Length and width of your panels

[rffffffff]

Originally Posted by Brian S

Windy Nation makes 12V actuators for lifting solar arrays. It is 16" stroke linear actuator with 225 lb max lift. It has integrated max min limit switches. This can be controlled via 12V wireless remote controller from ecoworthy. Both available from Amazon. There is a great discussion by Snow and Curt called "1080 Watt Remote Tilting Vanlife Solar Explained - Van Build Tech Talk".

Awesome info, thank you!

[Iceni John]

Originally Posted by aswallie

I'm thinking out different configurations for our roof and I've seen a lot of different designs. Can you tell me what the length, width, and watt of your panels are?

If I'm able I want to run a narrow cat walk down the center of my bus from front to back with the panels long ways on ether side. Initially I was picturing the walkway being 24" wide which would leave me roughly 3' on ether side for panels. I plan to elevate the inner mounting point and lower the outer mounting point so the panels are sitting at more of a natural angle then set up some kind of brace I could use to prop up the outside point of the panels if I'm sitting for long periods of time. That way I can park the bus east to west or vice versa and get as much work out of both sets of panels.

Umm, sounds familiar. I wonder where you got these ideas from...

I've done exactly what you describe. My walkway between the roof hatches is 12" wide and about 5" high, and my eight 60-cell 255W grid-tie panels are hinged to the walkway on their long sides. When stowed down against the roof for travel they're at 21 degrees down, but they can be raised to 21, 33 or 45 degrees up. I made stainless-steel telescoping/hinged/pivoting/sliding struts with stainless snap buttons, and it takes me less than a minutes to raise or lower each panel without using any tools, just using a 6' step ladder. Easy!

John

[aswallie]

It's possible I've seen pictures of your setup and subconsciously decided I want to do the same but this might be a case of great minds think alike. Thank you for waking me through how yours is set up. Do you have any pictures you can share? Do you feel the 12" walkway is wide enough to actually use?

[juliol]

Originally Posted by Iceni John

Umm, sounds familiar. I wonder where you got these ideas from...

I've done exactly what you describe. My walkway between the roof hatches is 12" wide and about 5" high, and my eight 60-cell 255W grid-tie panels are hinged to the walkway on their long sides. When stowed down against the roof for travel they're at 21 degrees down, but they can be raised to 21, 33 or 45 degrees up. I made stainless-steel telescoping/hinged/pivoting/sliding struts with stainless snap buttons, and it takes me less than a minutes to raise or lower each panel without using any tools, just using a 6' step ladder. Easy!

John

John, I saw your bus on the video; however your solar set up can not be appreciated as it should, do you have any detailed photos?

J

[Iceni John]

Originally Posted by juliol

John, I saw your bus on the video; however your solar set up can not be appreciated as it should, do you have any detailed photos?

J

Sorry, no photos! I'm photographically challenged. However, Monrovia isn't too far from Costa Mesa where my bus lives - if you want to make a trip to CM I'll be happy to show it to you. PM me if you're interested in doing that.

John

[Danjo]

Originally Posted by aswallie

I'm not sure I understand what you're meaning by flat mounting them to gain more. Perhaps I'm not explaining myself well enough? If I hold the inner mount point higher and the outer mount point lower it sets the panel on an angle similar to the curve of the bus roof. If I mounted them all flat in line the outer edges would extend beyond the side of the bus.

Oh I thought you were going to articulate them. Here’s mine.

Sorry it’s upside down

[Iceni John]

Originally Posted by aswallie

It's possible I've seen pictures of your setup and subconsciously decided I want to do the same but this might be a case of great minds think alike. Thank you for waking me through how yours is set up. Do you have any pictures you can share? Do you feel the 12" walkway is wide enough to actually use?

I made the walkway 12" wide because I could easily buy 12" x 48" pieces of diamond-plate aluminum from IMS nearby. It's no problem to walk on it, and having it only 12" wide means that the panels don't overhang the sides of the roof. The walkway is still wide enough that I could put the panels' combiner boxes and the washdown water supply's and solar water-heating panels' boxes under it to protect them from the weather. So far, so good.

John