Our Swift caravan comes with a factory fitted Sargent 40w solar panel. This isn’t really enough for some off-grid vanning so we decided to add some additional solar to the roof. The idea was to add an additional 130w panel but it adds another 11kg to the already paltry payload so I decided we would swap-out the exiting panel and replace it with the 130w version.

The panel cost around £200 from Sunshine Solar Ltd and delivery was prompt.

Removing the old panel

The panel was screwed into two plastic mounts so it was straightforward removing the panel itself. The mounts had been stuck down with a silicone adhesive and removing these was more of a challenge. I used a Stanley knife to partially cut into the silicone and then tried the wire “cheese cutter” method. In the end, I was able to pry up one corner and as it was a hot day, was able to tease open the entire seal with minimal damage to the roof. The old panel is now charging the redundant leisure battery in our outside cabin at home…

Installing the new panel

There’s a nice pre-drilled hole in the roof of the caravan and with the purchase of a Solar Roof Entry gland I routed the cables through into the caravan. I also added an extra cable – a USB cable – through the gland as a neat way of mounting the caravan WiFi Extender aerial. Below you can see the roof cable entry hole and I cleaned the roof surface with Bostik Simson Prep M (just the sections where I would bond the new panel).

The gland was secured with some 3M VHB tape on the inner edge and then Sikaflex 522 adhesive silicone around the edge.

I used the same technique to bond the panel. A central strip of VHB and plenty of Sikaflex 522 around the edges.

Here’s the panel bonded in place.

I then attached a terminal box and 4-way plug / socket to the edge of the panel. This will allow me to deploy the WiFi extender onto the roof without trailing a cable into the van through a window.