Roof top solar in forested areas

[Unicorn Driver]

Hi,

Hope this is not a stupid question. Does roof top solar make any sense in areas that are heavily forester?

Do you try to park out of the shade?

[aether_one]

Any shade anywhere on your solar panel makes it just about useless.

[Unicorn Driver]

That's what I was thinking. I would love to add 300-400 watt on the roof but not sure it's worth it.

We do have 200w of portable solar which we move around.

[1bigmess]

Maybe portable panels would be useful?

[Unicorn Driver]

Originally Posted by 1bigmess

Maybe portable panels would be useful?

We do have 200watt of portable, does the trick nice.

[keymastr]

Where rooftop solar really "shines", pun intended, is for outdoor storage. Keeps the batteries charged up nicely even if I forget to turn off the batteries. It also helps to recharge on the drive home after a few days in the woods. Not as helpful if you are in the forest though.

[Unicorn Driver]

Originally Posted by keymastr

Where rooftop solar really "shines", pun intended, is for outdoor storage. Keeps the batteries charged up nicely even if I forget to turn off the batteries. It also helps to recharge on the drive home after a few days in the woods. Not as helpful if you are in the forest though.

Hi Keymastr,

I had forgotten about charging while traveling.

We will be storing the coach at home as soon as new concrete pad is ready, I will be adding a 30 or 50 amp power point. For winter coach will be at indoor storage.

[rarebear.nm]

Shade is usually bad on most solar panels. However, there are some on the market that do fairly well with only indirect light. A few panels today are double sided. The back side gets only indirect light.



The panel output is directly related to the amount of energy striking the panel. Last summer in Alaska with low sun angles I spent several days parked under evergreens and the system still fully recharged our batteries. It depends on the panels you buy. If you go with the standard RV panel choices, the shade will probably kill any output. But it does not have to be that way.



I had installed 1050 watts using three Silfab 350 watt panels.

[Unicorn Driver]

Originally Posted by rarebear.nm

Shade is usually bad on most solar panels. However, there are some on the market that do fairly well with only indirect light. A few panels today are double sided. The back side gets only indirect light.



The panel output is directly related to the amount of energy striking the panel. Last summer in Alaska with low sun angles I spent several days parked under evergreens and the system still fully recharged our batteries. It depends on the panels you buy. If you go with the standard RV panel choices, the shade will probably kill any output. But it does not have to be that way.



I had installed 1050 watts using three Silfab 350 watt panels.

I had not realized Solar had got so cheap, those 350watt panels are what I paid for one 100w 4 years ago.

[rarebear.nm]

Originally Posted by Unicorn Driver

I had not realized Solar had got so cheap, those 350watt panels are what I paid for one 100w 4 years ago.

You're right. Solar technology is improving very rapidly and prices are really dropping. Last month I saw some 300+ watt panels selling for $0.47/watt retail. Something similar to the ones I bought last year have dropped from about $0.94 to $0.77/watt.

[Unicorn Driver]

I have basement air con so have a load of free space on my roof. I could even remove the Satelitte as we don't use it.

If I went ahead it would be a couple of years at just have paid for the concrete pad.

[Reed Cundiff]

Unicorn Driver

We removed TV aerial years ago since we primarily boondock and TV service is not available. Have considered mini-split AC which would open the roof to three more 235 W panels. Wife and son (the solar contractor) asked me "why?"

Rarebear - we are also New Mexicans but are full time RVers now. Currently mootchdocking at older son's place (40 acres) in Sangre de Cristo above Las Vegas, NM. Solar works well here. Son is off grid with 7 kW or so of solar. They run washer and dryer off solar/batteries.

We scout a possible "campsite" to determine if there will be sufficient solar, which is usually 3 to 4 hours of sunlight to recharge heavy usage. We have spent 7 to 8 days in fairly forested areas but still got over 500 W-hrs (not much but sufficient with battery bank). We just had to energy manage: turn off inverter (60 W drain) and not use lights unless necessary. We still watched BBC mysteries on DVD and ran microwave to heat coffee and tea water. We were still above 50% SOC. We spent two weeks at National Forest and State Forest areas on Olympic Peninsula and this area is definitely not a solar region. State Parks were more open. Called Mora campground in Olympic National Forest and asked about a solar friendly campsite. The Ranger let me know that "Sir, this is a rain forest, your solar will not be very effective."

Reed and Elaine

[PbdBlue]

Originally Posted by Unicorn Driver

We do have 200watt of portable, does the trick nice.

On the roof we have two 225 watt 24 volt panels (in series) feeding a Victron 100/30 controller and two 100 watt 12 volt panels (in series) feeding a Victron 75/15 controller. We also have two 100 watt panels set as portable than can plug into the Victron 75/15 when we are in heavy shade. They are also in series so a long cable run to the controller mounted in the coach is possible with very little loss. In the shade we get 10- 12 amps from the portables (which are positioned in sun) plus whatever we can scavenge off the rooftop panels. Batteries are two Battleborn LFP's 100AH's each. We do not have a residential fridge but watch TV in the evenings, run the furnace, run the coffee maker, charge the phones, laptop, etc and rarely need to use the generator any longer.

[astrocamper]

Living in the Great Basin and mostly doing astronomy I seek places with wide open skies so I always get plenty of sun on the panels.