2023 End of Year

No we have not given up!

Here we are at the end of another year! With school starting back up in August after our trip to Europe, all our extra curricula activities began as well, taking up weekends. Around all of that, we were busy getting everything ready to put the solar panels on top of our skoolie.

Solar Panels Frames

In all our research, we found so many stories about solar panels flying off the roof of skoolies. We are going to do our very best to make sure that doesn’t happen to us!

We verified how much spacing there would be between the brackets on the roof and the frame. The panels need to be as close to the roof top as possible. Not only to reduce the height of the bus, but also to be able to secure them better.

The frames for the panels will be touching the roof in the center of the bus but on the edges of the frames, we have a curve to deal with. We had custom legs with brackets manufactured to overcome this issue and welded them to the frames.

The brackets will simply angle with the bus roof as needed. Once those were in place, we welded the frames together. We have one frame in front of the ventilation hatch and three behind the hatch. That leaves some space for our future roof deck all the way in the back of the bus.

We painted the frames upon the completion of welding. Hopefully the coat is thick enough that they will not rust away! Next, rubber strips were glued down along each edge of the frame in hopes of reducing any noise made from vibrations.

Installing the frames

Once all the frames were ready to go, we finally brought the bus home. We removed all the old caulk from between the roof panel connections, replaced it with new caulk and then sprayed flex seal on all rivets and roof seams to ensure they will not leak. We cannot access most of them after the solar panels are on, so even though it is tedious, it must be done right.

Note to future skoolie builders: don’t use spray paint of flex seal on your roof after painting the side of your bus when it’s a bit windy; now we have to repaint some of the sides again…

Next we installed the solar combiner box, that we received from some nice friends 😊 This will combine all solar panel wires into one distribution box. This way, if one solar panel is covered by shade, the panels exposed to the sun will still have output, unlike if we would put them in series together.

Playing with big toys

To install the frames and panels, we had to bring in some large equipment. Fortunately, we have extended family who have access to such equipment. We could not have achieved the next step without it!! With a bus and a boom lift in the driveway, parking the cars was a challenge but we were so happy to work on this milestone!

The frames were rigged under the boom basket. R was on top of the bus to rotate them in position and land them on the bus. Then we did some final adjustments to make sure they were straight and not overhanging the side of the bus. Several hours later, the frames were in place.

Once all the frames were in place, we drilled holes in the roof of the bus, then bolted the brackets through the bus roof to nuts inside the bus. A two-person job for sure. 24 bolts and nuts and two days later, they were all mounted, caulked, flex sealed and tested. Quite some work! It’s always scary to drill so many holes in the school roof.

Next, we mounted the bus roof wire-receiver box and drilled 8 more holes through the bottom of the box and the roof of the bus to feed the panel wiring through.

Installing the actual solar panels

Then it was time for the solar panels. It took a little bit to figure out how to do the connectors but once we had that down, the install went fairly quick. We lifted a panel on the roof and placed it in the frame. While it was still connected, we both had to get onto the roof – one to lift the panel, the other to connect the wires to the panel. Once that was done, the panel was lowered and fit checked. We zip tied the wires along their path to the wire receiver box, pushed them through and cut them to size, put another connector on each end and repeat the steps for all four panels.

It was another solid day and a half of work, using a lot of caulk and flex seal in the process. Last step was to bolt the panels to the frames to ensure they don’t blow away. A long week, but in the end, we got it all done.

Inside the bus, we put connectors on all the wire ends and connected them to the solar combiner box. Then we had to wait for rain, just to make sure there are no roof leaks. And rain we got. Lots of it. And leaks too. Lots of them, but fortunately NONE of them in the roof. The side panels and windows of the bus were a different story though. But better to find them now then finding them after putting all the insulation in…

Next up…

 Next we will add another ceiling fan to make sure the future bedroom stays cool. Then add the roof deck and we can finally finish the insulation on the inside. After that, we can raise the air conditioning.

Still lots of work ahead. Stay tuned as we work hard to finish up by the end of 2024!