Solar panel fitting and review

[WelshGas]

Yes, it's now dark here and the CCU was showing still at 90% despite the van being in hot sun all day long and nothing turned on. Turned the CCU off/on and it went to 100% with 12.9v

Are others saying that their % on the CCU rises while the Solar is inputting, without having to turn on/off...?

Mine does. I don't switch it Off normally, the Control Panel, but every so often I'll use the L lower button to re-start/re-boot the Panel.

 

[BerndRos]

Mine does. I don't switch it Off normally, the Control Panel, but every so often I'll use the L lower button to re-start/re-boot the Panel.

Waiting for Snowy to explain how his self made unit gets the % remaining, which may be the key to further understanding.

Maybe the VW CCU unit does not read what's going in through the shunt, but simply does a % remaining calculation based on the battery voltage ?

 

[snowy55]

Are you please able to advise how/where your self made unit is getting its info from ?

How does it get the info to show your % remaining in the leisure batteries ?

Thanks

All the bits are from ebay. The curly wire in the photo has a cigarette lighter plug on the end that goes into any of the sockets in the Cali.
Out of interest the starter battery never reads more then about 80% after the engine has been switched off for 2 or 3 hours which confirms the theory that the alternator volttage regulator never fully charges the batteries fully, which also means the leisure batteris never get fully charged unless you mains charge or have a solar panel.

 

[BerndRos]

All the bits are from ebay. The curly wire in the photo has a cigarette lighter plug on the end that goes into any of the sockets in the Cali.
Out of interest the starter battery never reads more then about 80% after the engine has been switched off for 2 or 3 hours which confirms the theory that the alternator volttage regulator never fully charges the batteries fully, which also means the leisure batteris never get fully charged unless you mains charge or have a solar panel.

So are you aware of how
? It decides what % batteries you have remaining ?

Or do you think it does a calculation based on the voltage ?

If so, could the VW CCU arrive at the % remaining in the same way.

 

[BerndRos]

The other day while driving I noticed a noise coming from the vehicle and indeed stopped a couple of times to check around, but alas not the roof. The noise was a reverberating sound throughout the van. Later the noise stopped. Today while about to use the van for the first time since, I noticed the cable that would have been connected to the block on the roof hanging down the side of the van, and no panel on the roof OR damage to the van !

Have any of you who have Rogers drill free kit known of the panel working loose before, as I can only surmise that it has either come loose and blown off, or been stolen....what do you think ?

Have any of you had to tighten the holding brackets over a period of time ?

Thanks

 

[snowy55]

So are you aware of how
? It decides what % batteries you have remaining ?

Or do you think it does a calculation based on the voltage ?

If so, could the VW CCU arrive at the % remaining in the same way.

I don't know the answer to this, sorry.

 

[SimonB]

@BerndRos I think I had my panel fixed on by Roger just after you had yours done. I've just been out to check my panel and it is fine at all 4 corners. The nuts are tight and there is no movement in the panel at all. They are all nylock so hopefully, unlikely to come undone by themselves.
I do remember someone else having a panel vanish from their roof around September/October last year.
I think they concluded it had probably been taken.

 

[snowy55]

The other day while driving I noticed a noise coming from the vehicle and indeed stopped a couple of times to check around, but alas not the roof. The noise was a reverberating sound throughout the van. Later the noise stopped. Today while about to use the van for the first time since, I noticed the cable that would have been connected to the block on the roof hanging down the side of the van, and no panel on the roof OR damage to the van !

Have any of you who have Rogers drill free kit known of the panel working loose before, as I can only surmise that it has either come loose and blown off, or been stolen....what do you think ?

Have any of you had to tighten the holding brackets over a period of time ?

Thanks

My panel hasn't come loose from the bond onto the cross bars. The nuts have not needed tightening.
Are your crossbars still there? Are the bolts still in the chanels?

 

[Gavinskii]

The other day while driving I noticed a noise coming from the vehicle and indeed stopped a couple of times to check around, but alas not the roof. The noise was a reverberating sound throughout the van. Later the noise stopped. Today while about to use the van for the first time since, I noticed the cable that would have been connected to the block on the roof hanging down the side of the van, and no panel on the roof OR damage to the van !

Have any of you who have Rogers drill free kit known of the panel working loose before, as I can only surmise that it has either come loose and blown off, or been stolen....what do you think ?

Have any of you had to tighten the holding brackets over a period of time ?

Thanks

I had my panel fitted just before I went on Summer hols.

Whilst travelling through Austria, I heard a funny noise and found that the whole panel had slid back 15cm and the back 2 clamps had slipped out of the track....

I managed to find a trades guy in a service station in Austria who had both a step ladder and a 10mm spanner so we wiggled the panel forward and tightened up the anti-slip nuts (which had a black cap over the top of them).

The trades guy pointed out that if the anti-slip nut was secured tightly enough, the black cap would not be able to fit on the screw!

We therefore took all the black caps off and thoroughly tightened all 4 nuts.

Upon my return from holiday I contacted Roger to advise him and suggested that perhaps his latest batch of screws were too long and that was causing the issue.....

In my case, no real harm done

 

[SimonB]

I've just been out to check the voltages on the Control Panel & on the MPPT panel and they both say 13.9V.
The Control Panel is showing 70% which I think is low & the MPPT is showing full.

 

[snowy55]

I had my panel fitted just before I went on Summer hols.

Whilst travelling through Austria, I heard a funny noise and found that the whole panel had slid back 15cm and the back 2 clamps had slipped out of the track....

I managed to find a trades guy in a service station in Austria who had both a step ladder and a 10mm spanner so we wiggled the panel forward and tightened up the anti-slip nuts (which had a black cap over the top of them).

The trades guy pointed out that if the anti-slip nut was secured tightly enough, the black cap would not be able to fit on the screw!

We therefore took all the black caps off and thoroughly tightened all 4 nuts.

Upon my return from holiday I contacted Roger to advise him and suggested that perhaps his latest batch of screws were too long and that was causing the issue.....

In my case, no real harm done

View attachment 16115

My nuts , if you'll pardon the expression, need a 17mm spanner.
Is the black material poking out from underneath the lh side of the crossbar to stop the bolt head coming up through the slot in the rail?

 

[Gavinskii]

My nuts , if you'll pardon the expression, need a 17mm spanner.
Is the black material poking out from underneath the lh side of the crossbar to stop the bolt head coming up through the slot in the rail?

@snowy55 - it just goes to show that (assuming yours was a Roger install, that there is no consistency of parts used.

With regards the black bit of rubber, I presume it is some form of padding to stop metal on metal noise....but yeah it does look a bit squashed up - probably as a result of us securing the nuts rather well!!

 

[snowy55]

I had my panel fitted just before I went on Summer hols.

Whilst travelling through Austria, I heard a funny noise and found that the whole panel had slid back 15cm and the back 2 clamps had slipped out of the track....

I managed to find a trades guy in a service station in Austria who had both a step ladder and a 10mm spanner so we wiggled the panel forward and tightened up the anti-slip nuts (which had a black cap over the top of them).

The trades guy pointed out that if the anti-slip nut was secured tightly enough, the black cap would not be able to fit on the screw!

We therefore took all the black caps off and thoroughly tightened all 4 nuts.

Upon my return from holiday I contacted Roger to advise him and suggested that perhaps his latest batch of screws were too long and that was causing the issue.....

In my case, no real harm done

View attachment 16115

I'm not convinced the heads on your bolts won't just pull up through the slot in the built in rails on a Cali roof.





Yes, mine is a Roger kit and the 17mm nuts and bolts came with the kit.

 

[Gavinskii]

I'm not convinced the heads on your bolts won't just pull up through the slot in the built in rails on a Cali roof.

If I my say so @snowy55 - your nuts sir are huge! However I can see that at appropriately sized black plastic cap would sit fully home as you are a bit lacking in the length department

 

[snowy55]

I had my panel fitted just before I went on Summer hols.

Whilst travelling through Austria, I heard a funny noise and found that the whole panel had slid back 15cm and the back 2 clamps had slipped out of the track....

I managed to find a trades guy in a service station in Austria who had both a step ladder and a 10mm spanner so we wiggled the panel forward and tightened up the anti-slip nuts (which had a black cap over the top of them).

The trades guy pointed out that if the anti-slip nut was secured tightly enough, the black cap would not be able to fit on the screw!

We therefore took all the black caps off and thoroughly tightened all 4 nuts.

Upon my return from holiday I contacted Roger to advise him and suggested that perhaps his latest batch of screws were too long and that was causing the issue.....

In my case, no real harm done

View attachment 16115

If you used a 10mm spanner to tighten your panel fixings and there isn't some kind of metal washer in the channel then the 10mm heads will easily pass through the slot.
Be careful it doesn't blow off.

 

[snowy55]

If I my say so @snowy55 - your nuts sir are huge! However I can see that at appropriately sized black plastic cap would sit fully home as you are a bit lacking in the length department

Never had any complaints so far

 

[briwy]

We had our panel disappear last year.
https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/missing-solar-panel.11464/

This is how ours was fastened on. Homemade setup, not a Roger kit.





I have now replaced the large washers with full width lengths of flat alloy so the panel is sandwiched between the angle and flat as an extra safeguard against it blowing off.

 

[BerndRos]

I have just retraced part of my Sunday night drive and found the panel on the verge at the side of the road. Some of the panels are scuffed and with ALL nuts & brackets intact. Clearly it must have worked its way rearward in the channel and then when the brackets encountered the wider part of the channel at the rear, the whole thing went skyward !

I have the latest kit fixings on my panel.

Gavinskii, above had similar happen to him while in Austria, when his panel moved 15cm rearward.

Clearly this is very worrying as if the panel had hit a person, at speed and with the shape it is, then it could have caused them major injury. No doubt Roger will alert all of his previous purchasers to carry out safety checks ASAP.

Just now in the very hot and direct Portugal sun I have had a reading of 19.6v on a meter reading direct from the panel.

 

[SimonB]

I have just retraced part of my Sunday night drive and found the panel on the verge at the side of the road. Some of the panels are scuffed and with ALL nuts & brackets intact. Clearly it must have worked its way rearward in the channel and then when the brackets encountered the wider part of the channel at the rear, the whole thing went skyward !

I have the latest kit fixings on my panel.

Gavinskii, above had similar happen to him while in Austria, when his panel moved 15cm rearward.

Clearly this is very worrying as if the panel had hit a person, at speed and with the shape it is, then it could have caused them major injury. No doubt Roger will alert all of his previous purchasers to carry out safety checks ASAP.

Just now in the very hot and direct Portugal sun I have had a reading of 19.6v on a meter reading direct from the panel.

Pleased you found it @BerndRos, did you look at the readings I got from the panel & the MPPT display?
Were those the ones that were different in your set-up?

 

[BerndRos]

Pleased you found it @BerndRos, did you look at the readings I got from the panel & the MPPT display?
Were those the ones that were different in your set-up?

I did, thanks.

I have good readings between my LCD on the Regulator and the VW CCU. However my main point is whether the Solar/Regulator should be direct to the negative on the battery or the negative to the upstream of the shunt, as if to the battery I cannot see how the % on the CCU can work correctly as it will not be taking account of what is being received from the Solar.

 

[briwy]

I did, thanks.

I have good readings between my LCD on the Regulator and the VW CCU. However my main point is whether the Solar/Regulator should be direct to the negative on the battery or the negative to the upstream of the shunt, as if to the battery I cannot see how the % on the CCU can work correctly as it will not be taking account of what is being received from the Solar.

I would say direct to the battery negative battery terminal. The Cali display surely displays the battery voltage regardless of where the power is coming from.

BTW. I've put some spring washers under the locknuts so that if they should come loose slightly the washer will keep a bit of tension on the bolt. Scary that the whole lot slid off.

 

[BerndRos]

I would say direct to the battery negative battery terminal. The Cali display surely displays the battery voltage regardless of where the power is coming from.

Voltage, yes can be direct from the batteries. But the CCU % cannot be direct from the batteries as far as I am aware.

 

[Roger Donoghue]

I've just spoken to Kevin about his panel flying off. It may be that when I fit them I'm too mechanically sympathetic and have not been doing them tight enough, though I'm surprised. I give the panel a good shove when I put it on and it doesn't move. I'm wondering if thermal expansion has a part to play - though I'd expect that to make things even tighter.

Part of the problem of going very tight was that the nut then pushes the panel's plastic covering up in extreme heat (30 plus). I now cut away the plastic around the nut area so you can tighten it as much as you like. I'll also source shorter bolts for the next batch (now basically).

If you have my kit - give the four nuts a check for tightness and nip them up a bit more if you are not sure. If I fitted your kit I'll be emailing you to advise the same.

Regards

Roger

 

[snowy55]

I've just spoken to Kevin about his panel flying off. It may be that when I fit them I'm too mechanically sympathetic and have not been doing them tight enough, though I'm surprised. I give the panel a good shove when I put it on and it doesn't move. I'm wondering if thermal expansion has a part to play - though I'd expect that to make things even tighter.

Part of the problem of going very tight was that the nut then pushes the panel's plastic covering up in extreme heat (30 plus). I now cut away the plastic around the nut area so you can tighten it as much as you like. I'll also source shorter bolts for the next batch (now basically).

If you have my kit - give the four nuts a check for tightness and nip them up a bit more if you are not sure. If I fitted your kit I'll be emailing you to advise the same.

Regards

Roger

Hi Roger
What do you use in the channel to stop the bolt head coming up through the slot?

 

[briwy]

I never take much notice of the percentage TBH as it seems to be inacurate to me. Basically as soon as we are stopped (with full batteries) the display shows 90%. Last week we were on battery power for about three and half days and it had dropped to 70%, we then had the engine on purely to lower the roof (say a couple of minutes) and it then showed 100%. No way could it have recharged to 100% in that time.
Really so long as everything is still working, I'm happy and don't get hung up on percentages and volts and amps.