How to Install Solar Panels on Your Roof Top Tent

[@gregwhittingham1909]

Good and clear explanation for the solar needs, great work Terry

[@JafffaAdventures]

Thanks Greg, that is very kind of you to say. Have a great weekend mate, cheers😎👍

[@Lucky182390]

Thanks Terry, very helpful.

[@JafffaAdventures]

Good stuff Phil, I am glad you found some value in the production. Have a great weekend mate, cheers😎👍

[@alfredowilsonreyes5942]

Good afternoon Terry. First: I would like to apologize, I think by mistake I unsubscribed to your channel "will not let that happen again" Second : thank you for uploading this video about solar installation, that is exactly what I needed to see after the last conversation we have. Terry you are a legend 'me son' I will send you a picture after I install mine. My best for you and your family.

[@JafffaAdventures]

Good stuff mate, enjoy the install and the learning journey. Of course, unsubscribe whenever it suits you mate, it’s all good. Cheers👍😎

[@thirdtimeround-chromenomads]

Another great video. Although I zoned out a bit, when I heard "heavy lifting" 😅🤣

[@JafffaAdventures]

I understand completely mate, that’s why I gave everyone and easy way out😂. Thanks for your kind words Frank, I very much appreciate it 😎👍

[@touringwithtyrone4933]

Another brilliant, well thought out presentation. Geez i love these videos. Just no BS, brand opinions or discount codes. A person can simply relax and enjoy the content for what it us. Thanks Terry

[@JafffaAdventures]

That’s awesome feedback mate, thank you so much for taking the time to share. I guess the upside of no sponsorship is no BS content. The down side is that I will be eating 2 minute noodles for the rest of my days. Good thing I like noodles. Have a great weekend mate, cheers😎👍

[@peterhantzis7239]

Another great video and explanation. Thanks Terry.

[@JafffaAdventures]

Thanks Peter, that is very kind of you to take the time out of your day to share. Have a great weekend mate, and keep the shiny side up😎👍

[@fatmanoverlanding]

That Sikaflex sure holds strong, 💪and extremely messy. 😲 I think I'd stick to my 3M double sided tape. 😁 So far it's been holding. 🤞

[@JafffaAdventures]

It is indeed much more of a mess than the 3M tape, that’s for sure but the panels were never going to blow off🤣. Thanks for watching mate, I sincerely appreciate it 😎👍

[@emu4wd]

Like your vids. Nice and informative. Steve 🇦🇺

[@JafffaAdventures]

Thanks Steve, you are very kind to reach out and share your thoughts. I appreciate that very much. Have an amazing weekend mate, cheers😎👍

[@Oz4me_craig]

Well done mate, you covered all the bases so well in your list of factors and calculations .. I've been using solar to keep 12volt refrigeration cold for a very long time and it's certainly a science, that fortunately for most these days, can be covered by over gunning with battery capacity and extra panel current. Sure beats the hell out of those old 25 or 33watt panels and N70 style batteries of yesteryear, but we did whatever it took, to have cold beers in the bush🍻

[@JafffaAdventures]

Well said Craig, I too remember those 25 watt panels that did not fold down, were impossible to pack, and weighed a bloody tonne🤣. As you say however, whatever it takes to keep the beer cold. Thanks for watching and commenting mate, I sincerely appreciate it. Have a fantastic weekend 😎👍

[@LimestoneCoastCustoms]

Geez, a bloke who has the same jacket as me .... MUST be ok! 😉Thanks for the info, I'm still dreaming of the Bundutec, so these panels seem to be the go, much lighter I would expect. I love the way you make the info in your videos easy to follow, now subscribed (like I should have done ages ago! Cheers!!

[@JafffaAdventures]

Thanks for the kind words Rod, I sincerely appreciate it. I love that jacket of mine, bought it in Alice Springs years ago and been back since and could not find it again. Glad you are on the journey with me, I trust you will enjoy your stay. Cheers😎👍

[@barrymurphy3554]

Terry your a Legend Thanks for this information it was great. Stay safe cheers

[@JafffaAdventures]

My pleasure Barry, I’m glad that it was useful mate. Keep the shiny side up Barry👍😎

[@offgridtrek]

Great explanation and content

[@JafffaAdventures]

Cheer mate, I appreciate the kind words 😎👍

[@butchcassidy7010]

thank you for taking the time to make this video.

[@JafffaAdventures]

My pleasure mate, thanks for commenting 😎👍

[@disturbunce2335]

interesting set of numbers. I ran a data logger on my old 65l (maybe 60l, I can't recall but big enough to be a family fridge/freezer) white Evakool fridge for about 6 months and, although duty cycles work differnetly, I got reasonably similar results in tems of Amp consumption. The one thing I did learn was the number of times the fridge door gets openend really hurt the consumption figures. The only solution to this that I could find was an ice esky for the beer. Made a huge difference. Thanks for sharing your data.

[@JafffaAdventures]

That’s great real world feedback mate, and you are dead right…opening and closing amplifies the duty cycle significantly. If I am camping somewhere where I am going to stay for a long time (a week at a mates property for example), I’ll do exactly what you did, bring an esky to put the drinks in. Thanks for sharing mate, I sincerely appreciate it 😎👍

[@disturbunce2335]

@@JafffaAdventures mate if you bring beer when you are camping, you can camp at our property!

[@JafffaAdventures]

Lol, excellent 😂😎

[@georgesdesk]

Enjoyed watching this video nicely done 👍🏻

[@JafffaAdventures]

Thanks George, you are very kind in taking the time out of your day to share. Have a great weekend mate😎👍

[@AE-zj6oc]

Great video, thank you. I’m looking to see what panels I need and this was very helpful. Who do you recommend to get all this installed on my roof tent?

[@JafffaAdventures]

Thanks mate, I am glad you found it useful. I don’t have a recommendation for an installation expert, I do everything myself and don’t use anyone. Cheers😎👍

[@VoodooCrab]

Good video, dude!

[@JafffaAdventures]

Cheers mate😎👍

[@dougneville9097]

Well done mate.Thanks...

[@JafffaAdventures]

My pleasure Doug, thanks for your kind words. Have an amazing weekend mate, cheers😎👍

[@alishabab3]

Your correct in a way with series vs parallel but if it's a 12v system and its pumping 60v via series it will convert the extra voltage to amps through the victron controller. So if you calculate the difference you tend to get more amps then parallel depending on how high the series voc ends up. But most 12v panels have about 23-24 voc. The 175 had 30v I think or more so say 78v if you go by all the panels say 415w that draw max 29amps to the battery in series in parallel well max you already know but it's also based on many factors.. How thick the cable is, how far does the cable travel to mttp, the amp size of mttp.. Etc also the connectors that the solar panels come with are ok but cheap..it's best to cut them down close to the junction box and attach proper solar cables and depending on length if you go high voltage you can run 2x4mm solar cable upto 20m at 1.2% voltage drop. On 12v parallel you would need to run much thicker cable..if you are able to do it depending on you solar controller size I'd go series as higher voltage is better in early morning and afternoon and in day.

[@JafffaAdventures]

Cool, thanks for sharing 👍😎

[@rayarmstrong5374]

Another very informative video Great work Note The hat has you looking like Mr 4x4 😀

[@JafffaAdventures]

Thanks for the kind words Ray, I sincerely appreciate it. I thought the same thing when I saw the Akubra. Not sure how I feel about the comparison but I do love the hat😂. Have a great weekend mate😎👍

[@rayarmstrong5374]

@@JafffaAdventures I use an Alinta as well along with a million others Looks great and a good way to test your panels Cheers Ray

[@rayarmstrong5374]

Akubra

[@JafffaAdventures]

Go the Aussie products!!❤️

[@joe-ig7sz]

Great video mate 🤙

[@JafffaAdventures]

Thanks Joe, it’s very kind of you to say. Cheers 😎👍

[@HammerRocks]

Another good video 👍 And don't worry Terry, I too geek out on spreadsheets. I even make a spreadsheet of all the items I carry on my rig (and I mean ALL items) for each major trip to calculate the total weight so that I don't exceed GVM. 🤣 Question, if you weren't limited by your Redarc BC/DC charger, which solar connection method would you have preferred? Parallel (Amps additive) or series (voltage additive)? And why? Any pros and cons on each connection setup?

[@JafffaAdventures]

Good to see there is another spreadsheet geek out there, thanks for protecting my ego😉. I’m no solar expert but I’ll give it my best shot. As you noted, I was forced to wire in parallel due to the voltage limit of my inverter. However, let’s assume I did not have that limitation. In this case I still would have wired in parallel and panel failure that I experienced is the exact reason why. When wiring in series, if one panel dies you have an open circuit and the entire array stops working. When I was a kid I can remember sitting on the floor trying to get the old strings of Christmas lights working. When one light burnt out, the whole string died and you had to find that one burned out bulb to get the string to light up again. Likewise, if I had my array wired in series my entire array would have stopped working when that one panel died and my only option to get going again would have been to rewire the array in parallel. I’m not sure what the pros associated with wiring in series would be, but that one con I mentioned is big enough for me to wire in parallel every time. Great question, thanks mate😎👍

[@fatmanoverlanding]

@@JafffaAdventures I too was thinking about the same question. As I'm looking to add another panel to my existing fixed solar on my roof rack, and this helped me decided which method is best for me to join them. Thanks Terry. At the moment, I think the wire I am using on my existing solar is way overkill (ie. too large), what size wire are you using for your setup (from your solar to your relay/battery)?

[@JafffaAdventures]

My pleasure mate, I am glad this old man still has a bit of useful information in there somewhere! Of course the further away your array is from your battery, the larger the gauge wire needed to prevent voltage drop. As you may know I have my tent wired to my battery under the bonnet so the total length is probably 4-5 meters as the route is not direct. I'm using twin core AWG 7 which is 10mm sq and rated to 80amps. If I can physically fit the wire where I want to route it I usually err on the larger side. I don't think you can have a wire that's too big (within reason of course) and if you already have the wire in situ I would just use that. I trust this helps mate, have a great weekend (and long weekend if your are in SE Qld!!).

[@brianborum9298]

Helpful mate

[@JafffaAdventures]

Good stuff Brian, thanks for the feedback 😎👍

[@errolturner3496]

Hi terry great video. I have similar set up on our bundutop they have a shotky diode in that goop and they fail. I removed them as the enerdrive has back flow prevention so u don’t need the diodes.

[@JafffaAdventures]

That is really good to know Errol, thanks for sharing the information. I still have the panel on the scrap heap so I’ll dig it out and give that a crack. How would I identify the diode in question mate? Thanks Errol, really appreciate you watching mate. Cheers😎👍

[@rahalati]

Thanks for the info. I have a technical question which I hope you can help me with . Is the voltage generated by solar panels considered AC or DC voltage?

[@JafffaAdventures]

Solar panels produce DC voltage. Thanks for watching 😎👍

[@MichaelJones-ks9px]

Hey mate, I might have missed it in your video but could you tell me what app you use to be able to read the volts and amps coming from your solar panels. And how that app reads your solar panels. Thanks

[@JafffaAdventures]

It’s an app from Victron and it reads a signal from the BVM712. If you check out their website you should find all the info you need. Thanks for watching mate 👍😎

[@MudducksTouringAustralia]

Coz Im not that clever Terry I go for the more solar the better theory lol. Cheers Steve

[@JafffaAdventures]

Nothing wrong with that mate, nothing at all. Thanks for watching and commenting Steve, I sincerely appreciate it. Have a great weekend mate 😎👍

[@nolz262]

Any reason you ran the cables from the back all the way to the front and not have the Anderson’s at the front to help with volt drop?

[@JafffaAdventures]

Excellent question Matthew. The Bundutop comes prewired for solar with the connected Andersen plugs on the top and bottom clamshell. In their infinite wisdom they chose to run these at the back of the tent in my situation. Now I could have rotated the tent 180 degrees then they would be at the front left, but so would the up/down buttons and that is just too inconvenient for me. To combat any voltage drop I did run big-ass wires from the panels to the BCDC. I have about 0.3v drop over that run so not too bad. Thanks for asking mate, good to share the knowledge around. Cheers😎👍

[@nw2s]

Imma be pedantic and just mention that -most- of the time when you say amp, you mean amp-hour. amp is a unit of current and AH is a unit of energy. So when you say you have 96AH, you are specifying how much energy you have stored. When you say you have an excess of 37 amps, you really mean that you have an excess energy generation capacity over 8 daylight hours of 37AH. Then your capacity is easier to think about without a spreadsheet. How much energy is stored, and at what rate can I discharge that energy over what time? 100AH can produce 10A over 10 hours - that you can do in your head (for those afraid of spreadsheets :)

[@JafffaAdventures]

Cool😎