Thread: Homestar's new home?

Originally Posted by Milton477

I have been led to believe that solar panels work better the cooler they are. That doesn't make sense though does it?

No, you are 100% correct - panels lose effeciency the hotter they get. Up to 25% by the time they hit 60 degrees, but with the amount of panels I have, I can afford to lose that without it worrying the system too much.

Originally Posted by Homestar

No, you are 100% correct - panels lose effeciency the hotter they get. Up to 25% by the time they hit 60 degrees, but with the amount of panels I have, I can afford to lose that without it worrying the system too much.

You have a point there.

The final stretch of a build is hard work. I rushed mine a bit & some of the she'll be good enough bits are biting me 3 years later.

Hmmm, there's plenty of 'she'll be right' going on at the moment working to such a tight deadline.... 😆

Originally Posted by Homestar

No, you are 100% correct - panels lose effeciency the hotter they get. Up to 25% by the time they hit 60 degrees, but with the amount of panels I have, I can afford to lose that without it worrying the system too much.

So Gav, your technically saying that I should make sure the van place should be making sure my 1 x 200w panel should be "off" the surface by an inch or so when it gets done by them in two weeks(??).

Originally Posted by Chops

So Gav, your technically saying that I should make sure the van place should be making sure my 1 x 200w panel should be "off" the surface by an inch or so when it gets done by them in two weeks(??).

On a fixed installation on a roof, this would be the case as convection would allow cool air to enter at the bottom and the warm air exit from the top. When layed flat on a van, not sure how much it would help, but certainly a bit - ask them to see what they would normally do.

Both extra panels I've installed have been silasticed to these

Another modern luxury fitted.


990BE9E1-DFD8-47CA-9959-F92E17834563 by Gavin Gregory, on Flickr


62042F80-44E6-47B2-9097-5C6668352E03 by Gavin Gregory, on Flickr


Like a lot of modern van bits, it isn't designed for older vans and although not that difficult to fit, they are designed for van manufacturers and not as an afterthought due to where the cable has to run and how solid the base needs to be. I overcame both these issues by pulling an internal ceiling panel down a couple of inches at a join and fitting a block of wood under the top mount and also ran the cable through the roof cavity at the same time. It's not 100% but it is plenty solid enough.

Hmm - I used one of those when I was in NZ in the transit van! Lol