No more roof space. Hood, sides and back ok?

[brahmon]

ive maxed out my roof area with 700 watts of solar panels.   thinking of slapping a flexible 100w panel on the hood and maybe another 400-600w on the sides and back.   did a search and havent found others doing this.   any reason why?

 

[highdesertranger]

some have put them on the sides. if you don't do any boondocking or very little and are really careful it should work. for me I would have them ripped off in no time. ever heard of desert pin-stripping? well both my trucks are covered with it from top to bottom. if you really want to get away from the crowds you will have it too. on my extended cab Ford F-250 I caught a branch once and busted the rear passenger side window right out. for me I can't have anything breakable on the sides. it cracks me up when I see these 4x4's with ladders on the side, what's going to happen when a branch gets caught between the ladder and the vehicle body? if you are a mall cruiser or a pavement princess I guess it really doesn't matter. my 2 cents. highdesertranger

 

[maki2]

There is a popular youtube channel that features an RV that has lots of panels hung on the sides.
While the RV looks kind of funky with the black and white paint job and all the panels there is actually a low miles, good quality motorhome lurking under there. The owner is a fun loving, creative and kind person who has a full time RV life.

This is a link to the videos featuring the solar panel setup including the panels hung on the side. Just remember to see the most recent as there have been some more recent upgrades and changes to the panels hung on the sides that they started out with.

 

[brahmon]

hdr: lol. yeah my surfmobile wont be offroading in the bush at all so pinstriping wont happen fortunately. was shopping for some cheap panels and found some good deals, but now after seeing maki2's video i'm thinking that flexible panels are the way to go. standard panels may be too heavy for a mobile application.

thanks for the advice and videos guys!

 

[WalkaboutTed]

Hubby and I both have solar on the side. It wouldn't work on anything but a hightop. The driver side mirror sticks way out beyond the "solar wing".  The output in the morning or with the low winter sun (with panel facing South) is amazing. We put them on hinges as we were originally going to open it up to make it horizontal like the other panels. But we found that it is absolutely unnecessary.

Just another option.
Ted

 

[highdesertranger]

"The driver side mirror sticks way out beyond the "solar wing"."

that's why the mirrors fold in if they didn't my mirrors would be destroyed long ago. actually my mirrors fold both ways, because sometimes you need to back up.

highdesertranger

 

[WalkaboutTed]

Yeah, I'm knickin' thw mirrors in on a regular basis, but the panel has been fine. The panel has been scraped through trees. With the angle of the side of the hightop, the solar panel is almost flush with the lower side of the van.  But I carry loppers and a saw. Just used the loppers last week.
Ted

 

[flying kurbmaster]

I saw a cool setup, this electric van had the roof filled with panels, then under the panels there were two more sets the same size, like three deep, flat on the roof. The panel below would slide out on each side and would end up tripling the size, with two awnings/ wings out each side. I was also thinking that if someone could make flexible panels that were pie shaped, you could unfold them into a circle of panels have a couple of those on the roof maybe one on each side as well. Unfolded they would look like discs if somehow you could get them to unfold with a crank or electrically that would be great. Another idea would be to stack three panels and have them turn out hinged from opposite corners you could have maybe three of these on a roof when turned out they would look like a Z. These ideas would only work while stationary.

 

[brahmon]

wow ted, you have almost identical rigs? thats awesome! how did you mount the side panels? im considering a cheap 300 watt non-flexible and worried at 40 lbs it may be too heavy for a side mount. should i use huge 5 inch carriage bolts?

 

[Ticklebellly]

You could always hinge a couple of panels together rather than hang stuff off the sides. Still going to need some sort of lock down system and a support when deployed. I have seen such a system and the owner gained a little by adjusting the angle of the hinged panel towards low angle sun.

 

[LoupGarou]

I went the opposite direction by reducing my power needs. A portable solar panel set has served me well. I like to park up in the shade on a hot summer day.

 

[Tom_M]

ive maxed out my roof area with 700 watts of solar panels.   thinking of slapping a flexible 100w panel on the hood and maybe another 400-600w on the sides and back.   did a search and havent found others doing this.   any reason why?

I mounted two panels on the side of my coach. They can be tilted up or removed and placed out in the sun.
[img=300x225] [img=300x225]

[img=300x225]

 

[rruff]

I went the opposite direction by reducing my power needs. A portable solar panel set has served me well. I like to park up in the shade on a hot summer day.

It does seem a bit extreme. :s

What are people using all that electricity for?

 

[jimindenver]

It does seem a bit extreme. :s

What are people using all that electricity for?

Me personally have had 100 degree heat. So I am running the air conditioner, box fan , freezer, more fans, TV, multiple computers , phones and hotspots, Lights, water heater, etc.  Yesterday my solar produced over 600 amp hours and I still ran the generator after dark.

 

[brahmon]

View attachment 23193View attachment 23193View attachment 23193View attachment 23193thx for all the great advice and inspiration!  got my 1200 watts and solar air con!

 

[Willy]

Having panels on the sides/hood encourages vandals/thieves IMO. ..Willy.

 

[abnorm]

HAWAII !!!!

 

[brahmon]

that's just great brah.  you blew my cover.  im tryin to be stealth here.   lol