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Old 10-18-2020, 12:02 PM   #1
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Winnebago Vista 27N Solar System

Installed a three 320 watt solar panel system on my Vista this month.

- Panels tilted 10 degrees, raised high enough to clear bedroom vent lidk
- Roof footprint 10' x 5' 6"
- Total roof weight 140 pounds
- New minimum clearance height 12' 11"
( 13' 3" to clear top of WeBoost antenna without deflecting it's spring)
- Used Mission Solar MSE PERC 60 Solar Panels
- 40.8 volt open circuit voltage, 34.2 volt max power point voltage
- Panels connected in parallel
- 30 amp circuit breaker on solar side
- 60 amp circuit breaker on battery side
- OneSolar 60 amp MPPT Solar Charge Controller
- Took advantage of the deep bathroom wall to mount the controller


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Old 10-18-2020, 03:29 PM   #2
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Randy, Wow! That should generate a lot of power.

Question: What is your worst nightmare driving back roads and entering and or leaving campgrounds?

Answer: TREES!

Hopefully you won't encounter any low hanging branches that snag and... ah, remove those lovely panels. Aren't they higher than your A/C units now? Those are usually around 12'6"

In our travels we've found a number of awfully large low hanging branches that like to decapitate our antennas on our roof. We've lost, one WiFi Ranger Antenna, one King Jack TV antenna, one Radio antenna and one WeBoost antenna.
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Old 10-18-2020, 03:58 PM   #3
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I think the reason for the unusual mounting height is to clear that vent underneath them, while keeping the panels together. To allow it to open.
I have 3 up top on mine, and they're not all located together. They're flex panels and are flat mounted. They seem to work well. If/when I replace them, I'll probably just leave them in place, and mount 3 new hard panels above them, unless there's some reason not to do it that way.
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Old 10-18-2020, 04:25 PM   #4
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looks great. Unrelated (I think), what's attached to the ladder on the short riser?
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Old 10-18-2020, 04:35 PM   #5
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Maybe the "WeBoost Antenna"?
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Old 10-18-2020, 04:59 PM   #6
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Yes, the passenger side of the solar array is 8" higher than the former highest point on the roof, the AC shroud at 12' 3". Yes, I know that I will have to be very thoughtful regarding trees with the higher height on the passenger side. The center and driver's side is below the AC shroud height.

I wanted some tilt to help with rain runoff, hoping that it will help self-clean the panels, and to get a slight benefit when dry camping in the southwest in the winter when parked with the passenger side facing north. I had found that with flat mounted panels the water would evaporate and leave behind dirty residue.

I wanted enough height in the center under the array for the bedroom roof vent to open allmost all the way.

There's a WeBoost RV cell booster antenna mounted on the ladder, it's 13' 3" but it has a spring so that it would not be catastrophic if it hit on something higher than the stuff in front of it at low speed.
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