Easiest RV Flexible solar panel install.. Renogy 200 watt and Victron Controller

Introduction to Renogy Flexible Solar Panels

all right I want to thank y'all for tuning the channel today today we're going to talk about one of the easiest solar panels that you can install on your RV for me you can go with the standard like residential solar panel but you can add some weight right um man renergy which I'm not affiliated with I purchased these my own money they make a 200 watt flexible solar panel and guys this thing is I mean it's probably a little bit thicker in a cardboard sheet right I think the total weight on it's like eight pounds and open circuit voltage is about 24 right at 24 volts we'll talk about that for what you need for a controller but let's get on the roof let's show you the easiest install you'll ever do on a flexible solar panel

Installation Process and Considerations

all right so we're up here on the roof of the RV and I do have plans to add more of these moving forward I've got a toy hauler so I've got plenty of roof space this unit already had a pre-configured solar with a little 50 watt panel up here but it was low voltage so the amperage was high so there was 10 gauge wire going from here to the front which I'm running about 80 volts so 600 watts at 80 volts ac is about 8 to 10 amps so the 10 gauge wire worked perfect I'm mounted my solar controller up there plugged it in plug the mc4 connectors in very easy install

okay so there's a lot of videos on the internet I learned a bunch from the guys that have posted stuff on these you know you can screw them through your roof if you want these panels have little screw holes you know but you still need to get the win Leading Edge sealed off so that the wind won't get under them and for me it looked like a lot of people I try to seal them up completely you know and this is called a turnabine tape and so what I did on mine was is a tournament tape is somewhat removable you know with the hair dryer and you can kind of peel it off so and you don't have to put holes in your roof and so it was a real Plus for me to see that and so I decided to go ahead and use it and so you can see right here ran it I ran it around the front down the centers all the way around the other side now one of the things I've noticed is a lot of people that seal them off they get condensation moisture under them and the problem I have is then they start to swell up and they get bubbles and you don't want that moisture under them either so I left mine open back here on the back now I did tape the centers up where I kind of take the wires and the reason I did that was just to basically keep them from flapping you know if you had any wind and but that way the moisture can get out and you know the Sun hits them and you've got a pretty good deal so let's go inside let's take a look and see what these things are putting out

System Performance and Output

okay so if we go in here and we take a look we are in Texas it's midday and as you can see my battery is at 98 I don't have any power hooked up right now and we've got 115 Watts now that is because the solar controller is regulating because my battery is at full charge so we're going to turn the air conditioner on which will make the inverter work and that's going to drop my voltage and then you'll see this charge controller is going to allow there you go so we've got three 200 watt panels so we've got a total of 600 watts up there like I said Texas midday I've seen this thing just depending on the clouds you know it bounces from 350 400 almost up to like 580.

okay so pretty impressed with the output of these flexible panels for what they are um man they put out a lot of power and you know just so you know if you're figuring your charge controller you know like I said I'm right at 75 volts I really could put one more um panel on this one because then I could be at 100 volts I don't get any extreme cold temperatures so my open circuit voltage is going to get too much higher than 24 even at 25. but the one thing that limits you is so you want to figure out your ac voltage and you want to get that up as high as you can so you have the lowest dampers traveling on your wires but when you get down to the other side of it when you take the 600 volts I mean 600 Watts times 12 volts is going to put you right at 50 amps and that's what I'm seeing I'm seeing 45 to 50 amps of course I've got number six going from that and then a 50 amp circuit breaker going back to the battery so that charge controller is pretty much maxed out my plan is to have maybe one or two more charge controllers and one or two more sets and then basically you've got 50 amps on each one of those but they don't want to get much higher than that don't have to run any bigger wire than that between my charge controllers and my batteries so that's the reason I chose the 150 there's all kinds of options on what you can get you can get a 150 or a 250 50 just depending on the voltage of your panels and how many are pen planning on tying in but uh I'm gonna turn this around again just want to show y'all we go back up here and look we are literally right now solar wise making about 498 Watts 500 watts that's pretty impressive on 600.

Charge Controller Configuration

I'm gonna put a screenshot up of these panels so y'all can actually see what the the specs are on them and then I'm actually logging into my victron app right now so when you log into your smart solar I'll kind of show you this on my phone y'all can see it you can see we're 509 517 right here on my voltage I'm at 52 volts ac which is right at 10 and a half amps for number 10 wire that's plenty here's your battery voltage we're at 13.2 and see we're putting out 37 amps right now it's a pretty good amount so we're running number six wire for that state is on it'll pull your history you can look at that your Trends but basically on the charge controller you'll want to go in and have your settings you can see we've got 12 volts there um we got regulated at 50 amps I don't want any more than that it's enabled and the battery presets this is my absorption and my float voltage for my lithiums 14.4 and 13.8 so that's where I've got it set and that's why whenever it starts to get to that 97 98 percent you see the charger will start to back down and it will start regulating but like right now we're at 97 percent we'll turn the air conditioner back off and see it's going to stay at 500 it's going to allow it to start charging until it gets to that flotation voltage

Conclusion and Final Thoughts

so anyway just want to do a quick video easy install the renergy 200 watt flexible panels there's a couple other brands out there I'm impressed with them and for the weight I really didn't want to add any more weight to my toy hauler I mean I load my Can-Am Defender Max in here plus the payload I don't want to get it any heavier than it is and so you know having an eight pound solar panel that's great um so whatever options you want to do there that's up to you if you got any questions or comments drop them below I'll try to get them answered again please hit that like And subscribe and we'll catch you on the next video

Technical Specifications

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How much does a Renogy 200W flexible solar panel weigh?

A: The Renogy 200W flexible solar panel weighs approximately eight pounds.

Q: What installation method is suggested for these flexible solar panels to prevent roof damage and condensation?

A: A "turnabine tape" method is suggested, which is somewhat removable with a hairdryer and avoids putting holes in your roof. It's also advised to leave the back edge open to allow moisture to escape and prevent swelling or bubbling.

Q: What kind of power output can be expected from a 600-watt Renogy flexible solar panel system?

A: A 600-watt system (three 200W panels) can produce varying power depending on conditions. In Texas midday, observed outputs ranged from 350-400 watts up to 580 watts, with the speaker noting around 498-517 watts at certain points when the air conditioner was running.