A few modifications to my 19

[Patandlinda]

Thanks for that interesting bit of info, Pat

You are very Welcome ! Pat

 

[MyronL]

I thought the same thing, Alan, and think you are right about vibration being accelerated. Leaks at holes aside, a big objection for me is dealing with resulting inside headliner ugliness. Think I just found an answer.

 

[Centex]

.... Think I just found an answer.

Where there's a will (or wile ;D) ....

 

[MyronL]

Big day today. Very happy bolt holes drilled be hidden inside cabinet.

 

[tractors1]

Very well planned and executed. Good show!

 

[mimie]

Big day today. Very happy bolt holes drilled be hidden inside cabinet.

Impressive!
I was just telling some folks at a Spring Fling fiberglass trailer rally last weekend about your camera footage of the “ride” on top of your trailer, and how you were using that to help assess the safety/practicality of mounting your panel without bolts/penetrating the shell.
Gotta say, I am a fan of hardware, in situations like this. Your solution looks great!

 

[MyronL]

Soon as I add two more corner brackets and my new solar controller gets here there will be another vibration road test. Clearly, though, with this roof curvature there is no comfort zone to safely allow reliance on the VHB tape.

 

[HABBERDABBER]

Fear of holes

Boaters have numerous holes drilled into their craft, often below the water line, for electronics, engine cooling, accessory mounting, deck hardware, on and on. Drilling into an Escape shouldn't be some dreaded thing, if good mounting procedure, sealing and maintenance/inspection are conducted. Our rigs come to us with numerous openings already.


I've not been a complete believer in VHB for mounting rigid framed panels. Mechanical fasteners are simply more robust than most adhesive bonds.



Myron, I think you did your panel mounting in a "Bristol fashion".

 

[Effie]

Great looking install, just make sure to cover those screws in the cabinets to save your knuckles.

 

[gabeck]

Half-inch thick slabs culled and cut from this pile of Juniper firewood when doweled together and glued to a plywood base... makes a nice table top. Also makes one **** of a lot of waste, and sawdust.

Can't lie--Doing the turquoise colored casting resin filler thing was a whale of a trial.

Oh wow, just catching up on some forum things and saw this..... it is so so pretty. Wolf is in awe!!

 

[MyronL]

Vibration road test this morning. All is good on dirt, on asphalt. (House-less guy also likes it.)

 

[MyronL]

Brief re-cap showing successful add on to roof, 190 watt solar panel.

 

[MyronL]

Another lesson learned this morning. This one is about the installation of my recently installed MPPT Victron solar controller. Thought I did a great job. A week after the install something about it was off. Sun is shining, skies blue, but my ten dollar battery monitor, instead of reporting 13 volts-plus in the back yard actually dropped down, to 12.5 volts. Also, the Victron remote monitor was not showing any info at all about the 190 watt panel on the roof. And I had used (with several upgrades) the cell phone Victron auto configurations.

It clearly not sending juice into the battery. I disconnected the 190 from the Victron and connected one of my portable solar panels. Confirmed. The battery sprang back up to over 13 volts, the monitor reported the Amps, etc., all good. Tom told me this ain’t my first rodeo, but... Must be a bad connection someplace so I got up on the roof and re-did those snap together connections, studied all wiring runs for trouble. Noticed the little bulk bulb on the Vic was flashing but gave that no mind. Did I actually have the misfortune to buy a busted solar panel?

Re-read the Victron energy (blue power) booklet. Not that that did me any good. Who understands that electronics jargon anyway? Now at the end of my rope.

This morning I decided, before calling in the solar police, to try one last thing. I (nervously) switched the solar pos and neg leads from the 190 to the Vic.

The bulk bulb stopped flashing, glowing red now. The Vic monitor also now reports all wonderful news the 190 was sending to the controller. Right. I had done the pos/neg leads from the solar panel to MPPT the opposite of right. That Bud’s on me...

 

[Effie]

Nice to resolve a problem after you stumble for a while. I installed few solar systems and I learned the hard way to check the panel’s voltage before connecting the solar controller, this way I can verify that the panel is working and polarity is correct.

 

[OpsPops]

Re-read the Victron energy (blue power) booklet. Not that that did me any good. Who understands that electronics jargon anyway? Now at the end of my rope.

This morning I decided, before calling in the solar police, to try one last thing. I (nervously) switched the solar pos and neg leads from the 190 to the Vic.

The bulk bulb stopped flashing, glowing red now. The Vic monitor also now reports all wonderful news the 190 was sending to the controller. Right. I had done the pos/neg leads from the solar panel to MPPT the opposite of right. That Bud’s on me...

Having watched & listened to you on YouTube , & having a reasonably good imagination, I was able to visualize & HEAR you ;D processing the problem as you worked it through to success. Congrats on your success & for the auditory imprinting.

 

[MyronL]

Thank you Effie, thank you, Ops, observations much appreciated.

 

[MyronL]

No Quartzsite but hoping to get out soon. Need to try out latest mod - conversion of dinette area into a permanent lounge/bed with fold-up short table.

 

[millybob]

I’m designing a solar panel mounting system. What size is your panel? Is it he GoPro 190 watt that ETI has used? That would be 26 1/4” x 59 1/8”. That distance barely reaches into my overhead cabinets. I have a 2018 5.0 TA trailer and am converting to lithium. Almost there. This forum is a Godsend for Escapees! Thanks for the information!

 

[MyronL]

Home Depot on sale. $249. + materials for my homeboy frame.

 

[MyronL]

I had raised the dinette bench 4 inches but one night in the new front bed was enough to make me need another cushion to soften the ledge. Instead of buying a slab of thick cushion foam at the JoAnn fabric store I found this blue lounge cushion.