MK111 Rear Hatch Solar Panels 300W

[Patrol Dude]

After much deliberation and looking at other solar solutions installed on Tvans I have finally installed some solar panels on the rear hatch of the Tvan [emoji106]

I'll list the parts and the process. Installed 3 x 100W panels across the rear hatch.


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Patrol Dude
4.2TD

[Patrol Dude]

Parts used:
Multi wall Polycarbonate Sheet 8mm thick. This is to keep the heat of the solar panels off the hatch. At 8mm thick this gives a real robust base, with excellent cooling properties.
Aluminium channel



Selleys 3 in 1





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Patrol Dude
4.2TD

[Patrol Dude]

The aluminium channel has a inside width of 9mm


The Flexi solar panels where approx 2.5mm thick, so I had to massage the edge of the polycarbonate panels a bit to be able to fit the panel and the polycarbonate into the channel. Nice snug fit.


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Patrol Dude
4.2TD

[Patrol Dude]

I had to trim all the solar panels to just inside the eyelets to make them all narrow enough to fit on the rear hatch.





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Patrol Dude
4.2TD

[Patrol Dude]

I joined the panels together with some plastic I pieces with a 2mm gap, total width is 1593mm




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Patrol Dude
4.2TD

[Patrol Dude]

Also joined and used the Selleys 3in1 on the I beam to hold the polycarbonate sheets together



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Patrol Dude
4.2TD

[Patrol Dude]

Made the frame with the channel so it was nice and tight. Made the frame in two piece with the top and bottom of the panels joined in the middle on the sides with nice bevelled corners to add some strength. Used a 200mm piece of 16x16x1.5 channel to fishplate the two pieces together.









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Patrol Dude
4.2TD

[Patrol Dude]

In the top left and right corners I riverted  a piece of 50x75x3mm aluminium to brace the corner and to allow for a flat service for a bolt to go through the fibre glass of the hatch.






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Patrol Dude
4.2TD

[Patrol Dude]

To add a bit more support to the frame I also added some 30x3mm corner bracing





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Patrol Dude
4.2TD

[Patrol Dude]

This mount is the lower passenger side below the sail track


This one has a piece of 35x25x3mm angle riverted to the lower drivers side of the hatch where it cuts back in a bit



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Patrol Dude
4.2TD

[Patrol Dude]

This is a piece of 25x12x1.5mm angle placed in the centre top of the hatch to hold the middle of the panel in



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Patrol Dude
4.2TD

[Patrol Dude]

This is the panel fully mounted





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Patrol Dude
4.2TD

[Patrol Dude]

Here are pics of the mounting plates bolted the the hatch
Top left

Top right

Bottom left

Bottom right

Top middle




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Patrol Dude
4.2TD

[Patrol Dude]

Also upgraded to new gas struts with 770N


Holds it up real nice [emoji6]


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Patrol Dude
4.2TD

[Patrol Dude]

I then drilled holes through the panels and pushed all the power wires under the panels. Then connected them to a 120Amp Anderson plug.




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