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diy solar

Where to mount 4 solar panels on our RV's roof?

sawmonandnatalie

New Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2021
Messages
35
Location
North Vancouver, Canada
Here are a few things to think about:

Mounting: How are you planning to mount them?

If with a bracket (like a Z bracket) that you screw the panels permanently to the roof... then you need to be careful what you place them next to,

Or is your bracket something that you can tilt your panel? On my RV- for each panel corner, I took 2 pieces of 2” angled alum 6”Mounted one to the roof and one to the panel, then bolted them together to form the bracket. So I could tilt them (if I made tilt bars), but more importantly, I can tilt them out of the way, so I can work on the A/C’s and fans.

Really it doesn’t matter where you place them, try to avoid the shade. If you can tilt them/move them I would put all four up front. If not, then 2 up front and 2 in the back.

Make it as easy on yourself now for install and later for maintenance as possible.

Also, look at the 200watt panels, will they work any better?
 
It seems the rear would get the panels a little bit lower and out of the airstream when traveling. You could also possibly incorporate the existing luggage rail as your mount and not have to drill more holes in the roof.
 
Also make note of where your Controller, batteries etc will go inside. I have 6 of the Renogy panels in a 2S3P configuration.. I used that configuration with a Combiner box located centrally between the three sets. It kept the lengths between sets of panels and the combiner close to equal and as short as possible.

I also had a clear path below from the Combiner location and used 6AWG Tinned wire to minimize losses between the Combiner and Controller.
 
Just watch out for shading from the other stuff on your roof -- that might impact your placement decisions.
 
Maybe all of the above? I didn't have that much room on my roof, but my trailer is likely a lot shorter in length than yours.

Either location would work, but I would be reluctant to install an odd number of panels. A 2s2p configuration would be good, with the series connection on either side of the front vents. Then parallel the left/right sides. That way if the vents are shading the left side, the right side is OK.
 
@Rocketman , we are thinking to use unistruts to mount the panels on. 2 rows of unistruts per string (1 string = 2 x panels), so 4 rows of unistruts in total.

And as @HRTKD , suggested, we might have the 2S2P config at the front with each series connection on either side of the vents.

What combiner box do you guys recommend? We are planning to have an LTE antenna on the roof as well which we can possibly run its cables down through the solar panel combiner box.

@Q-Dog , the luggage rails at the back don't feel sturdy enough.
 
I didn't have enough panels to warrant a combiner box. You can get by without a box by using Y connectors. I bought Y connectors just in case I decided to go that router.
 
I have an elk Ridge e292 and just measured out the roof I have room on the right front to mount 2 panels. Beyond the ridge that runs across the roof just in front of the door and 16 ft along either side wide enough to mount panel which equates to 3 panels per side. I could actually mount 3 panels side by side between the AC unit and the ridge. My question is am I better off mounting panels on the back slope or the front slope of the roof or does it really not matter? Plan on using stut channel and screwing the strut channel down to roof ribs. The 4 ft apart ribs are easy to see and will use a stud finder to locate the the 2 or 3 between depending on 16 or 24 inch centers. Pretty sure I will have very solid mounting to the roof of the strut channel. May even use the butyl double sided tape under it as well. Is that a good idea with a rubber membrane roof?
 
I have an elk Ridge e292 and just measured out the roof I have room on the right front to mount 2 panels. Beyond the ridge that runs across the roof just in front of the door and 16 ft along either side wide enough to mount panel which equates to 3 panels per side. I could actually mount 3 panels side by side between the AC unit and the ridge. My question is am I better off mounting panels on the back slope or the front slope of the roof or does it really not matter? Plan on using stut channel and screwing the strut channel down to roof ribs. The 4 ft apart ribs are easy to see and will use a stud finder to locate the the 2 or 3 between depending on 16 or 24 inch centers. Pretty sure I will have very solid mounting to the roof of the strut channel. May even use the butyl double sided tape under it as well. Is that a good idea with a rubber membrane roof?

While I didn't use a rack mounting system, the materials you use and techniques to find the attic trusses are the same. I would be surprised if you have 24" centers.

 
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