Simple Solar Stands

[Junkie]

Heres some simple plywood plywood stands for my small solar panels. They can be turned on their sides in the summer for a flat angle too. They 3/4" ply finished coated in linseed oil.

[Junkie]

Hmm the insert images won't work from this site.

Yes they are pretty low to the ground, but they still get really good exposure to the sun.

[DamonHD]

Ah, I have mine tied to our (south-facing) garden wall and child's swing!

Rgds

Damon

[TomW]

Junkie;

Just keep in mind that any mounting system should not compromise strength.

Be a shame to see them cartwheeling across the landscape in a windstorm shedding panels as it goes.

Had an experience with some Siemens SP75 75 watt panels I had leaned up against a pine tree to test before installing. Got sidetracked a few minutes and a calm day became not so calm and they flipped onto the ground. Luckily the grass was shaggy and they landed softly.

Keep it in mind and good luck with it.

BTW mine are mounted on a 4" steel pipe in the ground and a Satellite dish actuator. A bit on the other end from your system size wise but just what I did. I would not personally use wood for several reasons like longevity, expansion and warping to name a couple but I often just use what I have if possible so I understand that.

There are 4 Kyocera 130 watt panels and 4 Siemens 75 watt panels on that rack.

Simple but requires welding and the dish polar mount hardware which used to be common in the throw away stream. I never worry about it blowing away and it is up out of the way. From a feeble memory I think the angle iron is 2.5 inch. I used Stainless screws , nuts and washers to isolate the aluminum panel frames from the steel. This is another gotcha that is not stressed enough steel on aluminum rots away the aluminum fairly quick so be sure any aluminum does not contact steel A SS nut works treat for this.

Tom

[Norm]

I use an old aluminum frame web chair webbing is

just about shot....wind blew the chair away once,

but an old cement block anchors it down now....

turn the whole works about once an hour 3 VW

panels track the sun can charge a couple of

cordless drill paks per day ho hum....

[zap]

Hey Norm, did you ever try a tracker?

I've gone a little further with the Trash Tracker. http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2008/12/18/0498/0732

I've been able to gear it down using junk parts from CD player read head motors and gears and using an old Makita cordless drill.

Work on it was interrupted when I started building the electric trailer but it was giving about 5lbs of torque.

Yell if you need some ideas.

[Junkie]

That tracker is pretty nifty, I'm going to build one myself. I'm not worried about these panels blowing as they are pretty sheltered by my house and trees nearby, so they should be ok.

[zap]

The same thing applies to you Junkie, yell if you need ideas or yell if you have better ideas.

Cassette players, CD/DVD players, VCRs, and printers usually have lots of good gears although their motors usually require a little more power than the solar yard light cells can produce.