Hey -- I never thought of clamping the two panels together! They are a
total pain to jockey around separately, but with the addition of a couple
Harbor Freight clamps, it would be miles easier. Thanks for the tip!

@Jake: I thought the OP's main question had to do with mounting panels to
his van, so I didn't think I had anything useful to contribute other than
peanut gallery-grade noise. Salmonella-free, though.

--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano
Bend, OR
KG6RCR

On 4/8/2009 12:42 PM Loren Busch wrote:

>  RE: Solar Panels
> If you read through Mike's page that he linked to you have the whole story.
> My setup is functionally nearly identical to Mike's except I don't have the
> fancy (expensive) monitor.  I started out with one 54 watt panel.  There is
> an event I go to every year, in the middle of the Summer, where I'm parked
> for at least six days, usually seven and sometimes eight.  I found that the
> single panel just barely kept up and the last two years I was using the
> Honda generator for a couple of hours about the fifth day.  So I acquired
> another, identical panel.  And I store them the same place as Mike, the area
> normally taken up by the top bunk.( My top bunk is out and a storage
> compartment built in up there).  And I also use a couple of the cheap photo
> monopods to prop up the panels.  One addition, I hold the two panels
> together when deployed using a very sophisticated clamping system:  Two
> small vice grips.  BTW, my connections are all Anderson Powerpole products
> and my cable to connect is 25 feet of #10 zip cord,  very flexible and easy
> to roll up and store.  I have a cable connected to the solar charge
> sontroller (under the rear seat) that runs to a connector that stays tucked
> away in the area under the rear cabinet.  When the panels are deployed the
> 25 foot cable is connected and run out to the panels and then connected
> there.
>