Newbie - Solar Enthusiast

[CourtLane]

Hi all, I'm reaching out from Franklin, TN. I am new to the whole solar thing but I've been learning for about 6 months now, just taking in as much as I can. I had some electrical background so it all came easy so far. It does get a bit confusing when you start applying it to Skoolies and Rv's especially when dealing with DC/AC conversion. I'm looking to learn more and get some hands on experience just as a hobby. I'd like to offer some free labor to shadow or just come hangout and see how everyone is laying out and wiring their Skoolies.

Thanks

Court

 

[Timeline]

Hi Court!

Maybe you know about DIY Solar Power Forum
Lot of helpful information there...

Last year I added 17' Ironridge RX100 rails with some homemade extra heavy duty brackets. Used a chalk-line to mark the ribs inside to align the drill holes perfectly straight. Then made a jig to transfer the line to the drill locations.

One way to add solar panal rails

Made some pretty heavy duty solar rail mounts for my bus lately. Used Ironridge xr100 rails and made some extra strong L brackets. Snapped a chalk line inside and drilled 1/4" holes on both sides of each hat channel, used grade 8 hardware, sealed with 3M-5200. The L brackets are 3/16 aluminum...

www.skoolie.net

I'm in the process of installing PV wire, isolater switches, 12v fuse panels, entry box on the roof, etc. right now. Securing wire in a safe way is especially critical on a windy bus roof!

I'm not going to build out a system from scratch, instead I got a power station that is plug and play. Previously these power stations have had very limited solar input and poor support for 12v output. That is no longer the case, my power station can input 2800 watts of solar and it has two seperate 30 amp 12v outputs.

If the bus fails beyond fixing in the future I won't be stuck with a wall of solar system parts to deal with....