Community Forums

ModestMonk · 05-12-2018, 03:59 PM

The solar install has been competed and everything has been preforming seamlessly. Now it’s time to batten down the wires for the solar panels and the WiFi Ranger.

Suggestions and opinions:

Screw down cable ties with Dicor?

Eternabond Tape?

Spots of Dicor every six inches?

egwilly · 05-12-2018, 05:32 PM

Seen many ways to do it....I prefer the tape and Dicor method. Hopefully you will never have to remove it.

Cable ties won't last in the sun.

Jolu · 05-12-2018, 05:40 PM

I have stuck down the cables from the solar panels with a glob of Dicor and have not encountered any issues. The idea of roof tape and Dicor would be even more secure. I have used a glob of Dicor for satellite dish cables also.

60sumtin · 05-12-2018, 07:35 PM

If it was something I had to do I'd go with the eternabond and dicor combo.

Grump010 · 05-12-2018, 09:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ModestMonk

The solar install has been competed and everything has been preforming seamlessly. Now it’s time to batten down the wires for the solar panels and the WiFi Ranger.

Suggestions and opinions:

Screw down cable ties with Dicor?

Eternabond Tape?

Spots of Dicor every six inches?

I have everything cleaned up in the front cabling and charge controller install in the pass through, now I'm at the point of installing my panels on the roof. I'm pretty sure I'm going with the AM Solar adjustable mounts. Did you use a small piece of Eternabond under each foot and them dicor to completely seal the screws or mounts straight to the roof membrane and dicor to seal?

I'm just going to use a few blobs of dicor to hold the cabling to the roof and see how that works. I only need a conversion from the MC4 to SAE connector for 2 panels and about 2 to 3 feet of extra cable for the third panel.

ModestMonk · 05-13-2018, 03:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grump010

I have everything cleaned up in the front cabling and charge controller install in the pass through, now I'm at the point of installing my panels on the roof. I'm pretty sure I'm going with the AM Solar adjustable mounts. Did you use a small piece of Eternabond under each foot and them dicor to completely seal the screws or mounts straight to the roof membrane and dicor to seal?

I'm just going to use a few blobs of dicor to hold the cabling to the roof and see how that works. I only need a conversion from the MC4 to SAE connector for 2 panels and about 2 to 3 feet of extra cable for the third panel.

I gooped the screw holes, then eternabond butyl under the pads with Dicor covering.

The Eternabond repair tape sounds semi permanent, less likely to fail. I didn’t want to over engineer this in case we want to add more panels in the future.

brulaz · 05-13-2018, 06:26 AM

Used 3M 4200 + SS screws to secure the brackets to the roof. And to cover the screws. Then dabs of 3M 4200 to hold the wires in place. The stuff is semi-permanent as well. (3M 5200 is worse.)

egwilly · 05-13-2018, 11:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brulaz

Used 3M 4200 + SS screws to secure the brackets to the roof. And to cover the screws. Then dabs of 3M 4200 to hold the wires in place. The stuff is semi-permanent as well. (3M 5200 is worse.)

Sounds like you got it done. Did you have to use the primer before the 4200?
I have used this stuff on my boat in the past. Works great for bonding and sealing. Never tried it on TPO or EPDM though.

powercat_ras · 05-13-2018, 11:59 AM

I used Eternabond Tape every 18" or so and it has held great for several years. I have a one piece gelcoat panel over the roof substrate on my Winnebago. If you have a EPDO "rubber" roof then I don't know , other posters with EPDO roofs may give you their insight.

I suggest that before you tape wires down make sure that all the wire used is UV light proof. I found that wire I used to extend my solar panel cable runs to the junction box was not UV proof and I had to tape wrap the wires with UV proof black electrical tape. If you have that situation you will want to do that before you tape your wires to the roof.

One other thing if there is a junction / splice box on the roof you might open the cover and make sure there is no water pooling up inside of it. I found that I had to seal the screws on the top of the junction box to keep water from leaking into the box from the screw penetrations in the cover.

brulaz · 05-13-2018, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by egwilly

Sounds like you got it done. Did you have to use the primer before the 4200?
I have used this stuff on my boat in the past. Works great for bonding and sealing. Never tried it on TPO or EPDM though.

IIRC just used alcohol to clean the rubber roof. And certainly there's a strong bond between the rubber roof and the brackets, but I don't trust the OEM glue holding the rubber roof material to the plywood roof to keep the panels from flying off. The SS screws do that.

So in this application the adhesive properties of the 3M 4200 are prolly over-kill. It doesn't do any harm, but any good caulk like the Dicor should be enough to keep the water out.