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Anyone any experience with flexible solar panels? My camper (an old fiat 850T) has a slight curve across the roof so was hoping to bond one or two of these directly to the roof to charge my 110Ah leisure battery.
Given the standard of English and the claim that there is NOT (sic) UK or €U tax to be paid I would be wary of the vendors.
However, I too would like to bond a flexible panel directly to the roof.
I understand that there might be overheating problems due to the lack of ventilation.
Yes. In the early 90s I stuck a couple of Solarex marine solar panels to the roof of my curved Winnebago with mastic.
They worked well and were still there eight years later when we sold. You could walk on them in soft shoes.
Ray.
______________________________________________________________ The FSA licensed a twice convicted fraudster to handle our life´s savings. Guess what? He robbed us. http://raynipper.com
I did some side by side tests with flexible panels and standard glass panels. Its true you can walk over flexible panels providing you have soft shoes and that they are stuck onto something firm. The decks of boats being a classic example. The technology use for flexible panels is different and results in less reduction in output in cloudy conditions.
BUT (and its a BIG but)
The level of electrical output per square metre of a flexible panel is significantly less than that of a conventional glass panel, under all conditions. So if you are limited by space it has to be a glass panel.
Thanks all, I wasn't aware of the reduced power of these panels, might have to buy a larger panel. I had seen the panels maplin are selling but these are too long for my camper - the fiat 850t is only small and these panels are quite long and narrow. The main reason for looking at these is the aesthetics - on such a small curved roof fitting a glass panel would spoil the look of the camper but these would be barely noticeable at 2.5mm thick. If I buy I'll update the post with how good/bad/indifferent the company were.
I understand that there might be overheating problems due to the lack of ventilation.
Overheating of the panel, or the camper roof which will essentially become heat absorbing black?
CliveMott wrote:
I did some side by side tests with flexible panels and standard glass panels.
The level of electrical output per square metre of a flexible panel is significantly less than that of a conventional glass panel, under all conditions. So if you are limited by space it has to be a glass panel.
C.
Clive, any ball park reduction percentage you would like to suggest? And/or how much bigger an area would be needed as flexible panels for the same output?
It is tempting for me too, since the high point of our camper is at 3.9m, so anything at that height that minimises potential impact damage from trees etc seems a good idea!
Jason
______________________________________________________________ Small steps
It was published in MM some time back
Extract here:-
It is clear from these results that the more conservatively rated BP panel out-performed the ultra thin Sunware panel under all test conditions. Under overcast conditions the BP gave an advantage of about 2.5%. Under bright sky conditions the BP panel gave an advantage of about 16%.
Facing the sun the BP gave an advantage of about 15%.
The best output seen from the Sunware panel was 23.8 watts. From the BP panel 27.15 watts.
This equates to 81 watts per square metre for the Sunware and 91 watts per square metre for the BP.
All panels will provide more output in equatorial locations.
If you plan to walk on your solar panel the Sunware is the one to chose, if not then conventional glass is the one to chose.
I can confirm Clive's findings. I had 2 of the flexible panels. and the output is a lot lower plus they cost a fortune per watt in comparison to normal glass panels. Normal glass based solar is around £1.80-£2.00 a watt. The flexible ones when I bought were about 4 times the cost per watt.
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