Greetings and Salutations People of Earth
Okay, okay I admit it. I’ve been watching way to much Sci-fi on Youtube. You know that place is a crazy little rabbit hole. Once you go down it’s really hard to get out again.
Today’s blog is all about putting the finishing touches on the solar system.
Specifically the mounting of the panels on the roof of our van.
Initially I was going to just buy a mounting kit, but when I saw the price and what it was I figured I could do just as well. I went to the hardware store and got a bunch of screws, some angle iron, and a couple of other things.
I cut them with a jig saw and then painted them. I used purple because
A. It was the prettiest of the spray paint I had it on hand and
B. It was the kind that stays on metal
You’ll see in the photo’s that I also cut some non angle iron pieces. Those are made specifically for putting the panels at an angle to better get the sunlight.
The solar panels are two 100 watt ECO-WORTHY monocrystalline that I got from Amazon. (Link below) Then I got 10 feet of 10 gauge red and black solar extension wire from a place called Windy Nation also off Amazon. The heavy duty ladder carrier is from NC Deals Online and it was a bugger to drill through. It is very heavy duty steel. Links to all of these will be at the end of this entry.
Drilling a hole in the van was tough to do because well there’s now a big hole in the van, but if you do it right you won’t get any water inside. I am not an expert, but I just wanted to do it myself. Once you drill a hole you need to put a rubber grommet in it. You can see it in the photo. It’s just this rubber thing that prevents the wires from getting cut on the sharp edges of the hole you’ve just drilled.
Now’s the time for this thing called a Weatherproof solar double entry gland. Say that five times quick.
When you combine that with this putty tape, and some Dicor Self-Leveling Lap Sealant. No water’s going to get in.
You’ll be able to see the whole process in this video, or if you don’t have that kind of data package there’s always the photos.
Here's this weeks video.
See ya next week.
Keep the shiny side up.
Trevor & Elissa
Links where you can purchase these things from Amazon.
Dicor http://amzn.to/2yCxoT4
Ladder Rack http://amzn.to/2xQXeFA
Solar double entry gland http://amzn.to/2x8rdVC
10 ft red & black 10 gauge solar extension wire http://amzn.to/2yCo6GV
Windy Nation 100 watt 12 Volt solar panels http://amzn.to/2xLjeQl
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