” (9 feet) or 4S4P for 120”x135” (almost 12’ lengthwise)

You would of course have to engineer aluminum framing to support the arrays and probably triangulation legs to thwart winds just like a rollout awning needs.

A flexible rubber cover over the folds would make it rainproof and you would have to plan how to affix wiring so it safely drapes on deployment and storage. But I can see this as a reasonable application with at least 1/3 of the solar capacity while in the storage position.

Plus 12 or 16 200W panels is a lot of power potential!
 
Put them on a hinge at the top of the trailer. Swing them up into place (horizontal) for operation. Lock them down in the vertical position for travel.

I'm considering doing something like that on my trailer. I have a cargo ramp on the back. I can put the hinge above the cargo ramp so the panels will swing out of the way and let the ramp come down.

Yeah that's sort of what I am thinking of doing -- design them so they open up like a trifold ... will take a little thinking on how to design them so they don't snap off when open but there are ppl allot more smarter than me out here so that's good
 
I designed a slide out system for my Class-B Winnebago Travato. Its 1500 watts using Sunpower commercial panels with 2 Victron 100/50 controllers that are getting maxed out during peak times when i am cool weather. Currently these charge 5 Battleborns that are mounted underneath the chassis in drop-down trays. I have 4 Basen 280ah's coming from California and 8 CATL 200ah coming from china to test out this summer.

Last pic is a readout of Solar panel performance during the last few days.


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Awesome setup and van! Did you post a build thread or something anywhere? Would love to see more details all around.
 
something manual would be better since where we use these is really sandy and hot and dry etc etc .... I'm 5'2" if I stand on my tip-toes and push 105 lbs soaking wet - wearing a coat - holding a cinder block so typically when I get somewhere I just drag out the panels and lay them out -- but apparently after a few of them have got ran over (seriously - fricken huge desert and they somehow decide to drive by the only object for 50 miles ... anyway) one of the guys said he why don't you just hang them -- 100% of the guys were like - yep no problem -- 100% of the girls was like - are you kidding us???
Lol love your humor! I can relate and manual would be the best as it cuts down complexity, maintenance and the additional time to build. You will for sure need to keep them out of the way of getting ran over (that's just crazy). What about aluminum extrusion and they have slider options as well but not sure how well this would work in the desert. The stuff is strong and easy to work with and various of sizes. i.e. 80/20 brand name or Bosch.
 
Awesome setup and van! Did you post a build thread or something anywhere? Would love to see more details all around.
Thank you,

I didnt post a build thread here but have posted several of the "mods" to a Winnebago Travato specific groups. Really i prefer to show people in person at meet ups so we can hav e a more in depth conversations. Im happy to answer questions you may have and can start another thread if there is an appetite for that.
 
Interesting thread; I, too, have thought about retracting panels. I had a thought. My business partners recycle computer/IT equipment, and we get a lot of servers still in the cabinets. The slideout racks used for mounting the servers, disc arrays, and power supply are all high-dollar smooth as glass ball-bearing mounted rails designed to handle a lot of weight but roll in and out smoothly to not disturb the servers or drive arrays when servicing. We have boxes of these things as there is a good used market, but I don't think they are that expensive. I'll check and see, then get back with dimensions.
 
Interesting thread; I, too, have thought about retracting panels. I had a thought. My business partners recycle computer/IT equipment, and we get a lot of servers still in the cabinets. The slideout racks used for mounting the servers, disc arrays, and power supply are all high-dollar smooth as glass ball-bearing mounted rails designed to handle a lot of weight but roll in and out smoothly to not disturb the servers or drive arrays when servicing. We have boxes of these things as there is a good used market, but I don't think they are that expensive. I'll check and see, then get back with dimensions.
Would worry about the weather and dirt. Nothing you usually have in a Server Room
 
Would worry about the weather and dirt. Nothing you usually have in a Server Room
They're heavy-duty, and you'd have to keep them cleaned and oiled just like any other mechanical device. I've seen folks use them to build homemade slide-out toolboxes in the beds of their pickup trucks a lot; it's what gave me the idea.
 
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