Flexi Solar Panels

panda

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Flexi Solar Panels

 ·  Posted: 20.01.2020  ·  #1

Anyone using them? Are they as good as rigid one's or should I give them a miss? .....Thought's please...

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Re: Flexi Solar Panels

 ·  Posted: 20.01.2020  ·  #2

You need rigid panels on a camper, although I'm not sure why, but anything I've read about it says rigid is the best for campervan

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Re: Flexi Solar Panels

 ·  Posted: 20.01.2020  ·  #3

I've not seen any on a camper Dave but the boating guys use them. Just wondering if theres any advantage over rigid...i.e....Easier installation, less weight etc.

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Re: Flexi Solar Panels

 ·  Posted: 20.01.2020  ·  #4

Only van I noticed was Richards (grumpy) and that's because of the shape of his roof, it would only take a flexie panel

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Re: Flexi Solar Panels

 ·  Posted: 20.01.2020  ·  #5

I would stick with rigid unless you really need something flexible. Solar panels operate much more efficiently when they are kept cool. Rigid panels have an air gap between the pv cells and the van body which is important for cooling. Flexible panels don’t have this.

Your Spanish trips will yield much more solar energy with rigid panels John.

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Re: Flexi Solar Panels

 ·  Posted: 20.01.2020  ·  #6

I'm putting my panels on my new van soon, I'm actually thinking of fitting a frame that would have two panels both meeting at the narrow end.

The frame is hinged and on sliders and you can push the middle up so that both panels (facing away from each other) are at the ultimate sun angle.

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Re: Flexi Solar Panels

 ·  Posted: 20.01.2020  ·  #7

Quote by The Rambler

I would stick with rigid unless you really need something flexible. Solar panels operate much more efficiently when they are kept cool. Rigid panels have an air gap between the pv cells and the van body which is important for cooling. Flexible panels don’t have this.

Your Spanish trips will yield much more solar energy with rigid panels John.

Jason....Good point, I had not thought about cooling the panel...no air gap underneath flexi's.

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Daffysparks

 

 

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Re: Flexi Solar Panels

 ·  Posted: 20.01.2020  ·  #8

Would one not be facing away from the sun then. I think flat is fine. The sun can hit them at all times as it moves across the sky, unless there is something to shade it at certain points

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Daffysparks

 

 

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Re: Flexi Solar Panels

 ·  Posted: 20.01.2020  ·  #9

John in my opinion, rigid is better. Try get mono crystalline if possible and not too expensive.
Poly crystalline if not

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Re: Flexi Solar Panels

 ·  Posted: 20.01.2020  ·  #10

Quote by Ally

I'm putting my panels on my new van soon, I'm actually thinking of fitting a frame that would have two panels both meeting at the narrow end.

The frame is hinged and on sliders and you can push the middle up so that both panels (facing away from each other) are at the ultimate sun angle.

Sound's like a good idea Ally

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Re: Flexi Solar Panels

 ·  Posted: 20.01.2020  ·  #11

Quote by Daffysparks

John in my opinion, rigid is better. Try get mono crystalline if possible and not too expensive.
Poly crystalline if not

Dave....I had mono's on my last van as I heard they were better than poly's....Great advice

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Re: Flexi Solar Panels

 ·  Posted: 20.01.2020  ·  #12

Quote by Daffysparks

Would one not be facing away from the sun then. I think flat is fine. The sun can hit them at all times as it moves across the sky, unless there is something to shade it at certain points

Flat is the wrong angle mostly, makes sense of course on a Motorhome. You'll never see a flat panel in a solar array. My thinking is you would get more out of one angled than two flat.

If they spun also now that would be even better

I think the tracking Solars for Motorhomes never caught on due to price.

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Subject:

Re: Flexi Solar Panels

 ·  Posted: 20.01.2020  ·  #13

Remember though, that most now work on daylight not sunshine. Therefore so long as they are in full light, that’s all they need. Mostly now they are put at an angle to keep them cleaner for longer

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Re: Flexi Solar Panels

 ·  Posted: 20.01.2020  ·  #14

Quote by Ally

My thinking is you would get more out of one angled than two flat.

Only if they are wired in parallel. If in series, the entire array current will be reduced to that being produced by the lowest output panel i.e the one in the shade.

Always better to wire them in parallel imho. The so-called benefit of wiring in series to double the output voltage and supposedly keep the MPPT controller working longer to into dusk is an urban myth.

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Re: Flexi Solar Panels

 ·  Posted: 20.01.2020  ·  #15

Quote by Daffysparks

Remember though, that most now work on daylight not sunshine. Therefore so long as they are in full light, that’s all they need. Mostly now they are put at an angle to keep them cleaner for longer

Ahh little point then. That'll save me a lot of work

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Ally

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Re: Flexi Solar Panels

 ·  Posted: 20.01.2020  ·  #16

Quote by The Rambler

Only if they are wired in parallel. If in series, the entire array current will be reduced to that being produced by the lowest output panel i.e the one in the shade.

Always better to wire them in parallel imho. The so-called benefit of wiring in series to double the output voltage and supposedly keep the MPPT controller working longer to into dusk is an urban myth.

Mine are paralell. I remember reading all about it at the time and my head exploded so I kept them in paralell.

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The Rambler

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Re: Flexi Solar Panels

 ·  Posted: 20.01.2020  ·  #17

Quote by Daffysparks

Remember though, that most now work on daylight not sunshine. Therefore so long as they are in full light, that’s all they need. Mostly now they are put at an angle to keep them cleaner for longer

I’m not sure I’d fully go along with that David. I have tested a panel which was tilted at 15 degrees to the sun and we knew it was not optimal for our latitude in the middle of summer. We managed to tilt it up to about 35 degrees and it went from producing less than an amp up to over 5 amps.

There is a good calculator here that shows how much solar energy you can capture at different parts of the country, at different times of the year, and at different angles of tilt:

Link

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Daffysparks

 

 

Subject:

Re: Flexi Solar Panels

 ·  Posted: 20.01.2020  ·  #18

I’m not an expert on them. I have fitted quite a few. Are yours dependant on the sun. You are correct in so far as if they are facing directly into the sun they will produce more, but any of the modern ones I have seen lately work fine without going to all that bother. I’m sure if you get into the nitty gritty of it there would be a benefit, but if you have 200 watts of solar producing 150-180 watts most of the time, I’d be happy with that, without going to extremes. To each their own I suppose. Flat for me anyway. 35° on the camper would look a bit strange, would catch the wind too . Also if they are at an angle, you would either have to rotate them, or the van every hour to get the benefits. Again, flat for me.... for the van anyway

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Re: Flexi Solar Panels

 ·  Posted: 20.01.2020  ·  #19

What would be the equivalent panel wattage in efficiency in mono crystaline as opposed a 270 watt poly crystaline? ....Am I making sense

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Re: Flexi Solar Panels

 ·  Posted: 20.01.2020  ·  #20

Well it might not be the most practical thing to do, trying to keep your panel angled at the sun. But if it was a case of pulling a lever without too much hassle and getting a couple of more amps out of your panel, then great if you can manage it.

My biggest bug bear with solar panels is the amount of time they sit doing nothing because your battery is fully charged. If only we could keep storing or utilising the energy they could keep giving us.

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Re: Flexi Solar Panels

 ·  Posted: 21.01.2020  ·  #21

Well you could carry more batteries to store it. The problem with setting up the van to utilise more of it, is, it would probably be full and grey most of time you were out and about, in this country anyway. That would probably then lead to a “ they are shite” “not worth it “
declarations. I’m happy with them keeping the batteries topped up for me.

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Subject:

Re: Flexi Solar Panels

 ·  Posted: 21.01.2020  ·  #22

Quote by panda

What would be the equivalent panel wattage in efficiency in mono crystaline as opposed a 270 watt poly crystaline? ....Am I making sense

John, I don’t think the difference is great, maybe 3-5 % in the real world. The mono works a bit better as the weather gets hotter, they take up a little less space for the same wattage, and possibly have a slightly longer lifespan.....
Oh and they will be more expensive, if much more, not necessarily worth it tbh. That’s why I said” if not too expensive”

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Re: Flexi Solar Panels

 ·  Posted: 21.01.2020  ·  #23

Thanks Daffy for the explanation

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The Rambler

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Re: Flexi Solar Panels

 ·  Posted: 21.01.2020  ·  #24

If only we had unlimited battery capacity we could be dumping unused solar into. Here’s so food for thought. According to the calculator I linked to above, in Lonfort in June, we could harness 4.36 kWh/m2/day. So if you had a square meter of solar panel on your roof which was parked up for one week, had you stored that power each day, you could be driving off with 30.52 kWh of stored energy. That’s enough energy to boil 300 kettles!

But we don’t drive off we all that stored energy, because we have no where to store it. Instead we drive off with 200Ah, which equates to 2.5 kWh. Yes, I have too much time on my hands this morning

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Subject:

Flexi Solar Panels

 ·  Posted: 21.01.2020  ·  #25

Quote by The Rambler

If only we had unlimited battery capacity we could be dumping unused solar into. Here’s so food for thought. According to the calculator I linked to above, in Lonfort in June, we could harness 4.36 kWh/m2/day. So if you had a square meter of solar panel on your roof which was parked up for one week, had you stored that power each day, you could be driving off with 30.52 kWh of stored energy. That’s enough energy to boil 300 kettles!

But we don’t drive off we all that stored energy, because we have nowhere to store it. Instead we drive off with 200Ah, which equates to 2.5 kWh. Yes, I have too much time on my hands this morning

If you were plugged into EHU you could sell it to all the other motorhomes on the site

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Re: Flexi Solar Panels

 ·  Posted: 21.01.2020  ·  #26

Quote by sprinter

If you were plugged into EHU you could sell it to all the other motorhomes on the site

Yes, or selling back to the grid. How many pv panels sit on motorhome roofs that could be harvesting energy when not in use?

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Flexi Solar Panels

 ·  Posted: 21.01.2020  ·  #27

Quote by The Rambler

Quote by sprinter

If you were plugged into EHU you could sell it to all the other motorhomes on the site

Yes, or selling back to the grid. How many pv panels sit on motorhome roofs that could be harvesting energy when not in use?

it'll never happen it's not in the Governments interest to save energy or collect cheap electricity

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Re: Flexi Solar Panels

 ·  Posted: 21.01.2020  ·  #28

Last time in Spain a German neighbour had a panel mounted on the pole which normally has one of those manual diamond shaped flat satallite 'dishes', he adjusted it a few times a day to follow the sun.

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Flexi panel

 ·  Posted: 22.01.2020  ·  #29

I fitted a flexible panel a year and half ago. When new the most current I saw was 7 amps, the spec was 10.5 amps. by August last year the max current on a sunny day was 1.25 amps . Now back to rigid. I am sure there are panels that work but expensive.

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Re: Flexi Solar Panels

 ·  Posted: 22.01.2020  ·  #30

Quote by Noxid

I fitted a flexible panel a year and half ago. When new the most current I saw was 7 amps, the spec was 10.5 amps. by August last year the max current on a sunny day was 1.25 amps . Now back to rigid. I am sure there are panels that work but expensive.

Great info Noxid....Think its rigid for me too

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davidrory

 

 

Subject:

Re: Flexi Solar Panels

 ·  Posted: 23.01.2020  ·  #31

I tried flexi panels on my camper when I first went for solar. I fitted four 50w, wired them correctly had a good controller and the damn things never worked. I bought them at a closing down sale so they were cheapish. I had fixed them to the rood with strong sealer. That was a nightmare to get off - the roof still bears the scars!
I had to rip them off and fit a 100w rigid, that's been great.

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Subject:

Re: Flexi Solar Panels

 ·  Posted: 24.01.2020  ·  #32

Interesting topic. Do many of you park up for days at a time without EHU ?

We are considering a longer Euro trip that will entail mainly off-site overnighters (wild camping) but our electrical needs are small (VW camper). It has one 110 Ah leisure battery with the usual split charge system. The biggest consumer of the electrons is the Dometic CRX50 fridge but, being of the compressor type, it is gentle on the battery and we have managed three days plus without EHU or running the engine. We usually move on after three days maximum anyway.
The research continues.....

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Re: Flexi Solar Panels

 ·  Posted: 24.01.2020  ·  #33

@airhead_eire you might want have a look at thread on battery to battery chargers also

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Subject:

Re: Flexi Solar Panels

 ·  Posted: 24.01.2020  ·  #34

I went 2 weeks in France without ehu on one of the trips. The fridge is 3-way though, so that would make a difference. Also it was summer, so no heating. I reckon I could go an entire summer without ehu if abroad

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Re: Flexi Solar Panels

 ·  Posted: 24.01.2020  ·  #35

There is a very reputable company in Taunton, Somerset that sell/install solar panels but they recommend you consider a second leisure battery (matching the other one) before getting solar, it’s a cheaper option.
For me once you have paid for the solar panels and have a pair of batteries you really won’t need hook up, especially if your heating and fridge can work off gas or you have a compressor fridge. We could manage for weeks on end without hook up in the winter in Spain. So if you factor in longer days in the summer you’d be fine in most countries. Of course it does depend on your electrical needs.

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Subject:

Re: Flexi Solar Panels

 ·  Posted: 24.01.2020  ·  #36

The need for solar is interesting. We always use ASCI campsites when abroad and so use hook ups.
The main benefit of the solar and second battery in our van is keeping the compressor fridge going well when travelling and a fan in the van to keep it cool.
I have an odd set up since the second battery does not charge from the engine, only the solar or a charger when hooked up.
We are all electric - there is no gas other than a small portable. (We have never missed big gas.)
If we are wild camping here in Ireland we go somewhere on our own and use a generator when needed.
We cook on a very quick confection plate or a microwave/grill oven.
When set up on site, I use the gas camping stove with a Korean grill on top for barbecue style cooking - steak and fish are great on that.

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