Van Cover Roofing Material for Solar

Submitted: Thursday, Mar 10, 2011 at 05:56

ThreadID: 127257 Views:3154 Replies:2 FollowUps:2

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Tassie Bushies

Who knows please,
When putting a car port type roof, over a van, if Laserlight roofing lets the solar panels keep charging or not?
Or maybe what % is lost?
Want to run the fridge only, what's the best way when on storage?

Regards Peter.

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Reply By: Sundy & Cyclone - Thursday, Mar 10, 2011 at 19:02

Thursday, Mar 10, 2011 at 19:02

We keep our BT in a carport with a solid roof (actually has solar pool heating on it), so there is no way direct light will help. Carport has the garage on one side and open on all other sides. The back and one side has a Laserlight "skirt" that comes down from the eaves for 600 mm.
We have found that as long as the batteries are fully charged and ALL power is turned off in the van, we get just a trickle (about .5 of an amp according to the "Prostar"), into the batteries for a short time each day from the solar panels and is just enough to maintain a full charge. So I would think that if you have one or two carefully positioned Laserlight roof sheets, you should be fine.
Have to say also that we live on the Fraser Coast in Qld. so location would also come into the equation
Hope that all makes sense and is of some help, Cheers Tony

AnswerID: 582164

Follow Up By: Mr & Mrs Bean - Friday, Mar 11, 2011 at 00:01

Friday, Mar 11, 2011 at 00:01

Peter,

We stored our van in an industrial shed with Laserlight inserts for about 12 months. All appliances were turned off and I checked the batteries every 2 to 3 weeks. They stayed fully charged for the whole period with between 1and 5 amps showing through the charger during the day depending on the weather conditions. The shed just west of Brisbane.
Hope this helps.

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Reply By: Quicksilver - Saturday, Mar 12, 2011 at 16:32

Saturday, Mar 12, 2011 at 16:32

Hi Peter,

When not in use [which is most of the year], our van is stored under a roof that has two runs of clear plastic roofing over the solar panels, the batteries are always fully charged,
I hook up to power perhaps three times a year to run the air conditioner.
The van is now 4.5 years old with original batteries.

Regards,
David

Quicksilver - Breakin Loose

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Follow Up By: Tassie Bushies - Monday, Mar 14, 2011 at 03:32

Monday, Mar 14, 2011 at 03:32

Thanks for info fellas,
David appears to be closest,
Especially if he is at home now.
David, Could you tell me what sort is your clear plastic roofing, is it Laserlight or something else?
You also didn't say if you ran anything. I want to leave my fridge on, all the time.
So would you do a test for me please?
Turn your fridge & maybe a couple of lights on, on a normal day (some clouds ok, but not raining or overcast all day) this would pull the battries down a bit so you could see how much charge the panels are getting through your two sheets of roofing, after a couple of hours during a sunny period, around mid day.
Are your two sheets together or seperated by tin?
Also where abouts are you, as this will have some affect on the possable solar intake in relation to being down here, although I have seen 42.5 amps going in last week down here?

Regards Peter.

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FollowupID: 853388