Solar Panel(s)

[USNRetired]

I am considering installing solar panels on the roof of my clipper and am the first to admit that I know absolutely nothing about doing something like this.  I need advice from anyone who has already accomplished this.  My current questions are: 
1.  Where is the best place to install solar panels on the roof? 
2.  Do I make a permanent flat installation or something tilted and moveable. 
3.  If tilted and moveable, does anyone have drawings, photos, etc.. to show me how to do something like this? 
4.  Power leads from the panel(s) to the battery.  Where and how do I route them so that it looks at least semi-professional. 
5.  I understand I will need to install a second deep cycle battery, either a couple 6V or a 12V, that is sort of a given. How do I rig a trickle charger for the house battery?
6.  I will probably need to or should install an inverter for any small appliance 110V applications depending on the current and wattage draw, right?
7.  Does anyone who has done this have pictures, drawings, schematics, etc... ??  I do have a background in electronics and some electrical, but it has been a very long time and I get paranoid whenever I do some type of installation, though I probably overinstall it.

[mccammonds]

I had some pictures of my panel installation on my Clipper.  I'll try and find them and load them on here.

Maybe some one can find them in the archives.\!!!!!

[mccammonds]

I don't know how to bring this to this site but if you will search "solar panels" you will see my message dated on Dec 3, 2007.  It has pictures and if you want more let me know.

I have to take the ones that was on the Clipper and mount them on my bounder.

[mccammonds]

I hope this might help:
Mount panels. If you want you might want to raise the front edge just enough to let the water drain off.
Got to your vent over your closet. Feed wire into went pipe the out of vent pipe inside closet.

Take the output of your parallel panels to a CONTROLLER".   (Make sure the controller amprage exceeds the output of your panels.
Hook up wires to your Controller.
Take the out put of the controller to your house batteries.

Now for the inverter.
Take the out put of your house batteries to your inverter.

Now I suggest you make a out let from you output of your inverter to plug your Clipper AC cord into. 
This will give you 110VAC limited by the wattage of your inverter.


When you want to use the generator for AC unplug your cord from the inverter  and plug it in to the Generator output    Same thing when you want to use shore power.

[USNRetired]

This sounds good.. I'm going to copy and paste your instructions... see if I can make myself an instruction manual so I can take it out to the clipper when working on it. 

Thanks!!

[USNRetired]

Just saw an advertisement for Harbor Freight for solar panels.  "The solar panel kit comes with three 15 watt solar panels - simply connect the solar panels to your own 12 volt DC storage battery, and then use at least a 300 watt power inverter (sold separately) to power your 120 volt AC appliances anywhere."  It also includes the controller with the kit.  My question is, other than simply recharging the house battery, what would a setup like this run?  My TV 110V Flatscreen TV/DVD Player?  My laptop?  Surely not the microwave and the A/C, right?  But I do have a 4000W Generator that I would have for the large draw stuff when out in the boonies.  They have this on sale for about $150.00 or so, should I go ahead and hold out for a 100W or more powerful setup, or will the 45 Watt setup be sufficient? 

Any thoughts from you who are experienced with solar power on the clipper??

[mccammonds]

If you want to seriously boondock 45 watts are not enough.  And if you want to run with just a 300 watt inverter you could run your laptop, TV and a few lights but that is about all.  The key to a good solar system is your storage capacity.   To run your refrigerator or AC on an inverter you would have to have a much, much, much, bigger interter and  more battery storage than you could get on your Clipper.

If you really want to get a good solar system you might look at < http://www.sunelec.com/contact_us.html>

[USNRetired]

I was a little concerned about the 15W per panel rating and at 3 panels, I've about maxed out my useable space on top of the clipper.  I see at the website you refered me to a 100+W panel.  I didn't think a 300W inverter would be sufficient for anything heavy duty like the AC, but wasn't sure about the small TV (that would be the most important thing to us).

Thanks for the website!

Jim

[mccammonds]

Most of the newer LCD TVs will use between 30 to 50 watts.  So your 300 watt inverter should do the trick.  If you want to take your Salelite dish (Direct or Dish) and the receiver with you then you may need to invest in a little larger inverter.  I had my dish mounted on the back of my rig close to the ladder so that I could tweak it real easy while standing on the ladder.  Run the antenna wire (as well as the solar output wires) down the refrigerator vent in to the cabin.

That 100 watt panel should be about 2ft x 4 ft.
Did you look at the way I had my solar panels mounted on my rig? 

[LARRY RAY]

Green is good, I whole heartily agree. Yet I have a 2000 Watt inverter on my work truck that I use strictly with power tools. It is wire with extra heavy wire and two outlets. With sometimes two 1/2 inch drills running it taxes the battery a great deal. We have to usually crank the truck to keep the voltage up. So from my prospective I will stay with the generator on my clipper. Like another posted, It takes a lot of battery storage to run the inverters and keep the voltage up. Ans then with limited daylight it would take a very large panel to keep up. Just my thoughts on the subject.

[USNRetired]

I think the only reason for the solar panel, in my case, would be to run the TV / DVD combo for entertainment in the evening so I don't have to fire up the generator.  I have a 4000W generator that does run my AirConditioner and will run the AC, TV, Reefer and lights at the same time.  My biggest concern is placement of the extra battery/batteries and loss of more storage space.  As we all know there isn't a plethora of storage space in the Clippers.  (I love that word, Plethora!)

Jim

[mccammonds]

On my Clipper I was able to put a 6 volt Trojan 305 (about 300 amps) on each side of  my generator.   It was close but I could slide it out a ways and service it with a battery filler.

[LARRY RAY]

http://americanclipperownersclub.com/techforum/index.php?topic=2030.msg9310#msg9310 Here is where I added an extra battery jut put hinges on the seat