<br><p style="margin: 0px;">1) I have a ladder rack on the van. Ideally, it would be desireable to mount the solar panels directly on the roof but if I do, shadows from the rack might interfere with charging. Would it be safe to put the panels on top of the ladder rack on some kind of a painted wooden frame held to the ladder rack by Ubolts... or...? I'd like to keep the ladder rack, if possible. If I make a "deck" on top of the ladder rack, what should it be made of?</p><p style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><br></p><p style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Like was suggested, running plywood across the ladder racks is the best possible solution. You won't have to cut any holes in the roof and the roof of the van will be in constant shade. I did exactly this on my converted 6x10 utility trailer. I go three 10 foot 2x4s and bolted them to the ladder rack and then bolted the plywood to the 2x4s. Since plywood is 8 foot long, you can just make an 8 foot rack. You don't have to worry about shade from the ladder racks because by the time the sun is that low on the horizon you aren't getting any power from it anyway. You can use regular plywood, but if so you want to really paint it well with many coats of paint. The sun and weather will quickly tear it up otherwise.<br></p><p style="margin: 0px;"> </p><p style="margin: 0px;">2) For the panels themselves, I like the idea of buying Kyocera. I've heard lots of good stuff about their quality. As far as a charge controller, the money is not really a concern. Should I spend a little more and get the MPPT? There is one with all the monitoring functions built right in.</p><p style="margin: 0px;"><br></p><p style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">I am a huge fan of Kyocera, in fact I own two Kyocera panels. There are lots of cheap chinese panels around, but in 5-10 years, who will honor the warranty? Kyocera will be around 20 years from now when the warranty finally runs out. I went into a store once and the owner told me he wouldn't carry Kyocera panels. He said they made a bad batch of 90,000 panels. I asked him if they honored the warranty, he said yes, every person got a new panel and the company made it very easy. I said that was reason enough for me to buy a Kyocera panel and he now sells Kyocera. Here is a Kyocera 185 watt panel for $300. I've bought from that company and I highly recomend them:</p><p style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">
http://www.solar-electric.com/kykd185wapos1.html</p><p style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"><br></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">YES!! BUY AN MPPT CONTROLLER! The price premium is very low now and you will get 25-35% more power out of one. It will also handle higher voltage panels like 24, 36, or 48 volt panels, giving you more flexibility.</span> <span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Buy a controller big enough for any future panels you may add. Its nearly impossible to have enough!!!</span><br></p><p style="margin: 0px;"> </p><p style="margin: 0px;">3) How are the panels themselves normally fastened - clips holding the top down or screws coming in from the side? Or... ? It looked like the dude from the Internet came in from the sides.</p><p style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><br></p><p style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Solar panels work best the cooler they are (which is why they work great in space!). So you want the panel elevated about 1 1/2-2 inches above the surface under it so that air can circulate and cool them off. Wherever you buy the panel will sell feet for it that will elevate it. The feet look just like aluminum angle iron except it is tall enough to elevate the panel. You will need to drill holes through the aluminum frame of the panel and bolt the feet to the frame. Then bolt through the feet into the plywood, using a big washer underneath. Use lockwashers on all bolts.</p><p style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><br></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Now something you didn't ask about. Bigger panels over 135 watts are designed for house installation, so they fall under the Natioanl Electrical Code. They will all come with a common connector called a MC4, it makes installation a plug and play for homeowners. Chances are your controller will not have a port to accept the connector. There is an easy solution: buy an extension MC4 connnector long enough to go to the controller and cut the end off. That gives you access to the pos and neg wire inside. Use a voltmeter to find the hot/positive wire and wrap red electrical tape around it so you will know it is positive. Then hook the wires to the pos/neg posts of your controller. DO NOT cut the end off the connector at the panel as that will void the warranty on the panel. Also, panels over 135 watts are so big they cannot be shipped by UPS/FedEx, they have to go Freight, so shipping on them will be much higher.</span> Bob<br></p><p style="margin: 0px;"> </p>
