In this post I walk you through my DIY solution for mounting solar panels on my Ford Transit camper van conversion.
Three (3) 180 watt Grape solar panels (540 W total) have been installed for over 2 years and have survived two (2) Ohio winters without any corrosion or rattling.
The solar panel roof mount was built from scratch by securing aluminum slotted hole strut channels (unistrut) through factory drilled holes in the roof of the Ford Transit. Each side of the van has 8-1/2 foot runs of unistrut. A 4th solar panel could fit on the roof but was not installed.
The factory drilled holes are capped as shown below. They pry off easily and expose a fitting that will accept an M8 threaded bolt. It’s worth noting from experience that the pre-drilled holes will likely need to be manually widened as some don’t align well with the fitting to the frame.
Between the strut channel and the roof of the van, motor mounts are used to elevate the struts above the crown of the van roof and reduce vibration. Nylon washers gave me the extra 1/8th of an inch the strut needed to clear the crown.
Threaded rod (316 stainless steel) is used to make the two runs of unistrut rigid. Without the lateral thread rod the unistrut bows outwards away from each other perpendicular to the crowning pitch of the roof. Force is necessary to angle the strut channels inward to sit perpendicular with the solar panels instead of the roof. Stainless steel right angle brackets are secured on both sides of the crown of the roof to keep the threaded rod from touching the roof.
The rubber piece shown in the middle of the threaded rod in the photo above is just a section of an old bike tire.
Springless strut nuts slide through each strut channel and allow the solar panels to be secured to the strut channels from above. As shown the right angle brackets are first secured to the solar panels and then to the strut nuts in the strut channels.
If you have any questions about doing this yourself on a Ford Transit, another kind of DIY camper van, or DIY RV solar set up feel free to reach out to me at manny@notwaitingtolive.com.
Parts Selection (items purchased highlighted in bold black):
