My NEW solar/inverter/battery setup

Chad Heiser · April 14, 2022

Another update to my system that I completed last week. I decided I wanted a bit more solar and I had a few small “squarish” openings on the roof around the three air conditioners and a couple other spots. They were relatively small open spaces and I wondered what I could fit in them. I found the Newpow compact 100 watt solar panels were an almost perfect fit for the openings. I decided to order eight of them and got them mounted up last week. I now have 2990 watts of solar on the roof of my rig with six 365 watt panels and eight 100 watt panels. The six 365 watt panels are split between the two solar controllers I described above. The eight new 100 watt panels are run in two series strings of four panels each and are going to a second MPPT 100/50 Victron solar controller. I am now done with solar on my rig. I literally can’t fit any more on the roof.

Edited April 14, 2022 by Chad Heiser

RickS · April 14, 2022

Great looking system Chad. 👍

lappir · April 14, 2022

6 hours ago, Chad Heiser said:

Another update to my system that I completed last week. I decided I wanted a bit more solar and I had a few small “squarish” openings on the roof around the three air conditioners and a couple other spots. They were relatively small open spaces and I wondered what I could fit in them. I found the Newpow compact 100 watt solar panels were an almost perfect fit for the openings. I decided to order eight of them and got them mounted up last week. I now have 2990 watts of solar on the roof of my rig with six 365 watt panels and eight 100 watt panels. The six 365 watt panels are split between the two solar controllers I described above. The eight new 100 watt panels are run in two series strings of four panels each and are going to a second MPPT 100/50 Victron solar controller. I am now done with solar on my rig. I literally can’t fit any more on the roof.

Looks real good, certainly no open space left. How is heat dissipation with them. Not much room under the panels, but maybe it's just the camera position.

Rod

Kirk W · April 14, 2022

9 hours ago, Chad Heiser said:

I literally can’t fit any more on the roof.

That is an awesome array! Looks a lot like some of the new systems on stick houses near us where the roof is pretty much a solar collector. Are your panels mounted such that you can somehow get under them to clean the roof occasionally? And how do you gain access to the air conditioners to service them or if you should need to replace one of them?

GlennWest · April 14, 2022

Panels are easy to unbolt if necessary.

hemsteadc · April 14, 2022

Nice, but no room for walking.

2gypsies · April 14, 2022

Wow! You have 3,000w. We had 300 w. and managed just fine for continuous boondocking. What do you use it all for? How do you walk up there for maintenance on everything?

Chad Heiser · April 14, 2022

13 hours ago, lappir said:

Looks real good, certainly no open space left. How is heat dissipation with them. Not much room under the panels, but maybe it's just the camera position.

Rod

The panels are at least 4 inches off the roof in the center of the roof and at the outsides of the roof where it curves slightly, they are even higher off the roof. They work very well like this. It is more space than they need to function and not have any heat related issues.

2 hours ago, 2gypsies said:

Wow! You have 3,000w. We had 300 w. and managed just fine for continuous boondocking. What do you use it all for? How do you walk up there for maintenance on everything?

3 hours ago, hemsteadc said:

Nice, but no room for walking.

This is more solar than I need for our day to day use, but I am an installer and this is my demonstration system as well as my personal use system. This system was designed and built to show what is possible. It is overkill for the vast majority of RVer's. It will allow me to run AC all day long (assuming the sun is shining) from battery and inverter power if I want to though. It isn't as evident due to perspective in the picture, but I can completely walk the entire roof and get to all the components on the roof without issue.

11 hours ago, Kirk W said:

That is an awesome array! Looks a lot like some of the new systems on stick houses near us where the roof is pretty much a solar collector. Are your panels mounted such that you can somehow get under them to clean the roof occasionally? And how do you gain access to the air conditioners to service them or if you should need to replace one of them?

The panel mounts are two piece Z-brackets and are easily unbolted if I need to get access under the panel. As I stated above, I can walk the entire roof and get to all the components. If an AC needs to be serviced, or some other major component up there needs to be worked on, the panel closest to that component can be unbolted and removed to allow for a workspace. As for maintenance on the roof, the trailer is sitting in the shop at Rolling Retreats in Elk City, OK getting an RV Flex Armor spray on roof installed, so no more maintenance and it will have a lifetime guarantee. RR just added this service to their service center and I am their first outside customer (they did install the roof on one of their stock units before my rig). It will be done tomorrow and then make its debut at the East Coast HDT Rally (without the eight new panels, as I left those at home to make the roof installation a little easier - the mounts are there though and will become part of the new roofing material).

Danfreda1 · April 15, 2022

I don’t think I can clean all those panels. I might miss more than that one up front. Ha ha

Chad Heiser · April 15, 2022

1 hour ago, Danfreda1 said:

I don’t think I can clean all those panels. I might miss more than that one up front. Ha ha

Maybe if the money is right you can get it done. 😜

rollinbrian · April 15, 2022

3 hours ago, Chad Heiser said:

The panels are at least 4 inches off the roof in the center of the roof and at the outsides of the roof where it curves slightly, they are even higher off the roof. They work very well like this. It is more space than they need to function and not have any heat related issues.

This is more solar than I need for our day to day use, but I am an installer and this is my demonstration system as well as my personal use system. This system was designed and built to show what is possible. It is overkill for the vast majority of RVer's. It will allow me to run AC all day long (assuming the sun is shining) from battery and inverter power if I want to though. It isn't as evident due to perspective in the picture, but I can completely walk the entire roof and get to all the components on the roof without issue.

The panel mounts are two piece Z-brackets and are easily unbolted if I need to get access under the panel. As I stated above, I can walk the entire roof and get to all the components. If an AC needs to be serviced, or some other major component up there needs to be worked on, the panel closest to that component can be unbolted and removed to allow for a workspace. As for maintenance on the roof, the trailer is sitting in the shop at Rolling Retreats in Elk City, OK getting an RV Flex Armor spray on roof installed, so no more maintenance and it will have a lifetime guarantee. RR just added this service to their service center and I am their first outside customer (they did install the roof on one of their stock units before my rig). It will be done tomorrow and then make its debut at the East Coast HDT Rally (without the eight new panels, as I left those at home to make the roof installation a little easier - the mounts are there though and will become part of the new roofing material).

Hi Chad, we're due to have the Flex Armor applied here shortly due to some good wind through Texas and Arizona peelin our rubber roof. Summer project was to start putting solar panels up on the roof too.

Are you having the mounting brackets bolted to the roof and then the armor sprayed around them? Or having the roof clear, sprayed, and screwing the brackets on top of the armor?

Thanks for any info

Chad Heiser · April 15, 2022

12 minutes ago, rollinbrian said:

Hi Chad, we're due to have the Flex Armor applied here shortly due to some good wind through Texas and Arizona peelin our rubber roof. Summer project was to start putting solar panels up on the roof too.

Are you having the mounting brackets bolted to the roof and then the armor sprayed around them? Or having the roof clear, sprayed, and screwing the brackets on top of the armor?

Thanks for any info

The way they typically do it is dry fit the panels and then install studs in the roof to mount the panels mounts to. Once the studs are in place, the panels are removed and the roof material is applied over the roof and around the studs. With this method the entire panel and mount can be removed if necessary without affecting the roof (the studs would remain in place as a permanent part of the roof). In my case, because Rolling Retreats is a new franchise for RV Flex Armor, they did not have enough studs for my 68 solar panel mounts. Luckily my mounts are two piece mounts so the lower half of the mounts were prepped and installed prior to the roof application. They are now a permanent part of the roof and take the place of their “stud mount” method. I can still remove my panels by unbolting the upper half of the mounts from the lower half of the mounts.

If you are going to add solar, you want to have it done before the roof is applied so it can be sealed in place with the new roofing material. It can be done after the fact, but you will have to go back to the company who applied the roof (or another affiliate franchise) and they will have to cut out the locations where the panel mounts and wire penetrations will be and re-apply the roof coating in those areas to keep the no leak guarantee. This will of course have a cost associated with it. It is better and less expensive to have the solar in place first.

Edited April 15, 2022 by Chad Heiser