Nova Kool RFU 8320 Refrigerator Installation

[Greggo]

Originally Posted by hotfishtacos

Ron, Grape Solar in Oregon is selling through Amazon and I purchased my 160 watt panel for $248 delivered to my home in 2 days, free shipping with Amazon Prime.

That kind of dough will buy a nice generator and a couple gas cans at Harbor Freight (with 20% off)!

[hotfishtacos]

Originally Posted by greggo

that kind of dough will buy a nice generator and a couple gas cans at harbor freight (with 20% off)!

what?

[J Mac]

Originally Posted by Greggo

That kind of dough will buy a nice generator and a couple gas cans at Harbor Freight (with 20% off)!

That's true and if one doesn't care about making a racket for their fellow campers to have to put up with then that is one way to go.

[Ron in BC]

And now in some campgrounds you get your own special section with the rest of the noise makers

Ron

[hotfishtacos]

I am happy to report that my three new adjustable solar panel mounts and my new 160 watt panel are now permanently installed and actively working on the roof of my 19' to supply my new Nova Kool refrigerator and other essential camping needs with 350 watts of power, pointed toward the sun for maximum performance. For my latitude today, this means 56 degrees of tilt up from flat. I have a picture of the three panels set at this angle.

My original intent was to develop a mount that would give me 360 degrees of adjustment but after a couple of prototypes I didn't like and then realizing that most boon-docking I do gives me some flexibility with trailer orientation I decided to make the mounts adjustable front to back only. This made the design stronger, simpler and lighter. The finished design uses 1/8" thick aluminum angle with all stainless steel hardware, including stainless pem nuts to simplify adjustment. I just finished the 160 watt panel mounting yesterday so tomorrow I will be able to get my first full day of testing...and this will be worse case condition with the forecast rain storm that will start tonight. I have three measurement devices permanently installed on the trailer that measure power consumed by the whole trailer, power consumed by the refrigerator and total power supplied by the MorningStar Solar Controller. With this data I will be able to determine how much power is coming in, going out and total consumed. This info will be included in my next data posting.

This is the adjustable panel mount for the 160 watt panel in the front roof area.


All three panels (350 watts combined) are adjusted up to 56 degrees from flat which is the optimum setting for my latitude today. I made sure there is no shading from one to the other at this low sun angle, worse case condition.


Stay tuned! Steve

[padlin]

Any chance of getting a picture with them up from the side? What do you use to insert, if that's the right term, PEM nuts? Great work.

[Jubal]

An effective and simple adaptation to the OE panel mounts.

[gbaglo]

Do you carry a ladder to adjust them?

[hotfishtacos]

I pressed the "Pem Nuts" into the aluminum with a smooth jaw vise and I carry an expandable aluminum ladder to adjust the panels. With my new fridge I no longer carry a huge, loaded ice chest so carrying the ladder is a good trade off and it goes on the floor of the trailer in a padded bag. I'll get more pictures next week when the weather improves.

[thoer]

Nice work!

[Jim Bennett]

Good job on the adjusting mounts. How many DC fridges are you running again? That sure seems like a lot of wattage. Puts my wee 40W to shame.

[Dave Walter]

Great job. Thought I saw a picture of your trailer roof on the web the other day. Oh here it is.

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by ice-breaker

Great job. Thought I saw a picture of your trailer roof on the web the other day. Oh here it is.

[jamie beers]

Looks like all mounts are glued to trailer, no bolts?

[hotfishtacos]

Originally Posted by jamie beers

Looks like all mounts are glued to trailer, no bolts?

No need for bolts. Reace doesn't use bolts either.

[santacruzer]

Did you leave the existing mounts that were glued to the roof at the back, or add new ones?

[hotfishtacos]

Originally Posted by santacruzer

Did you leave the existing mounts that were glued to the roof at the back, or add new ones?

I left the existing mounts that I originally installed in the back and used those with the new adjustable mounts.

My 19 came with one 95 watt panel mounted in the middle roof area. I later purchased a second 95 watt panel and mount hardware from Reace and installed it in the rear roof area. Recently, I removed the original two panels and added adjustable mounting hardware to those existing roof mounts. I also built the roof mount and adjusting hardware for the 160 watt panel and installed it in the front roof area of the trailer.

[santacruzer]

I'd forgotten that the 95 watt panels were in the middle roof area. Nice job!

[J Mac]

All three panels (350 watts combined) are adjusted up to 56 degrees from flat which is the optimum setting for my latitude today. I made sure there is no shading from one to the other at this low sun angle, worse case condition.
[/QUOTE]
perhaps a silly question but, does the 56 degree angle need to be adjusted as the day progresses? (sun rise, sun set).

[hotfishtacos]

Originally Posted by J Mac

All three panels (350 watts combined) are adjusted up to 56 degrees from flat which is the optimum setting for my latitude today. I made sure there is no shading from one to the other at this low sun angle, worse case condition.

perhaps a silly question but, does the 56 degree angle need to be adjusted as the day progresses? (sun rise, sun set).[/QUOTE]

No, the panels are set then left in position during the day. The 56 degrees was recommended for that day at my location. Since I wanted to go with adjustable panels I've researched the subject and have determined it is best to set up the panels aimed as close to South-facing as possible and then angled-up for the location, especially latitude, for the dates I am camping. This gives the best averaged angle of presentation for the panel faces toward the sun during the day. I have a couple of apps I use that determines my exact GPS location and recommends the best panel angle for that day. It also recommends the best settings for the four seasons for stationary panels that you may want to readjust only a few during the the year. BTW, my panels were putting out almost 20 amps combined at 1:00 PM a few days ago.