MOD Upgraded Solar with floating solar array on Girard awning mounts

[MarkMaxPayne]

I was finding that my 400W factory flexible solar panels that are mounted on the curved hump of the Newmar New Aire roof, just were not doing it for me in the winter. I would still have to go out and run the generator for about 3 hours every other weekend to keep the lithium batteries charged.

Inspired by other similar forum posts, I had Bish's in Junction City, OR build an aluminum framed floating solar panel array leveraging the Girard awning mounts as to not introduce any new holes in the roof. With six panels over the same area over the rear bedroom of my New Aire, I now have almost 1200 Watts. Didn't even bother to remove the flexible panels that had been stuck to the roof with sealant; the new panels float right over them.

The only mod I made was they ran the wires directly to my Victron MPPT solar controller and I put a DC circuit breaker before the controller so I could isolate the panels without getting on the roof to mess with connectors.

Best,
-Mark

 

[Neal]

Looks great! Let us know how they work out, pV numbers, etc.

 

[Larry D]

Nice-I have been thinking about this a lot. How are the aluminum tubes connected to the Girard awning mounts? I don't see fasteners. No vibration when traveling? Thanks

 

[Rustymayes]

Looks like a very clean installation. I just installed some super strut on my Girard mounts to fashion a tiedown rack for my artificial grass rolls. I am now storing them on the roof at the front of the coach instead of taking up room in the basement lockers. Those mounts are quite sturdy.

 

[MarkMaxPayne]

Nice-I have been thinking about this a lot. How are the aluminum tubes connected to the Girard awning mounts? I don't see fasteners. No vibration when traveling? Thanks

In the 2nd and 3rd pics you will see a rectangular extruded section of box aluminum held onto the Girard mounts with 2 screws or bolts (I forget which). On top of the boxes previously mentioned you'll then see 2 L brackets running parallel to the awnings and fake awnings mounted on top of these. The 1st and 4th pics then show square extruded aluminum mounted across the roof between these L channels. Holes drilled in the top of these large enough for a socket to fit to then mount them to the L channels.

I haven't noticed any vibration/bounce, but it does look like (pic 1) that they put some sealant along the center of the curved roof where the cross braces almost touch the roof peak.

Best,
-Mark