Solar Panel Mount - Please Critique

[RVA-Jeff]

Looks and feels wholly adequate to me. Panels attached to channels with their factory mounting holes (4 per panel),fender washers and lock nuts. How do you guys feel about this?

Do the panels need to be chassis grounded to each other? If so, then run a ground from there to truck chassis? Or totally unnecessary?

[BFlinn181]

I'm impressed you're using Thule racks to mount the panels, they're pretty pricey. If you have both positive and negative wires from the panels to your controller, there should be no reason to ground them.

[dexters]

Originally Posted by RVA-Jeff

Looks and feels wholly adequate to me. Panels attached to channels with their factory mounting holes (4 per panel),fender washers and lock nuts. How do you guys feel about this?

Do the panels need to be chassis grounded to each other? If so, then run a ground from there to truck chassis? Or totally unnecessary?

Well, now that you ask.

You might have considered a system to angle the panels toward the sun. That is one of the best ways to get the most out of them.

[vermontbuild]

Your mounting looks fine, I mounted a panel on my topper using a similar rack although I first mounted a piece of plywood with a stone guard on front. I travel on some long unpaved roads in Yukon and Alaska with tractor trailers coming at me with gravel flying. Don’t worry about panel being flat, even near the Arctic circle I had no problem keeping batteries charged. Make sure to check lock nuts every couple thousand miles, vibration can loosen things,
No, your panel doesn’t need grounded, controller might though.

[ByeTheWay]

It appears the strap connected to the panel is secured by something other than a screw or bolt? If this is correct, I'd want a small bolt w/ a stop nut. As for tilting, I believe it is over rated. Lots cheaper to buy an extra panel, to make up the difference. You may wish to contact Thule about their ratings for your application.