So I chose to fit the Solar Panel that has been sitting in our spare room for almost 18 months !
I started getting everything together that would be needed to fit it, and finally took it out of its box. I put the brackets on ready and familiarised myself with its wiring and controller.
Once outside, and with my trusty million uses ladder / platform, set up as a platform alongside Nina, I ventured up to have a look at where I could fit it. It looked very different from when I fitted the fan, the roof was black after the winter we just had and im assuming the sahara sand that came over a while back.
So the first job was to go get the jetwash out and give the roof a quick blast. You will see in the timelapse video at the end just how dirty it was and how handy a jetwash is !
Once I had done the roof, I decided to get all the green algae and moss stuff that was growing in all the cracks and joints, shes been stood up a while, and it showed. Quick wizz around all the trim and finally all the green, black,twigs, leaves and spiders webs were all gone. She still needs a really good clean, with soap and stuff, but she was good enough for today.
Had a quick look inside to find where the roof braces were fixed, and decided on a couple of channels that were single skin and easy to tighten the bolts from underneath. This turned out to be right in the middle of the roof, in between the vent and the fan.
First job was to put the panel in place and work out where I was going to drill the holes in the roof, to fix the brackets to. Once I had decided that, a quick mark with a permanent marker through the bracket holes, and the panel came back off, and the drill came out :S eeek !
Always hate drilling roofs on vehicles, but had to be done, made the holes for the bolts only just big enough, less chance of moisture creeping in. I should say, that at this point, the foam packing that protected the panel in the box, was taped across it to stop the sun hitting it and producing voltage. I was a bit worried after reading the sticker on the back of the panel that said it could produce up to 1000v !!!!! Without being plugged in to the regulator which tones all that down to use on a 12v battery, I didnt think it was wise have it producing full voltage from the very bright sun above me ! (Though I may have suggested to Jen she put her tongue across the two wires like she did across a 9v battery when she was younger :P).
Holes drilled, metal filings cleaned up, if you leave them on the roof, over time you will get a roof full of rusty marks, so important to clean them up.
Next job was. To go back inside and decide where the cable entry holes woukd go without affecting the interior roof. Supplied with the panel were two plastic cable entry plugs that sealed with a rubber seal. A silicon ring that tightens down as the cable passes through ensures the point of entry for the cable is water tight too. I wanted them mounted under the panel for some extra protection from the elements. Then it was a matter of drilling two 20mm holes to house them. Obviously drill bits dont go up to that, not in normal drill bit sets anyway, so I have a stepper bit, which has been so useful, I may have said about it before as I used it to make the holes in my switch panel for the 12v accessory sockets. I bought it from What! Shop and I think it was around £8. Money well spent, it saves loads of hassle when you need to make a bigger hole. It steps from around 6mm to I think 24mm. Very useful bit of kit.
After putting the cables through and attaching them to the panel cables, I had to enlist Jens help to hold a spanner on the locking nuts underneath while I went up on the roof and tightened from the top.
And thats it, I coiled the cable up inside, put some strips of masking tape on them and marked the positive and negative so I know which way round the go.
Thinking about it I should have temporarily fitted the regulator to check it worked ok. Might do that tomorrow.
So Nina is now green and can pretty much keep her own batteries topped up when stood up.
The other day I bought a storage box from B&M for about £3, it has lots of compartments in it, and is perfect for keeping all the screws Im taking out at the moment seperate so I know which area they came from.
From this.....
To this.....
Much better than trying to keep them in seperate piles on the window sills !
Tiz making sure I dont take too many breaks and that Im doing a good job :/.
And finally the timelapse of the whole thing as seen from the roof ;)
Thats it for this time, hopefully more to come soon :).
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- Thanks for stopping by ! Come back soon ;)
Location:Gloucester
