More power
At the beginning of March I stumbled on a great deal on 100 watt solar panels for $149 each. Normally, that dollar amount would get you a 45 watt package, on sale from Harbor Freight. So, when I saw the extremely low price, I went ahead and picked up two. I figured it will be a while before I can find a deal like this again, and no matter what happens to the van, the panels can be easily transferred to the trailer or a future vehicle. Money sell spent!
The panels had been sitting here in Colorado, just waiting for me to arrive, and only today did I find the time to start the installation process. I have been doing a lot of thinking about how I will mount these. I have an idea to allow me to lift one side to angle the panels towards the sun better, but I decided to wait on that as the 230 watts total incoming power is more than enough even if not at the optimal angle.
The wiring had to be beefed up to handle the nearly 20 amps of potential power running through them, so I purchased wiring that allowed up to 30 amps of power to give a little head room. I then ran the wire inside the van via the top vent, and then in the 2 inches of “attic space” between the fiberglass top and the interior ceiling paneling. This kept the entire length of the wire (all but 3 inches) out of sight and safely tucked away.
After a few hours of work (spread out over a two days) I got the panels mounted on top of the van. You can still see the 30 watts of panels in the picture, also mounted at the far rear of the van roof. After mounting I find that one of the panels has low voltage so I will be working out an exchange (I hope) with the company online.
Obviously this is not an optimal setup. The two 100 watt panels are stationary and pointed straight up, meaning it will only ever get peak power at high noon in the summer. Any other time of the day (or season), it will get lower-than-peak power and by 4 pm it will be only a trickle of incoming power. However, the panels will double my incoming power each day even in their non-optimal position.
The big plus side to this setup, is that no matter where I am parked; be it a Walmart, National Park, or at a shopping mall, I will be getting free power with no effort. Before I had to pull out my extra panels and place the on top or around my van which was 1) cumbersome, and 2) caught a lot of attention from others. I do still have the seven 15 watt panels I can position at will if needed, but I believe I will stop carrying those and use them for the trailer instead.
