Cable routing for solar setup

[jaylee]

Cool,

Glad you got it sorted.

It's a bit of an adventure rumaging around behind all that trim isn't it? Lol

[Bongolia]

Tim
Did you go with the Photonics kit?
I am looking at installing on my bongo, What was the physical size of panel you ended up with?

[timhowes]

I was ready to buy from Photonic but they didn't have stock. Instead I bought one of these: http://www.renytek.co.uk/semi-flexible- ... 5&id=39498

Good service, delivered rapidly. The dimensions are exactly as billed, 106cm long. This fits really nicely across the width of the AFT, right at the back. Drilled a couple of holes for the cables and routed down through the grommet, behind the trim and up to the front where I installed a 10A MPPT controller, in turned routed through a bulkhead grommet to the LB under the bonnet.

It's 100w of back-contact cells. Some here had suggested these may be more prone to failure; however I went with it anyway as I couldn't fit a framed panel under my roof rack, and the traditional semi-flexi panels are all larger per unit power. So far so good but it's early days! Haven't really been tracking the performance but delivers over 3-4A on sunny days without being very diligent about angulation etc.

Hope it continues to perform well 'cos it's glued on pretty firmly...

[Bongolia]

Ta.

[Bongolia]

And this?
http://www.renytek.co.uk/solar-charge-c ... 3&id=39940

[timhowes]

No, that's quite expensive for a PWM controller if you ask me. I went for one of these MPPT controllers with the optional remote meter for an extra £20 and I'm very pleased so far:

http://www.bimblesolar.com/offgrid/mppt/Tracer1215BN