Member Techno100's guide to DIY solar panel fitting on a motorhome.

PART ONE make your own brackets etc

For this task you'll need:

• Some aluminium angle 60mm x 40mm x 3mm x 1 metre or equivalent
• Set square
• Hacksaw
• File
• Drill
• Tape measure
• Pencil
• Rivet gun
• 4mm rivets
• 4mm hss drill bit
• 5mm tap
• 5mm set screws

This is the third set of brackets I've made so far. I've used 60mmx40mmx3mm angle as I came by it handy like

A metre length of this stuff or similar can usually be bought for under a tenner, Ebay is good for this but plus P&P.

Closest I've found is 2.5"x1.5"x1/8" x1M for about £14 delivered.

Previously I've fitted 60 watt and 80 watt panels which require 4 brackets each and so only 1 set screw needed for each one. In this instance I've made brackets for 2 x 30 watt panels that will only require 1 bracket at each end and so I've fitted 2 set screws to keep them level. These are 5mm and I used a 4mm hss drill bit followed by a 5mm tap both driven through using a battery drill. You can use anything similar to achieve this or just a spacer.

Sikaflex 512 adhesive requires a MINIMUM thickness of 2mm and the set screws guarantee this will be acheived. I use the thickness of the brackets 3mm as in picture 3 to gauge this.

These particular brackets are 200mm long and the panel ends (to be illustrated next) are 445 mm wide.

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