Ok. So I re-did the solar today with good results. When I disconnected everything to mount the panel and wiring on the roof in its final resting place the controller reset itself and it seems to be operating normally now. No more .4 amps under the roof. Its bouncing between .1 and .2 which seems to make sense. Yesterday in the dark it was still reading .4 so obviously something wasn’t right.
Here is a picture of the flexible panel bonded to the roof.
I mounted the panel just off center so the junction box on the panel wasn’t sitting on the ridge of the camper roof. Yes, it bothers me that it’s not centered but I felt that was better than putting stress on the junction box as the panel needed to be folded over the ridge. It’s bonded to the roof using some double sided tape and then dicor lap sealant around the edges. The wiring has some dabs of dicor to hold them in place. Some painters tape is still up there on the wiring until the dicor sets fully.
I can already see that the best setup would be this roof panel and a portable to chase the sun. I am fairly sure I will be adding a portable panel to the mix but I will give this setup a good run before jumping on that.
Tomorrow morning my son and I are going to give this system a test drive as we are heading up to a lake fairly close to home to do some fly fishing for a couple days. Of course its supposed to be cloudy and rainy so this test won’t be perfect but it’s still better than nothing.
2008 2500hd Silverado Duramax
2011 Northern Lite 8.5 lite
2006 Wildcat 27bhwb fifth wheel
2009 Lance 830 (sold)
