Add Solar Panels to the Camper

George Marshall  March 3 2009 08:40:40 AM

I decided to add a pair of solar panels to the camper.  Listening to a generator run is not my idea of peace in the great outdoors.   First I was off to determine how large of panels I needed.  How many watts?  Based on what the Kimberley Kamper manufacturer stated, 2 50 watt panels would be sufficient for my energy needs.

I went with a pair of 50 watt BP Solar Panels, BP350J.   Here is one of them from the back with the junction box opened:

And this is the front of them.  They are enclosed in an aluminum frame.  They seem pretty popular for this type of configuration and they are dimensionally the right size for what I intend to do with them and where I plan to mount/store them.  The plan is to take the pair and hinge them together along the long sides and fold them up like a briefcase.  When I am ready to use them I can just unfold them out in the field

One of the first things I did was to determine the optimal angle the panels need to set to get the most sun exposure.    In the course of trying to determine how long of a stand was needed to support the panels I sought out to figure the optimal angle of the panel to face the sun.  Based on this web page the panels need to be able to tilt from 27.5° in spring and autumn all the way up to 74° in the winter.  This is based on a range of latitudes from as low as 30° (as far south as the Houston area) to a latitude of 50° (as far north as Winnipeg).  I figured if I made a telescopic stand that would be able to move the entire length as calculated based on these latitudes my panels could be adjusted at any angle within the latitudes of 30° and 50° (which is essentially the entire lower 48) anytime of the year (spring, winter etc)

  So based on those angles of 27.5° to 74° and a length of 33" on the solar panels I could figure the length of my telescopic poles to support them upright to be:

SIN74*33= 31" for winter

SIN27.5*33= 15.25" for summer

I fabricated the legs out of some telescopic tent poles that the hardware store had.  They were cut down to size and fastened to the solar panel frames using angled aluminium stock.

 

 I then took the solar panels put them back to back and mounted a piano hinge down the length of it.  

The junction boxes on the back were connected together.

I then punch out the other 1/2" knockout for the solar controller:

I connected the panels to 30 ft of uv protected cable which plugged into the hella plug and then to the outlet on the outsider of the camper.  I will post more pics later.

Here are main pieces:

Item	Qty	Description	Cost
110050	2	BP350J, BP 50 watt solar panels	$275.00
WB24-0010	1	cable assembly	37.50
WB22-0003	1	Modular Interconnect	12.50
510040	1	SK-12 Regulator	79.00
1-1/2"X30"	1	Continuous Hinge	8.49
0200001	2	Telescopic rods	9.99
total			$707.47

When I was looking at generators, the Honda EU1000i was over $800.  

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