So if you’ve been reading along, you have heard a lot about our new solar panels. There was a lot of ups and downs trying to get these things installed. I thought I would take a minute to explain the whole process and what ended up working out and what didn’t.
Originally we wanted to install an extensive solar system that would run everything but the air conditioning. This became a problem quickly because there’s just not enough space on our roof. There are a lot of things up there such as two skylights, an air conditioner, vents and fans. Remember, this is all on the roof of a Mercedes Sprinter. Our plan to get around this obstacle was to build a rack that would suspend the panels over all of that while still allowing the vents to function. When we asked about this at the dealership they said that this would be no big deal. So we went ahead and bought the RV and set out to find someone to install everything.
When we finally got in touch with someone who actually knew what they were talking about, we found out that not only would this be extremely expensive, none of the experts thought this was a very good idea. They were concerned about the difficulty of the job and the amount of holes that would need to be put into the roof to bolt the rack into place so that it would all be secure driving at freeway speeds. Taking into consideration everyone’s reluctance, we decided to scrap that plan.
For a while after that, we thought that we weren’t going to be able to put solar on the RV. We were growing concerned because of the limited empty roof space and the fact that you can’t just get a solar panel in any size you want. You have to use the standard sizes they make.
Finally we decided to pay a visit to AM Solar in Oregon because we have heard from other RVers that they are the best and people come from all over the country to get their solar installed there. When we got there, they broke out some cardboard cutouts in the same size as the solar panels and we got to work figuring out how many we could fit in the roof with the least amount of shading.
Shading is a major thing you have to consider when installing solar panels. Shade on a solar panel will deactivate it partially or even completely depending on how much shade is cast. Now, if you remember, we have a lot of things on the roof already and all of it casts shade.
So we got to work with the cardboard cutouts shuffling them around until we found the perfect arrangement that consisted of the most amount of panels with the least amount of shading. As you can see in the pictures below, we ended up having two solar panels hanging over the side of the RV. However, since the body bows out in the middle, the panels sticking out don’t extend past the width of the vehicle in any way. There is a third panel directly in between our front skylight and our air conditioning laying lengthwise across the width of the vehicle. That makes three 100 watt solar panels all together in our solar system which will be henceforth be known as the Three Musketeers.
We discovered that we eliminate shading concerns if we park at night with the solar panels facing south. This allows our batteries to start charging as soon as the sun comes up and the panels remain unshaded until late afternoon.
Speaking of batteries, we also replaced those when we get our solar panels put it. We put in AGM batteries because they charge more quickly and need no maintenance. The batteries that we had before needed monthly maintenance that involved taking them out, checking water levels in different compartments, and checking for any buildup inside the compartments. This was very difficult because of the limited space in our RV. The new batteries are maintenance free because they don’t have any water inside them. They have a gel soaked sponge inside them that never dries up so they don’t need maintaining.
So far the new batteries and The Three Musketeers are working out quite nicely. It’s great to be able to use whatever electronics we want at night and not have to worry about how to get the batteries charged back up (either by plugging in, driving, or running our generator). Now our RV charges the batteries automatically while we sleep!
Home Sweet Motorhome 