A better approach would have been to bore a 20mm hole with a stepper drill and fit a rubber grommet or gland into the (painted) metal. Otherwise there is a risk from constant movement of your van that the insulation covering your solar wires can chaffe away, and contact the bare metal of your van's roof ! Did you fit an in-line mc4 fuse just in case ? Otherwise good effort !
Thanks bud! This whole process has been an absolutely massive learning curve for me, had to learn 99% of things from scratch so there are definitely a lot of things I’d do differently next time! 😅 Yep, both cables have an inline fuse fitted.
Hi, I'm just planning an upgrade of my 100w solar to 300w. Your wiring appears very thick. Is this size of cable required for solar of this size? I'm wondering if my existing cabling will need upgrading. Many thanks. Great video btw
Hey! Thanks for the comment :) When I bought the extension cable for my panel, I basically just matched the thickness of the cable feeding out of the solar panel itself. I believe that was 12AWG/4mm cable. The main thing you'll want to consider is the amp-rating of the cable itself to make sure that the cable won't overheat. If you're upgrading to a 300W panel, you'll need to make sure that the cable you use can safely carry slightly more than 25amps 👍
Jeez dude ! Id be painting your entire (flat) roof with white hammerite (anti-rust) enamel paint, especially bare metal edges and holes. Or it will create havoc over time ?
Oh I was just referring to feeding the positive and negative cables down through the roof - they were long and because they’d been curled up so long they weren’t feeding through as easy as you would expect 😂
Hey mate, another great video. One question please! If you were a bit of a numpty and say, insulated your roof before you remembered you needed to fit the solar panels, am I correct in thinking it’s done entirely from the outside if using those well nuts? I’d forget my own head if it wasn’t bolted down 🙄
Thanks dude! Those well nuts are an absolutely dream. You’ll just need to drill some holes big enough to slot them in. Once you put the screws in and start tightening them, they’ll tighten against the roof of the van so you shouldn’t need to touch the inside of the van 👍🏼
@@GreenHornCountryClub absolutely fantastic news! 🤣 Thanks mate. Will drill out a lil wee bit of the insulation board to allow room for the well nuts as I drill the holes. I really should learn to make a plan.
@@GreenHornCountryClub hey dude, panels are installed using the well nuts so I didn’t have to remove the roof insulation! Yay. One question please, when tightening the bolts into the well nuts, how tight did you go? Did you keep going until really tight as it feels more like it needs a decent pinch not too tight? Help!! 🤣 Cheers once again mate.
Great videos amigo, straightforward, no bull,
@@ogster35 thanks dude!
A better approach would have been to bore a 20mm hole with a stepper drill and fit a rubber grommet or gland into the (painted) metal.
Otherwise there is a risk from constant movement of your van that the insulation covering your solar wires can chaffe away, and contact the bare metal of your van's roof !
Did you fit an in-line mc4 fuse just in case ?
Otherwise good effort !
Thanks bud! This whole process has been an absolutely massive learning curve for me, had to learn 99% of things from scratch so there are definitely a lot of things I’d do differently next time! 😅 Yep, both cables have an inline fuse fitted.
Hi, I'm just planning an upgrade of my 100w solar to 300w. Your wiring appears very thick. Is this size of cable required for solar of this size? I'm wondering if my existing cabling will need upgrading. Many thanks. Great video btw
Hey! Thanks for the comment :) When I bought the extension cable for my panel, I basically just matched the thickness of the cable feeding out of the solar panel itself. I believe that was 12AWG/4mm cable.
The main thing you'll want to consider is the amp-rating of the cable itself to make sure that the cable won't overheat. If you're upgrading to a 300W panel, you'll need to make sure that the cable you use can safely carry slightly more than 25amps 👍
Jeez dude !
Id be painting your entire (flat) roof with white hammerite (anti-rust) enamel paint, especially bare metal edges and holes. Or it will create havoc over time ?
Out of interest, the video looks easy but you said it was way more difficult than you anticipated... how come?
Oh I was just referring to feeding the positive and negative cables down through the roof - they were long and because they’d been curled up so long they weren’t feeding through as easy as you would expect 😂
Hey mate, another great video.
One question please! If you were a bit of a numpty and say, insulated your roof before you remembered you needed to fit the solar panels, am I correct in thinking it’s done entirely from the outside if using those well nuts?
I’d forget my own head if it wasn’t bolted down 🙄
Thanks dude! Those well nuts are an absolutely dream. You’ll just need to drill some holes big enough to slot them in. Once you put the screws in and start tightening them, they’ll tighten against the roof of the van so you shouldn’t need to touch the inside of the van 👍🏼
@@GreenHornCountryClub absolutely fantastic news! 🤣
Thanks mate. Will drill out a lil wee bit of the insulation board to allow room for the well nuts as I drill the holes.
I really should learn to make a plan.
@@willpolr keep me posted on how you get on with them!
@@GreenHornCountryClub I will do mate. Panels arriving in a couple of days time so next break in the weather is crunch time!
@@GreenHornCountryClub hey dude, panels are installed using the well nuts so I didn’t have to remove the roof insulation! Yay.
One question please, when tightening the bolts into the well nuts, how tight did you go? Did you keep going until really tight as it feels more like it needs a decent pinch not too tight? Help!! 🤣
Cheers once again mate.