New Solar Panels in all of our kits for 2019

[Roger Donoghue]

It has to be L profile for rigidity and to protect the leading edge. It's only a 1.2cm gain in height. None of my customers have had height issues.

You can't use a car wash with it on.

Regards

Roger

 

[kave]

I am also charging the starter battery with my solar panels. It seems that if the batteries are topped up when starting the van the generator won’t charge but instead the solar panels keep charge even when driving. If I engine break it will start charging with the generator and pause charging with the solar panels. So I guess I will also save fuel this way with panels.

 

[Sp0_0k]

panel's drag on the roof might contribute more to increased consumption than 10-20 amps unload on the alternator can reduce it

 

[Roger Donoghue]

Just a heads up as June is often our busiest month - I'm on holiday from June 1st to June 18th, with shipping resuming on June 21st, so if you are planning on a summer order then before June is a good idea.

 

[kave]

What is the maximum watt to be expected with two panels? I now have a 1000w inverter connected to my leisure battery to charge my ebike and the maximum in direct sunlight here in Sweden is about 165w at 13.06V reported by the Victron app.

 

[Roger Donoghue]

That sounds about right. Once panels heat up they lose some power.

In my experience I've seen:

100w framed (regular) panel - 6amps
100w thin stuck on panel - 5amps (the run hotter)
100w thin panel on frame (I.e Cali kit) - 5.5 amps

So from a 120 w Cali panel I'd expect around 6 amps. Two of them, 12amps.

165w at 13v = 165/13= 12.7 amps - so what I'd imagine as the max.

You never get the true watts stated from solar panels as the specs are always under ideal conditions. Perfect sun, in the cold.

R

 

[altvic]

I was wondering why the vw battery capacity display reduced to 80% with only the refrigerator on No3 on a sunny day. I was getting similar to this before installing solar panels. I asked Roger and he replied straight away despite being on his holidays. Below is the reply I received; great service!
“The Cali system isn't aware of the solar input ,but it does see usage, so it it assuming the battery is draining . Start the engine and then stop it and the display resets I believe.

The wrm always tells the true reading.”

 

[Brian Bongo]

Exciting news for next year (well, from now really, but not much demand for panels over Xmas!).

We are switching over to Aluminium core reinforced semi-flexible solar panels.

Up until now, thin panels have been either mounted on thin aluminium sheet (these are silver, and we haven't used them for at least 2 years now), or, more recently, plastic.

The plastic panels were designed primarily to suit the boating marked where flexibility is key, due to boats not having many flat surfaces. The benefit of plastic panels is great flexibility and light-weight. The downside is that you have to be careful not to over extend them, and they lack rigidity, hence we use lateral reinforcement bars on them when making California kits - bars along the short sides.

We are now switching to a new product that was created specifically for the demands of companies like mine - a mixture of the benefits of rigid framed panels, and thin flexible panels. These new panels are EFTE (knobly) coated flexible panels (this texture catches the most light available) that have a layer of aluminium sheet sandwiched between the solar cells, and the backing plastic.

This creates a panel that is much, much stronger than thin plastic panels, but only gains a few mm, and about 2kgs - not enough weight gain to cause roof raising issues, and a huge step up in rigidity/longevity.

They are so much more rigid that you can pick them up by one end horizontally, yet they still bend enough to follow van roof curves. So much more rigid that the side strengthening bars are no longer needed (and this cuts down on one day of production for us, so faster dispatch).

As of now, all our "100 watt" kits will use these panels, and we are defaulting to using 120 Watt panels, at no extra cost. We are also looking at a "curly cord" option for the roof cable - I have some cable on order and will be testing an installation early 2019.

A few pictures below of the new panel type - they are a superb quality panel and we are confident enough in them to be bulk ordering a big batch in the New Year and having new packaging made to suit their wider and shorter form.







Above, you can see how much thicker they are than regular thin plastic panels.

 

[kave]

I have now driven on Autobahn for the first time with these panel mounted. I think they start to make som noise at 140km/h. At 160km/h it sounds like the are going up and down rapidly causing a flapping sound. Is there any danger driving even faster? We where going at 160km/h for about 20 minutes today. It was not getting worse.
Any experience with solar and Autobahn speed?

 

[Roger Donoghue]

They are held down very tight and should make no noise at all, even at 90mph.

Have you removed the backing tape from the foam. ?

 

[kave]

I am quite sure I removed the white tape. It might be that the california makes noises I have forgotten in these kind of speeds which I rarely drive in. I will make sure they are really tight fit and have not moved tomorrow.

 

[Roger Donoghue]

You have the new thicker panels. They are bent over the roof tight. It would take some real work to make them move - try and wiggle them by hand - they won't.

I honest can't guarantee anything at 100mph, but they really should not "flap" or move at all unless a bolt is loose.

 

[kave]

An update on this. I had to try it really hard on the second day of autobahn. Up to 200km/h now, there is a flapping sound but it is probably not the panels. They are sitting really good on the roof. I can confirm there is no issues going 160-200km/h for hours with the panels.

 

[Vwcaliforniajapan]

An update on this. I had to try it really hard on the second day of autobahn. Up to 200km/h now, there is a flapping sound but it is probably not the panels. They are sitting really good on the roof. I can confirm there is no issues going 160-200km/h for hours with the panels.

I did that many times with the “old” panel and also no problems at all

 

[ShmBK]

roger, would you by any chance be doing a black friday/winter sale this year? so many upgrades and not enough money!

 

[Vwcaliforniajapan]

roger, would you by any chance be doing a black friday/winter sale this year? so many upgrades and not enough money!

Roger , I would be more interested in a black version frame ........?

 

[Roger Donoghue]

Roger , I would be more interested in a black version frame ........?

Sorry. My summer sale was a one off . Nothing planned .

We will be closing at Xmas until Feb 15th.

R

 

[HectaTheSpecta]

Hi Roger,

I reply with anticipation, will you be having many California 6.1 solutions please?

Cheers

 

[WelshGas]

Hi Roger,

I reply with anticipation, will you be having many California 6.1 solutions please?

Cheers

It will be no different to the T5/5.1 or 6.

 

[Roger Donoghue]

As long as the roof slots are the same (most likely) then there will be no change regarding solar.

 

[Kmann]

It is interesting to see if it will be possible to move the panel to the front of the roof, and get the wiring thru the new antenna on the T6.1 …

 

[Kmann]

As long as the roof slots are the same (most likely) then there will be no change regarding solar.

The roof on the T6.1 is identical to the T6 roof, except from the mounted antenna in the front.

 

[Kmann]

It is interesting to see if it will be possible to move the panel to the front of the roof, and get the wiring thru the new antenna on the T6.1 …

Have to correct myself here. Wouldent make sense since the antenna is not located on the moving part


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Swissian]

Does anybody know if it is still possible to use the hook up electricity when you’ve got the solar panel fitted?

I got a panel from Roger earlier this year and I’m very happy with it, but as the winter is coming and the panel will not be producing as much charge, or maybe even covered in snow, can I still use hook up?

Cheers

 

[Lightning]

Does anybody know if it is still possible to use the hook up electricity when you’ve got the solar panel fitted?

I got a panel from Roger earlier this year and I’m very happy with it, but as the winter is coming and the panel will not be producing as much charge, or maybe even covered in snow, can I still use hook up?

Cheers

Yes