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Old 12-09-2016, 07:59 AM   #1
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Video: Installing Solar Ourselves on our Airstream

Most people are better off paying a reputable install shop to install solar on their Airstream, but we decided to do it ourselves. This is not a how-to video (though you main gain a lot of ideas from it). This is a "how I" video.

We sure learn a lot by seeing other people's processes (both how to and how not-to). Hopefully this gives you an idea of what was involved in our panel install.

The panels have arrived


VHB Tape and Rocker Feet


Air Conditioner Removal


Wiring the Panels


Wiring the Panels


Mounting the Panels and Wires


Wiring the Combiner Box
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Old 12-11-2016, 07:41 AM   #2
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I really appreciate the candid nature of these videos. It's more valuable to see the trials and tribulations that occur in the DIY space than it is to see some slick marketing production that doesn't really talk about the challenges.

Every install is different, and I thought I'd mention on this thread why my husband and I had to take a different approach with our DIY solar panels, just in case anyone is contemplating a diversity of installation options.

We live in one of the hottest areas of the country, and I mean "southern hinges of hell" subtropical soupy hot. That has two ramifications:

- First, we cannot afford to ditch our roof a/c unit as the OP has done here. But the challenge of placing multiple panels onto scarce roof real estate without accidentally shading them still remained for us.

- Second, we have not experienced good results using the types of adhesive tape shown in this video. I know that this is the way most solar panels are installed, whether professionally or via DIY, and theoretically that tape is supposed to hold across a wide range of conditions, but with our combination of ambient temperature, strength of incident radiation, and sky high humidity, we find that it breaks down and fails. Absolutely nothing that is organically-based stands up well in our climate. We've used those tapes on other non-solar DIY applications, and they have let go. We didn't feel that we could trust it for solar panels given our situation. Maybe the world will prove us wrong and people will NOT be launching panels off their roofs two years from now as they are booking down the freeway, but we didn't want to chance it.

In view of those two things, we vaulted our three panels above our roof a/c using a frame we built of 80/20 aluminum product. The front edge of the frame is hinged so that the panels can be tilted up if the a/c needs servicing or replacing.

We have a 22-foot Airstream camper van and I have NO earthly idea whether this same type of approach would be feasible on any trailer. To our knowledge, we are the first DIY owners to try anything quite like this, and at the time of our install, one of the contemplative questions asked on the B Van sub-forum was, will this extra weight, added so high up, degrade the handling of the vehicle? We've driven probably 10,000 miles since the addition and my answer is definitely not. I have not noticed any influence on vehicle stability. But trailers have a very different mass distribution compared to motor vehicles, so I don't know what the ramifications would be.

So we resolved all three predicaments with this one design - we retained the a/c unit, we avoided the adhesive, and we avoided shading. Here are a few blog posts describing this install in more detail, FWIW.

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Old 12-11-2016, 09:19 AM   #3
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Excellent idea!
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Old 01-07-2017, 08:51 AM   #4
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We recently decided to add another 300w of solar for a total of 900w.

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