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Old 06-01-2015, 07:03 PM   #1
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Unhappy Our solar panel blew off!!

On the first day of our 2 week trip to South Dakota we hit a few rain squalls with crosswinds. Sometime after filling the gas tank in Trinidad (where we did a walk around check and everything looked fine) and before we pulled into the campground in La Junta Colorado our solar panel blew off.
We had no clue! We had 2 cords dangling over the side of the trailer when we stopped at the campground. Bummed!!
Luckily our sites on this trip all have electric.
Will try to contact Reace by phone tomorrow...we bought our trailer used but through Escape. We went up to Chilliwack to pick it up and that's when we had the solar installed.

Does anyone know if the new 160 panels are the same size as the 90? Since it has to be replaced it would probably be better to get a higher power panel.
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Old 06-01-2015, 07:10 PM   #2
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The 160 has been replaced by 150, so said someone here. Did you get it in 2013? I thought they are using epoxy now but don't know. Do you know what they used?
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Old 06-01-2015, 08:24 PM   #3
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Our trailer is a 2008 but we bought it in the summer of 2013 and had the solar installed then. We can't get a good view of the top of the trailer right now but from what little we can see it looks like it was taped. And it looks like some of the tape stayed and some went with the panel....
We'll try to get pictures as soon as we are someplace where we can see the top!
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Old 06-01-2015, 08:38 PM   #4
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Wow, so sorry to hear this news. Incredible!
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Old 06-01-2015, 08:44 PM   #5
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Both the 160 watt panel & the 150 watt panel are larger than the 95 watt. Sorry to hear you lost it.
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Old 06-01-2015, 09:11 PM   #6
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We took the two ends of the cables that were hanging down and plugged them into each other...They fit into each other. Will that create a problem? We're in the middle of a big thunderstorm right now so we hope it was ok to do that.....
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Old 06-01-2015, 09:13 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Vermilye View Post
Both the 160 watt panel & the 150 watt panel are larger than the 95 watt. Sorry to hear you lost it.
Guess we'll have to see what Reace recommends....I think they have changed systems.. We have a 1500 watt inverter. We .hope we can get another panel that will work!
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Old 06-01-2015, 09:42 PM   #8
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How scary - I'm glad you are okay and that it seems to not have caused an accident.
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Old 06-01-2015, 09:50 PM   #9
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Originally Posted by FMLNM View Post
Guess we'll have to see what Reace recommends....I think they have changed systems.. We have a 1500 watt inverter. We .hope we can get another panel that will work!
The 150 panel they use now will work with the 1500w inverter. Surprised if it was tape.
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Old 06-01-2015, 10:03 PM   #10
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How scary - I'm glad you are okay and that it seems to not have caused an accident.
Yes, luckily we were on a county road with very little traffic. We might have nailed a cow or a pronghorn....
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Old 06-01-2015, 10:08 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Floating Cloud View Post
The 150 panel they use now will work with the 1500w inverter. Surprised if it was tape.
Thanks for the info.
We won't know till we can get up top exactly how it was attached. We have also just noticed a tiny leak seeming to come from somewhere a one the solar monitor...maybe the cord got yanked enough to break the seal in the roof. We just had a real downpour. Again, it will have to wait till daylight. Hopefully it won't rain too much more tonight.....
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Old 06-01-2015, 11:09 PM   #12
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Out of curiosity, does anyone know how ETI typically mounts these panels? Are they angled or flat? Raised or flush? After reading about this, mounting becomes a very important design consideration.
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Old 06-02-2015, 01:53 AM   #13
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Out of curiosity, does anyone know how ETI typically mounts these panels? Are they angled or flat? Raised or flush? After reading about this, mounting becomes a very important design consideration.
Since we are going to have the solar installed at Escape we also wold like to know ? Pat
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Old 06-02-2015, 05:29 AM   #14
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The 150 watt panel on our new 21 is raised off the roof about 3-4 inches by four bolts, one each on the corners that go thru the fiberglass/gel coat shell of the trailer. The panel is parallel with the top of the roof line.
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Old 06-02-2015, 05:40 AM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FMLNM View Post
Thanks for the info.
We won't know till we can get up top exactly how it was attached. We have also just noticed a tiny leak seeming to come from somewhere a one the solar monitor...maybe the cord got yanked enough to break the seal in the roof. We just had a real downpour. Again, it will have to wait till daylight. Hopefully it won't rain too much more tonight.....
Hi: FMLNM... Sorry to hear about your predicament!!! Here's a few pic's of how our panel looks up top. The bolts hold the panel to the aluminium tube. They're epoxy'd to the roof. Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie
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P1030812.jpg   P1030814.jpg  
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Old 06-02-2015, 06:50 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrol35 View Post
The 150 watt panel on our new 21 is raised off the roof about 3-4 inches by four bolts, one each on the corners that go thru the fiberglass/gel coat shell of the trailer. The panel is parallel with the top of the roof line.
Larry
I would be surprised if that were the case. Our panel is bolted to two roof rails, but the rails are epoxied to the roof, just as Alf's are - the bolts don't pierce the shell.
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Old 06-02-2015, 07:52 AM   #17
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I would be surprised if that were the case. Our panel is bolted to two roof rails, but the rails are epoxied to the roof, just as Alf's are - the bolts don't pierce the shell.
We believe ours were bolted to the rails and the rails were attached to the roof. But our rails may have been VHB ttaped, not epoxied. The panels were parallel to the roof, mounted between the A/C and the Max fan. Later today we will go up through the escape hatch over the bed and see if we can get a better look.
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Old 06-02-2015, 10:52 AM   #18
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We just picked ours up and it is bolted to aluminum rails that are epoxied to the roof. I was told if it came off some of the roof would come off with it, its that strong.

Cheers
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Old 06-02-2015, 11:15 AM   #19
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I seem to remember being told that during their testing the epoxy that they now use to attach the rails to the shell would not come off with out removing some of the roof the only hole in our shell is where the wiring comes through and they use a nice qaulity marine style grommet and lots of sealer
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Old 06-02-2015, 11:55 AM   #20
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This is the second Escape solar panel to blow off. Wasn't the other panel that blew off in the archives here using 3M VHB tape?
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