Does Mounting Solar Panels on Roof of Winnebago Class A with Screws Void Warrant

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John Hilley

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I sent an email to Winnebago Owner Relations over two weeks ago asking if mounting solar panels on the fiberglass roof with screws would void the 10 years warranty. Haven't had a response back from them yet. I am helping a friend install the solar panels. He was told by the selling dealer that it would void the warranty.
 
I don't know much about solar but I thought I saw many people glue the brackets to the roof with Dicor or something like it.

What year is his RV? Is it close to the end of the warranty?

Even if it didn't void the warranty I assume if it leaked where the screws were installed that it would not be considers a defect
from the manufacturer so it wouldn't be covered anyways.
Now if a leak developed someplace else and no where near a screw - well you would hope that would be covered but I also
know how everyone seems to want to avoid doing any work if they don't have to so denying a warranty claim seems to be the standard.
 
It is a brand new 2018 Winnebago bought 1 month ago in Quartzsite. He lives in Minnesota and is having the solar panels shipped to me in North Dakota. We will probably use 3M double sided tape. I wouldn't expect warranty repair caused by the screws, but if it was totally removed from the solar panel mounting, I would expect it to be covered.
 
I seriously doubt if a roof skin penetration for installing stuff would void the warranty on the roof per Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. My two solar panels are screwed to the roof with #12 SS pan head screws. I put down a bed of Dicor on the screw holes for the panel feet, placed the panel in position, put the screws in and covered the feet with Dicor. The panels are there to stay.
 
I usually mount them with butyl tape under the mounting feet, screw the feet down with #12 screws and then cover with Dicor. We may do VHB tape on this one. We are going with a Victron MPPT controller and two 245 watt panels. I'm toying with going with a 24 volt system. We would have to add a 24 volt to 12 volt DC to DC converter and would loose the ability to charge from the alternator. We would go with a 2000 watt inverter/charger. The Victron 100-35 only allows 440 watts with 12 volt charging, but allows 700 watts at 24 volts. We would loose 100 watts of charging under perfect sun conditions. We are mounting them flat, so probably wouldn't see perfect sun conditions often.
 
Typically warranty is void if your mod caused the failure.  Putting screws through the roof would not void the warranty universally.  If a Dealer installed the solar, their installation should cover any warranty issues.  If you do it yourself, just understand the risk and make sure you seal the screws over the top with lap sealant.  I would much rather risk the screws than travel with the panels not secured with screws.
 
I have 5ea. 100W 21v panels on the roof, all attached with 3M VHB tape and covered in Dicor for Wx protection. Short of scraping the Dicor off and running a steel guitar string as a saw under the feet to help get it loose, they are NOT coming off.
I'm not sure why anyone would do differently on a fiberglass roof? Just make sure you get the RIGHT tape as there are many varieties of VHB. That's a class not a specific tape
 
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