The positive of putting the panels in parallel is that of shading. In series if one panel is in shade your voltage will be bugger all. If in parallel at least one will produce power. its all swings and roundabouts mate. Enjoying your adventures mate and have a good one.
Keep those panels clean. Even a bit of road grime, dust or even bird droppings can significantly impair the output. Story time: Last year was speaking with a fellow who had his RV center do him up with (expensive) full solar and he was saying how disappointed he was in the performance. Turns out he had never cleaned his roof top panels, not once. We climbed up there with a bucket of soapy water and some towels to dry and buff. Saw him 3 days later and apparently his onboard panel was telling him he was getting double the output.
So fancy! Love the Bluetooth charge controller. Mine is so basic and sometimes I forget what all the screens mean (like a casio watch). 😂. Your crimping tool is amazing! Half of my frustration in wiring adventures involve messed up crimps where the ring terminal pulls off. Really exciting stuff!
I have solar on my camper, all you need to do to augment roof top panel is have a portable panel and plug into the battery with an anderson plug. Can then place panel in best sun pos without heating up camper, we like to park in the shade in Aust. Another great video. Cheers Steve
This video is a great resource! Thank you. What type of items does this much solar power? I’m wanting to have enough electric to power the exhaust fan, a few lights, chargers, a electric cooler, etc. I don’t want to overbuild/over pay but I also want plenty of power available. I can’t figure out how to measure what I need versus what the output is of a given set up.
My appliances are powered by the battery. The solar just recharges the battery. I use this setup to run lights, vent fan, and chargers. It would probably handle a 12V fridge as long as there was enough sun to recharge the next day.
Nice clean install! Exlnt explanation of series vs parallel. I'm running a pwm controller so for now I'm pretty much stuck with parallel, maybe in the future I'll look into a mppt unit? Thanks,great job
This is my third time watching this video. I have a new Teardrop & considering a solar panel. You used doubled sided tape for the install, right? And looking at that spacing you did it to allow ventilation, correct? Are you happy with the results? Thanks.
How is that battery holding? I started my electrical work and need a battery ASAP to set up the solar. I'm also buying those solar panels and the charger controller. So are you happy with that set up? I'm going to make one similar. Thanks!
Great job and a very clean & informative 2 part video install! If you don't mind me asking, how are the flexible panels holding up? I am considering picking a few flexible 50w panels up but I am hearing mixed reviews about the top layer of the panels separating from the rest of the panel layers and causing issues, any thoughts?
Great set up . However , did I miss something ? Looks like your breaker box lacks easy access to the breakers . Will you have to unscrew 4 screws to get to the breakers ?
Everyone here is on edge wondering what’s next. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s gonna take a while to get through this one. Take care of yourself.
I used 3M VHB tape on my install. I would recommend going to 3M’s website for applications. My gut feel is it would work fine if the fiberglass is smooth and painted or gel coated.
I’d be surprised if the VHB didn’t work. Be sure to clean it good with denatured alcohol and use adhesion promoter. I’m not an expert, but would try it on my own. You may reach out to 3M to be sure though!
Well said series vs parallel. I didn't know a little controller like that was available with Bluetooth! Beats putting in a separate monitor/gauge for a small trailer.
I have thought about doing solar with our teardrop, but I couldn’t mount panels on the roof because mine is a convertible. Also, anytime that I am camping with my wife, she wants to be amongst the trees. If we have a choice of camp sites, she will choose the one with trees every time. So I have thought about using the portable solar panels and just going with one of the boxes, like a Jackery or Voltaic system. Have you ever had any experience with these type of systems? Pros? Cons?
No I haven’t, but I’ve looked at both the products you mentioned and they look great. I actually wouldn’t mind having them myself. Check out the RU-vid channel “Slim Potatohead.” He did a video on them.
Yep, on both ground and positive. From what I researched, a breaker is needed on both when running a series system vs parallel. I’m not sure why, but it may be from the higher voltage.
This may be a stupid question. I know next to nothing about solar panels. But why two 50w instead of one 100w? Is it because there is a size difference?
Great install! That was super smart of you to pre-wire for your solar. I really like how you used the roof vent to bring the wires thru and use it as a junction box. Eager to see your solar charger video. This may be one of the next projects for my teardrop.
Nice. Is your system already outdated? I mean tech moves fast these days. What would you do if you had it to do over, starting today? Any improvements? What would be your plan?
At this point, I’m pretty happy with the system. On down the road, if technology enables panels of the same size to output more energy, I may swap them out to maximize how many watts I can gather, but that will likely be quite a bit down the road.
Mike, your vidga's are professional in quality & content driven. You sure your not a retired Professor??? Plus you list every product used, so rest assured I'll use your Amazon Affiliate, even for the stuff not on your list. You've earned that privilege for what you have given us!!! Thanks Brother, w.w.
7:38 I'm no electrician... Can you add a switch to go from Series to Parallel? I believe this is how DeWalt does it to go from 20V to 60V on their batteries but they have engineers to figure out the electronics.
Great set up . However , did I miss something ? Looks like your breaker box lacks easy access to the breakers . Will you have to unscrew 4 screws to get to the breakers ?
It can handle a total of 75 volts and 15 amps from the panels. Check the specs on the specific panels your looking at and add the voltages and amp together. If they come up to a higher number (I don’t think they will though), Victron makes a larger controller that would work.
Yes. If you reach max current output from the controller, it will just ignore the extra power without damaging it. You can run two 100 watt panels in parallel or series on this controller since they are usually close to 20 volts each.
