Solar panel size for Nuevo series II

Does anyone who's fitted a solar panel to their Nuevo roof know the maximum size that can be fitted on the roof... There is a raised reinforced section directly behind the large centre Heki and I'm guessing this is the best location for mounting?

Would a 100w panel be that much greater over an 80w panel in effectiveness to pay the difference in price? Which panels are the best monocrystalline, polycrystalline?

Cant tell you max size CC but bulldog01 has a 95/100w panel on their 2008 Nuevo Classic

Hi CC,

Can't help with the Nuevo part, but our Siemens monocrystalline panel has given us many years of good service

A bit of help here .....

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Best of luck, and I would go for the largest one possible !!

Brian

Hi CC
We have a 80 watt solar panel fitted behind the Heki roof vent, it was fitted at Willersey by the previous owner, since solar technology has advanced in recent years, you might get some good advice from Mark.
sorry I'm not much help.
Boaby

Thanks all..... Will have to have a measure up and see what size panel I can get up their, was considering a Bosch panel and suspect it might be worth paying the extra for the 100w panel. Bit worried about the location where bringing the cable through the roof into the cupboard so will have to have a good think before fitting.

As I don't want to make any holes in the roof other than for the cable I was going to use sikaflex to bond the corner mounts and side mounts to the roof, as the panel will be mounted directly behind the Heki which has a spolier in front then I guess wind noise and pressure shouldn't be too much of a problem?

CC

Our brackets are held to the roof with Sikaflex, as was the Execs and I couldnt get them off when we flogged the van. I would go for 100w panel

Hi CC,
Our chariot, whilst being an ES on the inside, is EK on the outside and shares the same roof as yours.
I fitted a 1020mm X 540mm 80W panel to the raised section as shown here;
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I was somewhat limited by the position of the aerial, but the blanking plate for the old omni-directional was useful for bringing the cables through.
The panel is mounted on B&Q aluminium angle.
If you intend to use corner mounts, one of the limiting factors will be the ability to have all four corners on the same plane because of the raised section.

This is a picture of my 'internals'
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I inherited that awful trunking from whoever fitted the original aerial - some people have no pride.

This was my Belgian source for the panel;
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Hope this helps,
Derek

@Roll

Did you DIY the panels or have them installed?
I would like to install solar too and although I don't want to drill the roof am worried about the prep for bonding.

Hi CC

I fitted a solar panel to the roof of my Eton about a year ago and used a 100 Watt kit supplied by cleversolar.co.uk who supply high efficiency panels which have all connections behind the cells whereby none of the light sensitive area is obscured by the silver connecting circuits this enables the panel to be slightly smaller than the norm.

The kit came with a Sunware Fox dual regulator that can be used to put a percentage of the charging time into the vehicle battery I paid an extra £90 pounds to fit a Fox MD1 display and programming unit to work in conjunction with the regulator this allows you to decide the charging regime between batteries as well as battery type plus all the usual amps,volts info' etc.

So far I've been really pleased with the set up which I installed myself the kit providing everything needed for the completed installation apart from a short length of extra cable.

Just checked out the charging voltage and on a dull overcast day like today with the van tucked up the side of the house it's charging at 13.5 volts on sunny days it often exceeds 14 volts

The down side is the price at £500 for the kit and £90 for the display it doesn't come cheap but as most of the components seem to be of German origin I guess this accounts for the cost somewhat

Cheers John

I noticed yesterday that several of the big Chinese solar panel makers are in financial trouble at the moment.

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It's generally agreed that prices have plummeted so dramatically because these companies were dumping panels outside their home market below cost price (possibly with subsidies from the Chinese govt).

Just speculation on my part, but if they can't sort out those financial problems it would not be surprising to see panel prices going back up again, so the days of the sub-£100 80W panel ~may~ soon be a thing of the past, for a while at least.

Thanks Johno for your comments

Mojo... Thanks for the advice about the panel price increases likely, thinking of buying one over the next few weeks so hopefully prices will remain stable till then

Plenty of helpful replies thanks guys

PennyandDerek wrote:Hi CC,
Our chariot, whilst being an ES on the inside, is EK on the outside and shares the same roof as yours.
I fitted a 1020mm X 540mm 80W panel to the raised section as shown here;
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I was somewhat limited by the position of the aerial, but the blanking plate for the old omni-directional was useful for bringing the cables through.
The panel is mounted on B&Q aluminium angle.
If you intend to use corner mounts, one of the limiting factors will be the ability to have all four corners on the same plane because of the raised section.

This is a picture of my 'internals'
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
I inherited that awful trunking from whoever fitted the original aerial - some people have no pride.

This was my Belgian source for the panel;
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Hope this helps,
Derek

Derek thank you

Your photos and comments are extremely helpful

You have confirmed what I was thinking about the raised panel, thinking I might be able to pack out the mounts effected to make up for the slight difference in level.

Our tv booster is on the opposite side of the wardrobe to yours above the door that opens into the bathroom so guess I will bring the cables through close to where the status antenna is mounted, not sure if there is any wiring in the roof I need to be aware of avoid? and the regulator I will mount at the back of the wardrobe probably.

The other thing I need to work out is the length of cables required as you can get kits in 3m or 5m and suspect I need the longer kit. Also the regulator will charge both the leisure battery and the vehicle battery but I understand you can just connect the leisure battery alone if desired?

Thanks for your post anyway Derek... Very helpful


CC