While I was sleeping I had a Dream

Old and Grey · Senior Member

While I was sleeping I had a Dream

Gundog · Guru

Old and Grey wrote:
Morning everyone,
Yes It was a Dream that I dreamt up.
Twin rollout Solar awnings either side of our van, that pumped out 1200 watts of solar power for long term off grid to power including our AC.
What a dream idear, Or am I losing it already.
Can the solar tech boys and girls make dreams come to life.
Have a nice day. I might have a Nanna today.
Grey

It's one idea that has merit, all we need is a smart ar$e to do it, and get a queue lined up to buy them

iana · Guru

I think the CSIRO were working on just that, them or someone else, I may have done a survey for them about that, but it was some time ago.

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Cheers,

Peter

yobarr · Guru

Peter_n_Margaret wrote:
Cheers,
Peter

Brilliant setup Peter.....I will now consider hinging the last 3 panels on my van's roof.Have you ever considered hinging each end of the panel as well,to create an El Cheapo sun tracker? Without moving the vehicle,you could then follow the sun all day, assuming the front of the car faced South(ish).Cheers.

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Our original roof panels were set up to allow hinging.
Too hard - set and forget is a better option and add an extra panel.
The first requirement for the one over the rear window was to provide some shade. The extra solar collection was the bonus. a couple of gas struts would make it neater.
No reason why you could not put them down each ide of a van too, if you weren't into bush bashing, like we do often.
Cheers,
Peter

yobarr · Guru

Peter_n_Margaret wrote:
Our original roof panels were set up to allow hinging.
Too hard - set and forget is a better option and add an extra panel.
The first requirement for the one over the rear window was to provide some shade. The extra solar collection was the bonus. a couple of gas struts would make it neater.
No reason why you could not put them down each ide of a van too, if you weren't into bush bashing, like we do often.
Cheers,
Peter

Thats interesting,Peter.I have 3 panels facing the front of the van,at about the 30 degree pitch of the van front,with the rest flat on the roof.Seems it would be easier just to leave things as they are? Cheers

Jaahn · Guru

Hi smile

The CSIRO are working on some interesting ideas for solar cells in cheap and flexible models. They are in test but who knows when. https://www.csiro.au/en/Research/EF/Areas/Renewable-and-low-emission-tech/Solar-energy/Photovoltaics

Great idea Peter, but possibly you mostly go around up north where the flat panels on the roof work OK in winter, but having hinged panels would help down south. I found having portable panels in winter made a lot of difference as you could chase the sun several times a day and increase the yield a lot. No special props or legs just use a fence or trees etc. aww

BUT my dream is get a tiny cheap Hiab with the panels on a frame on the end and just set them up to an angle in comfort from the ground if needed, or out the side away from the shade with the bus under a tree, or just flat on the roof normally. biggrin Hmmmm........

Jaahn

Plain Truth · Guru

Kedron caravans have a flexible solar panel that they can fit on the front window cover awning.

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

No doubt there will be lots of new solar panel developments in the near future as costs continue to decrease and uses increase. Exciting times.
When we bought the first panels for the OKA just 16 years ago, they cost $9 per watt for good quality rigid panels. The going rate now is under $1.
Some of the flexible panels still have problems, but they will be solved fairly quickly, I reckon, and when you look at the material content involved, they might even be cheaper than rigid panels eventually.

Regarding use up north compared to down south, it is not as dramatic as it might seem. Power requirements for the fridge are much lower down south and in summer at least, the days are longer.
We spent several weeks in Norway north of the Arctic Circle in a motorhome. Solar power was never an issue. Our needs were much lower and the sun did not set, so even at midnight there was still a bit of solar dribbling in.
We had 2 back up systems. Direct charging from the alternator and an Efoy fuel cell that produced 75W continuously 24/7 with about the same noise as a compressor fridge and zero pollution.
Winter needs a different approach.
Cheers,
Peter

Warren-Pat_01 · Guru

While stopped at Barcaldine a couple of days ago, I saw two vans with tilt-able panels.
The ones on the side were on stainless racks & appeared that they could swing to capture the sun while the front & back were tilted about 15 degrees - facing the front & the back. It possibly was a good system as they caught the sun wherever it was but the wind resistance must have been terrible with all this metal sticking up.

Having a poptop & getting weaker by the year, I doubt whether I could fit them.

Plain Truth,
With panels generally needing 25mm of air clearance under them to dissipate the heat, how do the Kedron ones work?

the rocket · Guru

Old and Grey wrote:
Morning everyone,
Yes It was a Dream that I dreamt up.
Twin rollout Solar awnings either side of our van, that pumped out 1200 watts of solar power for long term off grid to power including our AC.
What a dream idear, Or am I losing it already.
Can the solar tech boys and girls make dreams come to life.
Have a nice day. I might have a Nanna today.
Grey

Great idea. Working at inventing in your sleep. You need a beer after all that night work. smile

Tony Bev · Guru

Old and Grey wrote:
Morning everyone,
Yes It was a Dream that I dreamt up.
Twin rollout Solar awnings either side of our van, that pumped out 1200 watts of solar power for long term off grid to power including our AC.
What a dream idear, Or am I losing it already.
Can the solar tech boys and girls make dreams come to life.
Have a nice day. I might have a Nanna today.
Grey

Hi Grey, keep dreaming please

If what you dreamed about, comes to fruition, it will be a game changer, for those of us, who use free/donation camps

I did read a few years ago, about how they could print off (very thin), solar panels, but alas nothing seems to have come of it

Jaahn · Guru

Tony Bev wrote:
Old and Grey wrote:
Morning everyone,
Yes It was a Dream that I dreamt up.
Twin rollout Solar awnings either side of our van, that pumped out 1200 watts of solar power for long term off grid to power including our AC.
What a dream idear, Or am I losing it already.
Can the solar tech boys and girls make dreams come to life.
Have a nice day. I might have a Nanna today.
Grey
Hi Grey, keep dreaming please
If what you dreamed about, comes to fruition, it will be a game changer, for those of us, who use free/donation camps
I did read a few years ago, about how they could print off (very thin), solar panels, but alas nothing seems to have come of it

Hi biggrin

An up date from the CSIRO 18th October 2019.

https://www.csiro.au/en/Research/EF/Areas/Renewable-and-low-emission-tech/Solar-energy/Photovoltaics/Pervoskite-solar-cells

Jaahn

Tony Bev · Guru

Thanks for that link to the CSIRO, Jaahn

I do notice that the thin film panels, have a theoretically 21 - 22% efficiency rate, while older panels seem to be between 17 - 19% (My own layman research while surfing the net)

In my opinion, it could be well worth carrying on with this research, as the benefits seem to be, cheaper to manufacturer, lighter, and more efficient solar panels

I shall just have to hurry up and wait, until they become mainstream

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Tony Bev wrote:
................... older panels seem to be between 17 - 19% ..................

17-19% is if they are "good" panels. smile

That translates to 170 - 190W per M2 of cell area, so that is an easy way to check if the claimed output of a panel it likely to be genuine, or not (at standard testing parameters).

I recently purchased some new panels that were claimed to be 300W each.

I will actually be very happy if they are 180W and not too upset if they are 150W.

Cheers,

Peter

Tony Bev · Guru

Thanks for that info, Peter

Your formula seems like an easy way, for a layman like myself, to separate some of the facts and fictions, between different solar panel resellers