looking up at these heavy duty slides on the roof right now and finally breathing a sigh of relief. put solar up there last month. it was great at first. pumping all that juice into the 12v 460ah lithium battery under the bed meant we could basically use power out in the wild.
but to save time, i flush-mounted the panels directly to the roof. the sun came out, the inside of the van was easily 10 degrees hotter than outside. complained to a buddy and got completely roasted. absolutely need an air gap under solar panels for ventilation.
I decided to modify the solar panel. i went to the hardware store. bought some heavy-duty drawer slides, weather stripping, structural adhesive, latch pins, and a bunch of flexible stranded wire. spent two full days crawling around on the roof, but managed to build this slide-out setup that extends out over the sides.
pulled them out today to test. solar efficiency didn't drop at all, and the roof isn't baking us alive. that big battery down below can finally run the AC. hoping to actually survive the summer heat this year.
chopping some veggies in the kitchen to make some food. cold air is blowing. feels like a home again.
seriously, don't flush mount your panels. learn from my pain.