starting my solar acquisitions

i am starting to acquire the major pieces for a solar system atop my rv.
today i visited a local store that sells, or recycles, panels from a "solar farm".
i was told that these panels are manufactured for stationary use and as such they are not made for the rigors of van, trailer or rv life. he did say many have done it without any major problems. it seems the cells are placed on glass and vibrations and rigors of motion may not be conducive to longer, productive life as compared to panels produced for such rigors.
my questions are, is this real?
does anyone have real life experience with repurposed panels from a farm?
these are big panels at almost 4 ft wide and almost 5.5ft long. the cost is less than 50 cents a watt.
is it worth pulling the trigger? would you buy these?

thanks,
phil

YES they work just fine with the "rigors" of the road........I bought my large panels in Florida over 4 years ago NEW for 50 cents a watt........(cosmetic damage)

Used panels from San Tan are usually 25 cents a watt.......I've installed plenty of their 250 watt/$50 specials.....
(They donated pallets of panels to HOWA one year)

What kind of real estate do you have on the RV roof ?


We're in Hawthorne tonite headed North..........

In the past 10 years I have used 120 watt, 240 watt and lately have a 365 watt panel on my vans roof, never had any fail on me. The panels should last you many years.

abnorm said:

YES they work just fine with the "rigors" of the road........I bought my large panels in Florida over 4 years ago NEW for 50 cents a watt........(cosmetic damage)

Used panels from San Tan are usually 25 cents a watt.......I've installed plenty of their 250 watt/$50 specials.....
(They donated pallets of panels to HOWA one year)

What kind of real estate do you have on the RV roof ?


We're in Hawthorne tonite headed North..........

Click to expand...

this is very good news.
thanks for the quick response.
my real estate is a 24 foot steel roof with absolutely nothing obscuring the front half of the roof.
i should be able to put 4 of them up there, but would love to find room for 6 panels.
dont have a photo of the roof or any measurements. i'll do that today.
i'll pull the trigger later today for some of these panels.

thanks

jonyjoe303 said:

In the past 10 years I have used 120 watt, 240 watt and lately have a 365 watt panel on my vans roof, never had any fail on me. The panels should last you many years.

Click to expand...

thanks.

PhilD1954 said:

these panels are manufactured for stationary use and as such they are not made for the rigors of van, trailer or rv life

Click to expand...

There are no mobile-specfic panels that I know of. Hardmounted panels are incredibly tough.

PhilD1954 said:

does anyone have real life experience with repurposed panels from a farm?

Click to expand...

I bought 3x used solar farm poly 250w at $0.32/W, and that wasn't a particularly aggressive deal. I wanted these in particular because they fit the space exactly. The seller was selling 10 or more at $0.26/W but since I live in the van I couldn't transport 10x, or store them somewhere until I could resell.

When buying used I'd bring a multimeter to ensure Voc is in the ballpark (will likely vary a bit and be lower than spec due to ambient temps), and that there are no cracks, "snail trails" on the cells, or obviously damaged wiring.

frater secessus said:

There are no mobile-specfic panels that I know of. Hardmounted panels are incredibly tough.



I bought 3x used solar farm poly 250w at $0.32/W, and that wasn't a particularly aggressive deal. I wanted these in particular because they fit the space exactly. The seller was selling 10 or more at $0.26/W but since I live in the van I couldn't transport 10x, or store them somewhere until I could resell.

When buying used I'd bring a multimeter to ensure Voc is in the ballpark (will likely vary a bit and be lower than spec due to ambient temps), and that there are no cracks, "snail trails" on the cells, or obviously damaged wiring.

Click to expand...

thank you.
your replies have given me the confidence to go ahead with the plan.

PhilD1954 said:

i am starting to acquire the major pieces for a solar system atop my rv.
today i visited a local store that sells, or recycles, panels from a "solar farm".
i was told that these panels are manufactured for stationary use and as such they are not made for the rigors of van, trailer or rv life. he did say many have done it without any major problems. it seems the cells are placed on glass and vibrations and rigors of motion may not be conducive to longer, productive life as compared to panels produced for such rigors.
my questions are, is this real?
does anyone have real life experience with repurposed panels from a farm?
these are big panels at almost 4 ft wide and almost 5.5ft long. the cost is less than 50 cents a watt.
is it worth pulling the trigger? would you buy these?

thanks,
phil

Click to expand...

I've bought over 4000 watts of the San Tan 250 watt panels...all working great and could not be happier and for about 50 bucks each can't go wrong (Been to Oregon, AZ CA Texas and now Mexico! Which by the way, NOW running the AC just on solar) without any issues whatsoever....Do make sure you get a LOW FREQUENCY Inverter Sungoldpower has been good to me as has Aims..
Here is the panels on top of RV on a rack

Suggestion:
Mount the most photovoltaic your roof can support.
Scalp the roof of everything else... no vents, no fans, no sky-lights, no waltzing deck.
.
We have six 305-Watt panels, a total of 1,830-Watts.
These top our ancient AGM bank.
.
The system struggled in Alaska, because the sun hugged the horizon.
.
.
Our experience:
Nearly two decades full-time live-aboard.
2003, we converted a 1996 Ford CF8000 commercial truck to our concept of an ExpeditionVehicle.
Our interior is three paces across by seven paces long.
Accordingly, the roof follows similar dimensions.

LargeMarge said:

Suggestion:
Mount the most photovoltaic your roof can support.
Scalp the roof of everything else... no vents, no fans, no sky-lights, no waltzing deck.
.
We have six 305-Watt panels, a total of 1,830-Watts.
These top our ancient AGM bank.
.
The system struggled in Alaska, because the sun hugged the horizon.
.
.
Our experience:
Nearly two decades full-time live-aboard.
2003, we converted a 1996 Ford CF8000 commercial truck to our concept of an ExpeditionVehicle.
Our interior is three paces across by seven paces long.
Accordingly, the roof follows similar dimensions.

Click to expand...

did some simple math. i have room for 6 of these panels. so approx 1200w. need to check the panel for stats. just need a few more lithium batteries (bought 1 so far).

Check on top of your RV to see if there is anything that would need to be moved or adjusted on the roof. It would be a bummer if you had unexpected costs or hurdles.
A lot of people have done solar, so things can be worked around. Knowing in advance helps.

Happy Camper, thanks for the suggestions.

after some more simple math and using the numbers on the back of the panels and using the "best of" numbers, i have come up with some #'s. 260 w x 6 panels =1560w.
attached is a photo of my proposed circuit, in case my worded explanation is misunderstood or not explained properly.
my plan is to series/parallel connect 3 pairs. so the numbers are for a pair 37.77v x 2 = 75.54v
9.15a in series still yields 9.15a. after connecting a similar series/parallel circuit to the first, i will still have 75.54v and 18.30a. then connecting third series/parallel circuit i will have 75.54v and 27.45a

these calculations are important for sizing the mppt controller and battery bank.
i do realize that my numbers are all going to be high compared to real life volts, amps and watts.
is anything wrong with my drawing?

a couple of photos of the old '83 jamboree rallye, fleetwood by chevy.