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- Sep 19, 2018
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Hey Folks,
I am looking to get some feedback on your expereince with the new FWC solar supplier and panel reliability. The suppler is Overland Solar out of Idaho.
The point of this thread is to see if anyone else is having similar problems. When I got my brand new FWC Fleet Flatbed back in Janurary it arrived with a DOA panel attached which was replaced under warrenty. Now 6 months later the replacement panel is exhibiting a possible failure.
I was finding that the panel was not keeping up with the demands of the fridge and day to day laptop and phone charging in full sun. At the time I figured my use was excessive and that's why my battery was running down. While getting some remedy work on the suspension done at Maineline Overland I inquired about adding a second panel and was told that the stock FWC solar wiring and OS controller cannot handle 2 160w panels on the roof unless it was designed. I decided to order a remote panel and an upgraded Victron 30A controller with bluetooth. This was a gamechanger. I could see 30 days worth of data.
On a recent 2 month trip around the Great lakes I began to notice that the panel was cutting out several time per day while I was driving resulting in many charging hours lost. Upon analyzing the data I have seen a gradual drop incharging from 14.5 hrs per day to now now sometimes only 6. I suspect that the vibrations over the panels while driving are breaking the internal connections resulting in a drop of function. To rule out the other system components I hooked up my remote panel and everything worked, leaving the OS panel as the outlier
Has anyone else had trouble with their Overland Solar panels?
Edit: It seems the panel was potentially damaged in shipment and has been replaced by OS
I am looking to get some feedback on your expereince with the new FWC solar supplier and panel reliability. The suppler is Overland Solar out of Idaho.
The point of this thread is to see if anyone else is having similar problems. When I got my brand new FWC Fleet Flatbed back in Janurary it arrived with a DOA panel attached which was replaced under warrenty. Now 6 months later the replacement panel is exhibiting a possible failure.
I was finding that the panel was not keeping up with the demands of the fridge and day to day laptop and phone charging in full sun. At the time I figured my use was excessive and that's why my battery was running down. While getting some remedy work on the suspension done at Maineline Overland I inquired about adding a second panel and was told that the stock FWC solar wiring and OS controller cannot handle 2 160w panels on the roof unless it was designed. I decided to order a remote panel and an upgraded Victron 30A controller with bluetooth. This was a gamechanger. I could see 30 days worth of data.
On a recent 2 month trip around the Great lakes I began to notice that the panel was cutting out several time per day while I was driving resulting in many charging hours lost. Upon analyzing the data I have seen a gradual drop incharging from 14.5 hrs per day to now now sometimes only 6. I suspect that the vibrations over the panels while driving are breaking the internal connections resulting in a drop of function. To rule out the other system components I hooked up my remote panel and everything worked, leaving the OS panel as the outlier
Has anyone else had trouble with their Overland Solar panels?
Edit: It seems the panel was potentially damaged in shipment and has been replaced by OS