Solar panel recommendations

[bigbadbob76]

I think you're wise to go rigid Phil, I've heard of semi flexi ones failing due to overheating,
I've not tried them myself so just speaking from what I've heard but rigid allow airflow under the panel which makes sense.

[Mocki]

its all bout quality.... i have had a 150w semin flexible glued to my hitop for getting 5 years and its still good, hasnt fsallen off and i have onlt cleaned it once i think....
it wasnt cheap, but i only wanted to do the job once.

buy the biggest you can physically fit is my advice, for one its cheaper to buy per watt, and secondly, you can never have too much free electric, its not like its going to overflow all over the floor when its full!!

[bigbadbob76]

its not like its going to overflow all over the floor when its full!!]

That's why you MUST use a charge controller.

[phil_b]

Steve - I think your right about quality, unfortunately with the semi flexible it hard to determine which are good. I thought buying from a proper retailer rather than an eBay Chinese import would have given me a better product but not so it seems. The panel I am now considering is MSC approved so should have a considerably longer lifespan, but sleek and invisible it won't be.

[Cobra88]

I'm looking at a 150w semi flexible panel at the moment.

im guessing they don't overheat when stuck onto fibreglass roofs
but mine is a tintop so im worried it will die quickly (Dark roof too)

Thoughts?

Rick

[bigbadbob76]

im guessing they don't overheat when stuck onto fibreglass roofs.

The panel it'self gets quite hot in full sun and if you don't have enough airflow under it to cool it then it can overheat, so metal roof should... in theory... conduct more heat away from it than a fibreglass roof.
Whether this is relevant in the UK I'm not sure as most of what I've read about it refers to the US.
Panels have an ideal temperature where they're most efficient too, the hotter they get the less efficient they are.
https://www.civicsolar.com/support/inst ... ficiencies
Note that this is panel temperature which can be considerably higher than ambient temperature.

[Cobra88]

Hi BB Bob

My thought was a dark roof will already be very hot on a bright day whereas a white fibreglass top won't already be very hot
(But I do agree metal roof will conduct better but I think it also has the resident heat problem)

Regards
Rick

[bigbadbob76]

Any chance you might paint the roof white?
It would lessen the heat in the van on a hot day as well as helping your panels.

[Cobra88]

Lol

I was thinking would a white roof look crap on a brown van ?
I think so.

[bigbadbob76]

Yeah, it would look a bit crap.