I Installed a Mobile Power Plant | No Drilling Holes for Panels RV Roof 

Do you have an RV or camper with solar? What is your setup like? Thanks for watching!

Best stuff I've found for holding wires down neatly is 2 inch roof tape. It's like 20 or 30 bucks but makes for a clean looking install

I was so excited to see the release of these panels. I hope they release these in more sizes in the future. For example, I know they just released a blanket style panel. This size is just too long and cumbersome to transport for me. Thanks for your review. Love the bit about how many diodes they have. This is info I love to know, so I have validation they do better with partial shading.

hi thank for the response! on another forum they mentioned I can use the bathroom vents sometimes they go straight into the electric area..

Awesome install! It should work great.

You can go over the 30 amps of the controller you just need to stay under the voltage point. The 30 amps your controller is rated for I the output amps to the batteries that the controller is capable of. Lots of people over panel their controller by 20 or even 30 percent so that they are making the 30 amp output for a longer time each day

For a small system on a rig with limited weight carrying capacity I think they are great. Those panels don't look like the cells will crack and arc, causing a fire like I've seen mono cells do. They appear to be a little underrated too, which is a plus. The downside is their low efficiency of only 16% so they take up more roof area for a given number of watts. I mounted 2, 310watt Canadian solars to a liftable array on the side of my motorhome. I did this to leave my roof free to rack 8, 460-watt Bluesun bifacial panels about 13" off the roof of my motorhome to keep both them and my RV cooler. The downside of these rigid double glass panels is that they are heavy. With the aluminum racking, I'll be adding about 575-580 lbs on my roof - not an inconsequential amount, but within the carrying capacity of my RV. In my application I should get another 10% off the back of these panels (boosting their efficiency to well over 23%) so they will perform similar to 500-watt single sided panels, and they only cost $262 each from Signature Solar for an effective cost of only 52 cents/watt (63 cents/watt when the racking material costs are considered for an apples-to-apples comparison to these CIGS self-adhesive flexible panels of $2.89/watt). This will give me the equivalent of 4,000 watts on my roof. Being flat mounted, they will produce 25-30% less than the liftable panels on the side of my RV. So I estimate that their real-world performance will be in the 2,500-3,000 watt range on a bright sunny day. When I add the 620-watt array on the side I should have sufficient solar to charge my approximately 23Kwh of batteries to power all my electrical needs, except for rare occasions. When necessary, I can use my 5,500 watt generator to put 80 amps into my 12v 560ah bank via my Progressive Dynamics Converter/Charger, and 40 amps into my 310ah 48v bank via a Sungold Power all-in-one 48V, 5,000W inverter/charge controller/battery charger.

Wow, those are pretty nice. That is really good output. I like the diodes and that was a really good idea of leaving extra length to charge a power station. I think I'll try and add these on my next RV

Great video. I am planing on mounting 4 of these on our nwemar

Thanks for sharing

Would really like to see how the heat affects the roof membrane over a few years!

Unfortunately flexible panels suffer from 2 major issues. One is to be flexible it's made of plastic, which yellows with age and this kills output. The other is by being stuck to the roof it does not have enough airflow and you guessed it. Heat hurts the lifespan and active output of the panel. Sure it's faster to install. But if money or longevity is the priority this is probably not the play.

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Cool panels tho

This sounds awesome. Do you have an update to this panels? Whats about degradation and surface cracks? My small camper in germany has 550W on top. Good for cooking during my summer camping trips.

What charge controller are you using?

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have you considered making a way to plug it into your house's solar to give to the power company or use for yourself if needed whenever you're not using it and it's just parked? or would that not be worth the costs and efforts?

Why did you do them all misaligned? Looks like you had the space to make them straight

How are yours holding up? You did not clean the surface with alcohol. Are they sticking well? I really don't want to use alcohol on my roof. Thanks!

I want to know the temperature of the front and back of the flexible solar panel in summer. Can you tell me?

The amperage rating is the max output of the solar charger not the max input. You can over amperage a charge controller but can over voltage

Wait, the 30Amp max rating is at charge voltage (14.4) output from the Solar Controller. So wire the panels in series while not exceeding maximum input voltage to the Solar Controller (60v). Victron Solar Controllers can handle up to 100VDC, and some go higher, such as 150VDC.

In the last 11 months (since installation) has heat been an issue?

That's what I'm trying to do find a decent rv and convert it to solar

Some folks are putting tape or glue on the front edge to help with wind. Did you need tape?

I just got these, and been getting flack about heat. How have they been so far directly mounted to the rubber roof?

I just added a 200w on my camper van. I get 11a at 18v not direct sun. How are your panels one year later?

Beautiful installation… but holy moly, $2000 (Canadian) for ONE 200W panel! Ouch!

The ocd / tetris in me is dying inside. I feel like we could have fit the same amount of panels leaving room for expansion or more panels efficiently.

I am curious, in the state you live in, what is the buy back rate for your electricity? In Saskatchewan Canada they have their "Net Metering Program" set to ~50%. We have longer winter months, so you would have to take your average usage of power during the winter months, and multiply it by two, and that's how many kWh you have you supply back to the grid during the normal year just to make it affordable. I am curious if the US ones are any better.

How does this solar panels handle golf size hails?

One possible issue: NEC 690.9 (A) (2020 Edition) electrical code says panels installed in parallel need a fuse on each sub-circuit if the total array max amperage (24A) exceeds the maximum series fuse rating for each panel - I couldn’t locate the max series fuse rating for these panels. Other than that, these are over three times the cost of solid panels! Longevity is also questionable with any flexible panel, so check the warranty.

how are these holding up? i heard this type can overheat and damage the roof? thanks

what size mppt controller are you using?

Ok so its been almost a year can you make an update vid ?

Cables will slap themselves silly on the roof if you do any serious road mileage (imo).

$599.99 on Amazon little to rich for my blood

hi curious why you didn't use 8 gauge wire? i just watched a youtube video about how much more efficient 8 is: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-FMyhQAwaw2Q.html

i enjoy your channel , skills and presentation , but it must be said , your unfamiliar with an Electrician's , conduit cabling system. Your install is the extreme end of crap , obviously i would like to see you redo it professionally , i'm pretty sure you'll find the cable conduiting process , satisfying. Are you cool , with people laughing at your work , it's out there for everyone to see.

Bro wants me to drop $3,600 on 12kwh max. That's $3/wh which by normal standards it's $0.46-0.54/wh per normal monocrystalline panels. Nuts, insane, no. Buy a solar array and make money from the grid for that price.

$550.00 Jesus! Dunno about that Gerald…

How much current was created from those solar panels?

SO.... HOW LONG DO THEY LAST? DO YOU KNOW THEY ARE NON-RENEWABLE and the waste is worse Uranium-234.

At $580 a panel this is way OVERPRICED.