I spend the day down by the river at Vila Nova de Milfontes. In the morning I decide that the weather is good enough to try and attach the solar panel to the roof. It doesn’t look like it will rain, although thee are a few clouds about. There is a quiet breeze, but it is much better than yesterday.
I prepare the roof, and wire the panel up. It all seems to work. I screw the panel to the brackets, and then the brackets to the van, using the adhesive from the supplier. Everything goes pretty well. I have no safe way of getting onto the roof, and decided against trying to climb up across the cab. In the end I drive alongside the small wooden stumps that mark the roadside. They are just over a foot high, and give me just enough lift to work on the van.
I pack up all of the things that have been cluttering the van for the last few days. It is good to have the panel on the roof and not carefully stored on the back of the van. I give the van a bit of a spring clean also. I monitor the power levels. The panel does not give the power I though it would, so it is a good job I went for this big size in the end. Today is overcast, and November sun. I would imagine on a clear summer day that the power would be more.
In the afternoon I enjoy doing nothing. Well, I work on some websites, not concerned with flattening the batteries!
