Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Tilting solar panel bracket installed

This is how I decided to mount the Renogy tilting solar panel brackets I bought.

I got 1/8" thick, 1-1/4" wide, 36" long flat aluminum from a big box home improvement store and cut it into four, 6" strips. (Actually, I cut it into six but I found that only four were needed.)

I lined them up with the solar panel with the brackets, drew lines around them with a marker, then put 3M VHB tape on them and applied them to the roof.

After the strips were stuck on, I lined up the solar panel brackets and drilled holes for the screws.

Then I went back and sealed around the bars with Dicor, screwed down the brackets and sealed over the screws with Dicor too.

So it's all night and watertight, but totally removable except the flat aluminum, whuch was less than 1/3 he cost of the brackets, so they can be removed if the RV gets wrecked, and I don't lose them. And it's super secure. Oh, the roof is fiberglass with a very thin layer of aluminum on top, by the way.





Here is the final result, from ground level.


For the wires, I drilled two holes in the metal fridge roof vent, which is sloped downward with the mid way of the roof, and ran the wires down the vent shaft. I put in rubber grommets and they fit almost tight. A little silicone next time I have a tube open will seal it, though the way it's facing and with the overlap of the vent cover lid, I doubt water can get in very easily.



I put more cable clip things further down after I took the picture above. I still have to run the wires from the solar controller to the battery bank, but that's no big deal to do later.

1 comment:

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