Alu-Cab Canopy Camper Solar question

[caryt]

Question for those with Solar..I see most setups with the cables entering at the rear rather than the front Seems it would be better to enter from the front as less amount of line that has to opened and folded as the tops opened and closed. I'll have 400w
's and am using 8 guage wires.

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[fourfa]

I assume you don't own one yet? The reason is, the Canopy Camper comes pre-wired for roof solar. It's an Anderson 50-amp connector, it's already mounted in the rear passenger side corner, and it's already wired along the inner right edge, through the cable raceway above the windows, and drops down on the back left corner.

Good to be concerned about the gauge of the wire, and the service bends, but 400W of solar probably looks like a ~20-25v, max 20 amp, average 0-10 amp electrical load. 8 gauge isn't really necessary for that little of a load and I doubt you'd be able to measure the loss in a 10 or 12 gauge wire.

Better off spending the time and effort picking out slightly more efficient panels. Have you picked out a solution that fits? I have a 200W Renogy flexible panel, and there isn't room for two of them. 400W of panel will likely end up needing to mount on top of the pre-installed accessory rails, thus sticking up even higher than the already-tall canopy. In less than a year with my panel, I've already got a good number of scratches and gouges from tree branches. More height would not be better IMHO.

 

[caryt]

I guess having my build would have helped.
I have a Canopy Camper, older model no entry for Solar.
I have room for 2ea 200w Redarc panels and they will fit down between my rails.
A Redarc full manager 30 system and a GP factor mount for all.
230ah LiTime battery.

 

[fourfa]

Ah sorry, assumed too much. Yeah, in your case no reason not to put the cable entry at the front and save a bit of cable run. Are you hardwiring thru a gland or using an Anderson style connector?

 

[caryt]

I got one of these. https://icmontana.com/products/ds-h...MIm8ey25bHhAMVQBatBh3ydw6AEAQYASABEgLk-_D_BwE

 

[fourfa]

I think the ideal thing would be to mount that in the middle, under the center bar, so there's minimal exterior wire and all of it is protected against dragging tree branches and sun. But unfortunately, there's no clean and easy way to get through the interior roof insulation without making a mess of the cloth batting.

You might end up needing to mount it on the front angled section, or all the way at the back like mine to get around the insulated area. I wouldn't go on the side taper as the wiring would have to cross the mounting track and be crosswise to sharp branches

 

[caryt]

10-4..I'm stll waiting for the 200w panels to show up then I can see what I'm dealing with. I think they shipped from Redarc if they did I'll get them this week. All else I'll have by Tuesday. Then I get decide what outside side white/amber LED's camp/trail lights installed and get the Canopy Camper dropped on the Gladiator. Doing all myself and would like the camper on buy the 3rd. Then work on interior and seeing if I can mod the cabinets..unless someone buys them.

 

[pearlxman]

Do you have rooftop dimensions for solar? I wanted to see what my options are for mounting (w/ adhesive) flexible solar panel(s). I am trying to stay away from mounting brackets for various reasons. Thanks!!

 

[caryt]

Got the panels mounted using tabs from 813..Thanks! and the Alu-Cab mounted..working on elect and insulating all the bare metal where possible.
Ordered up a pair of Clayton 3.5" HD rear springs as the Synergy's as expected are not up to the added weight.

 

[natebloss]

I just received an AluCab ModCap Family and am in the process of installing solar. It seems that all the rigid solar panels on the market are too large to fit 400 watts on the alucab's roof. Can you link me to the solar panel you used in this build. I'm very curious how you were able to fit 400 watts on the AluCab. Thanks!

 

[caryt]

The Mod Cap looks to be a similar size as mine, in fact wider. I used Redarc 200w panels as shown above.

 

[natebloss]

I see the panels in your picture, but I don't see a 200W panel on RedArc's website. They only list fixed panels in 50W, 80W, 120W, and 180W. Am I missing something? Do you have a link to the panel you bought? The smallest 200W panels I've seen are ~ 50" x ~30". It doen't seem possible to get 400W up there with the space available (~40" x 76" on the modcap family"), which is why I'm very curious about the 200W RedArc panel you used.

 

[natebloss]

I bought 3 of the Renergy Shadow Flux 120W panels. They are the exact width of the rail and ~3" shy of the length of the rails. I can mount these directly to the rails by riveting/bolting them together and then bolting them down to the alucab rails using L brackets similar to what you used on the 4 ends of the rail. This covers 95% of the roof area and is still only 360W. But if I can get 400W and only cover ~75% of the roof as you show, I'll return these panels.

I can post a build picture in a few days when I get it all put together.

Panels I bought, but have not installed yet:

 

[natebloss]

Just to clarify for anyone else looking to do this. Rail length is ~76", and these panels are 22.75". 22.75" x 3 = 68.25"; so it would appear you have 7.75" to spare along your rail for L-brackets, but the alucab's rail widens at both end and doesn't allow for mounting. In reality, you're left with only about 71" of rail length to mount on.

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