Solar panel

Charlessyverson · August 21

I am looking to add a solar panel to my 2023 Tab 320 Boondock. I want on that will fit on the back roof in between the Yakima rack rails. Has anyone installed one there and if so, what panel did you get?

Thank you for the feedback.

Cherokee · August 21

We bought a suit-case portable that allows us to easily move it around to maximize sun exposure. The option to place your T@B in the shade while still charging good amperage is wonderful

Gomers2 · August 22

@Cherokee gives good advice here, the flat portable ones are effective and a good compliment to the curved ones on the roof. They open up your options when you have a shady site. More is better, but even the 100w can help a lot.

AnOldUR · August 22

Charlessyverson said:

Has anyone installed one there and if so, what panel did you get?

I suppose owner have done this, but we use our rear roof rack and wouldn't want to lose that option. As an alternative, we removed the small factory solar panel and replaced it with the same 310W Sunflare panel that comes on 400's. Very pleased with the results. For a 320, I think it's enough for rooftop solar.

pthomas745 · August 22

Getting the panels on the roof is pretty easy. Getting the wiring into the trailer will require some thought. Owners have done this in different ways. There are some great mods with solid panels attached to the cross bars of the rack, also. One of the best mods ever is linked in this thread on a tiltable panel attached to the Yakima rack, with tons of info on the roof construction.

https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/10504/flexible-solar-install

Here is another on a 2017.

https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/11530/installing-solar-panels-on-2017-tab-320s

And another, with some really nice setups in other links.

https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/16600/solar-retrofit

Cherokee · August 23

Gomers2 said:

@Cherokee gives good advice here, the flat portable ones are effective and a good compliment to the curved ones on the roof. They open up your options when you have a shady site. More is better, but even the 100w can help a lot.

Thank you

astrict0 · August 29

I purchased 6x100 watt flex panels, veriaty of them on Amazon, and installed 5 of them on my 320 BD. Being that roof is somewhat cursed on good sunny day i get good 300 + watts out of them. When comes to wires boondock has two

lights on the back, so I replaced wire gland for one of the lights to larger one and used it to run my solar wires inside.

G.

Cherokee · September 5

Mounting the solar panels on the rear rack is perfect - the air traveling below the panel will will allow the panels to run cooler and more efficient

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021717/uploads/editor/ja/k1dtl6haj619.jpg

AnOldUR · September 6

The factory flexible rails attached to the roof do not distribute the load and have a low weight rating. Any load is concentrated on the aluminum frames rectangular tube directly under the cross bar. Each rail is attached with a single sheet metal screws going through one wall of each of the thin walled aluminum frame tube. Maybe eight screws per side.

With the @Cherokee setup I'd worry more about the up lifting his solar panels will create at highway speeds and potential for pulling out screws that have limited thread engagement.

It sounds like you've successfully traveled this way, so you're not concerned. Just a heads up to others to do more research and analysis before attempting this. Maybe ask nuCamp what they think.

edit to add picture of frame tubing for reference ...

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021717/uploads/editor/50/6yxyr0ub2qpf.jpg

elbolillo · September 6

Heat can affect solar panel efficiency, however the loss of efficiency would be fairly minimal. Don’t let anyone fool you, the increased complexity and expense of trying to provide minimal airflow to cool your panels would result in very little increase of efficiency.

Cherokee · September 6

AnOldUR said:

The factory flexible rails attached to the roof do not distribute the load and have a low weight rating. Any load is concentrated on the aluminum frames rectangular tube directly under the cross bar. Each rail is attached with a single sheet metal screws going through one wall of each of the thin walled aluminum frame tube.

With this setup I'd worry more about the up lifting the panels will create at highway speeds and potential for pulling out screws that have limited thread engagement.

It sounds like you've successfully traveled this way, so you're not concerned. Just a heads up to others to do more research and analysis before attempting this. Maybe ask nuCamp what they think.

This IS NOT my T@B, in fact, I removed our rack when we go a truck with a Leer shall - the image came from a 320 face book page. Of the many comments Bruce received, no one mentioned this issue. Nu Camp rates the the rack at 60-70lbs (depending on the year). I couldn't find a airflow study on a 320 that would confirm your concerns. However, in the real world I've met people carrying kayaks mounted on the rack on a 320 crossing the country from white water stream to white water stream. The area of the kayaks was MUCH larger then these panels. I met them on their return trip. They remarked they had no problems. I posted this because it didn't involve additional roof penetrations to mount the panels.

Cherokee · September 6

elbolillo said:

Heat can affect solar panel efficiency, however the loss of efficiency would be fairly minimal. Don’t let anyone fool you, the increased complexity and expense of trying to provide minimal airflow to cool your panels would result in very little increase of efficiency.

You might look at this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLsz18oXEgo

One of the comments: "Here in New Zealand, I'm finding that any flexible panel is 'toast' after 3 summers. they have all cooked themselves because the can't cool themselves. They are also dull and chalky because of the ultraviolet light and lose efficiency massively"

This helps to explain why MBC and other Australian and American high- end trailer manufactures mount their panels lifted from their roofs. For those who live in American west this is a problem too. This is how I deal with the issue:

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