Joined
·
2,048 Posts
What I do for Transit vans is to mount a 1515 rail from front to back on each side.
Mount 150 - 200 watt panels cross wise.
Here is a photo from my web site just because I can find it quickly but plenty of people do it similarly.
It is common for people to be uncertain of exactly what the final roof layout will be, but very helpful to have some panels up there early in the build. The extrusion rails make moving the panels around easy - just loosen and slide to the new position.
This is a 148 MR. Originally we had 9 ft rails on it, but the customer wanted more flexibility so the current ones are 11 ft. They go pretty far forward and slightly past the rear of the roof - but not past the rear bumper. Since it was just normal 1515 extrusion it was very fast to swap the new length rails in, even though we already had a panel up on the 9 ft ones.
Your goal of ~ 400 watts is a good target from what I am observing.
The panel shown is 59 inches long x ` 26 wide , so that is kind of the minimum length for this approach to work, but we test fit a 64 inch long one and it is fine.
That particular panel has a 2 inch depth frame and is quite strong, so no need for additional frame work over just the 2 rails main rails. It is a solarland panel sold by many places and shipping is usually free from the places that I have purchased from. Grape and newpowa make similar size panels which are common in the RV industry.
wirlnet-inc.square.site
Mount 150 - 200 watt panels cross wise.
Here is a photo from my web site just because I can find it quickly but plenty of people do it similarly.
It is common for people to be uncertain of exactly what the final roof layout will be, but very helpful to have some panels up there early in the build. The extrusion rails make moving the panels around easy - just loosen and slide to the new position.
This is a 148 MR. Originally we had 9 ft rails on it, but the customer wanted more flexibility so the current ones are 11 ft. They go pretty far forward and slightly past the rear of the roof - but not past the rear bumper. Since it was just normal 1515 extrusion it was very fast to swap the new length rails in, even though we already had a panel up on the 9 ft ones.
Your goal of ~ 400 watts is a good target from what I am observing.
The panel shown is 59 inches long x ` 26 wide , so that is kind of the minimum length for this approach to work, but we test fit a 64 inch long one and it is fine.
That particular panel has a 2 inch depth frame and is quite strong, so no need for additional frame work over just the 2 rails main rails. It is a solarland panel sold by many places and shipping is usually free from the places that I have purchased from. Grape and newpowa make similar size panels which are common in the RV industry.
Solar panel | WirlNet, Inc
Solarland poly panel nominal 140 watt rated.Purchase as a part for on site installation as part of a system purchase and installation project only.
