Yesterday after a long hiatus, I pulled out my solar panels that I'd riveted into a frame ready to mount where a destination panel would normally go, above the windshield. Orginally I was going to put a 20A panel then I thought there would be enough space for two 20A panels but the panels that turned up were physically bigger than advertised. No problem - they work just fine. Thus I ordered some smaller 10W panels and measured them carefully to find when they arrived that they were smaller physically than advertised. That's fine. I was originally going to erect two and have 20W up there but then I found I could squeeze in three. That will make for 50W of onboard power made up of five 10W panels.
The first order of the day was to mask the panels ready for spray painting. That took a while with the narrow tape but not much longer than if I'd just used wide tape. The difference being that narrow tape is so much cheaper. With the current pandemic of Covid-19 I have plenty time on my hands!
So I put the first coat which was a primer. It wasn't specifically for aluminium but I'm hoping it'll be better than just slapping top coat down. I'd bought a grey primer just in case my grey spray paint didn't work. That actually dried very quickly in the spring/summer temperatures. I believe half an hour later I was able to spray topcoat. Well, I would have if the spray can had had any propellant left. I could hear the paint sloshing around inside but there was no propellant to eject the paint. Being fairly resourceful I had a go at injecting butane into the can in the hope of getting the paint to spray out but alas it was to no avail. All I had was butane dripping off my fingers.
Putting the butane away and putting the paint can down ready to put a bullet through, I pulled out another grey spray paint can and sprayed the dried primer. Whoops - what came out was bright silver. I remembered when I saw that, picking that can up from the shelf. The cap was grey and it looked just like the grey spray paint. Not wearing my readers I'd thought it was the same paint. Thus the frame had a lovely coat of silver paint.
When the silver had dried, I gave it another coat of grey primer just to make it look less flashy. I knew somewhere I had a can of grey paint but sadly, no brushes. I'll probably buy some brushes when I go out next. In fact I might just get the cheap foam brushes since all I do is toss them when they're used. Checking later, I did locate that can of grey paint.
Having put the panels away overnight for the paint to cure I turned my attention to making a template. I had some left over foamboard from when I made templates before. Thus the idea was to make a big two-ply panel about the same size as my panels then trim to fit exactly and drill holes exactly in the right places. That would involve a modicum of work but no expense - just the way I like it.
So, having cut the foamboard to make two layers, I pulled out some Loctite spray glue. Early indications are that it is no more adhesive than a can of WD40. Fortunately the Loctite was very soon empty so I moved on to the Krylon spray glue. The nozzle was clogged and could not be unclogged which was a problem until I bent a piece of wire so that the wire could go down the throat of the can to press the valve with my fingers being out of the way of any sprayed glue. That worked - I got a lot of glue out fairly quickly though control and direction were more challenging.
An hour later and the resultant sandwhich is not impressive. The Krylon spray glue was not particularly impressive last time I tried it, some 4 years ago (same can). Neither for that matter was the Loctite spray glue. I do have some proper tube glue and I feel I will probably have to complete the task with tube glue.
If, as I suspect, the glued foamboard turns out to be a complete flop, I'll just get a sheet of hardboard, cut that to size and proceed from there. I noticed Lowes (hiss, spit) has a piece of 2.66' x 4' hardboard white wainscot wall panel. That might be just what the doctor ordered. It's easy to cut, light and used correctly, the existing holes should be no impediment to progress. The bonus is it's only $11 and I don't have to faff about with glue. I am pretty sure it will drill better than the foamboard too.
The goal is to mount my new solar panels straighter and better than the vandalized panel. That, I put up too quickly and didn't get it quite centered or quite level. It doesn't really notice but it irks me.
As the front of the bus is slightly curved, I need a wedge when I install the new panels. I can fasten them at the top with impunity but the bottom will need a wedge shaped section to hold them in place properly. Thus a while ago I ordered some "pool table wedges" from eBay and the other day I tried riveting them as a test just to make sure they are tough enough not to disintegrate. It seems they work just fine. I tried with both aluminium rivets (pictured) and steel rivets (not shown). At no point did the plastic look in danger of collapse. The only issue will be if they are not UV tolerant though having said that, their exposure will be minimal.
When I went to work the other day (yes, school bus drivers are still at work - once a week I take a bus out, delivering food to hungry children) I did go to the shop afterwards but since the Governor of South Carolina has seen fit to allow more people to go back to work, the shops were jam packed. I didn't want to be in there with all the virus carriers, given that I was one of the very few wearing a mask and thus didn't get all the things I wanted.
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