Tilting Solar Panels - ideas please?

[DeanS]

I've seen a range of ideas from using basketballs to plumping piping. Could you solar users share your methods/pics of how to tilt your panels to follow the sun?

[Guest]

Don't they just have to be facing in the general direction??

 

Something that religiously follows the sun is going to require a lot of expense I would think, or am I misunderstanding.

 

John (Cotswoldman) has some nice (presumably manual) tilting mounts on the top of his boat, that would seem sufficient to me.

[Chris Pink]

I've seen a range of ideas from using basketballs to plumping piping. Could you solar users share your methods/pics of how to tilt your panels to follow the sun?

 

children

 

more seriously, it is doubtful whether any fixed tilting produces benefit except in winter.

 

if you tilt at 30° to the south (the 'standard') then you are making a worse angle to the sun when its in the east or west.

 

unless you change the angle through the day or install (expensive) tracking) leaving them flat is favourite.

 

I say except in winter because the angle subtended by the sun is less and it's lower so pointing the panels south in winter will produce more gain.

[bowten]

I have been toying with an idea of using the step system found on deckchairs.

[DeanS]

My roof is extremely curved, meaning only half the panels will point anywhere if I lay them flat. Lewis used balls inside boxes....

Yes, I'm talking about the ability to change their angle slightly...not automatically tracking the sun....how much cash do you think I have LOL. Also, with 6 panels.. the layout is going to be a challenge. Probably 2 x 3 so volleyballs in a box wont work for me. My son suggesting towing a huge glitter ball with panels on every angle

[WotEver]

My son suggesting towing a huge glitter ball with panels on every angle

That wouldn't work unless each panel had its own controller...

 

... oh

[bizzard]

If you attach your solar panels to big Sunflowers they'll track the suns path implicitly.

[DeanS]

[Grace and Favour]

My roof is extremely curved, meaning only half the panels will point anywhere if I lay them flat. Lewis used balls inside boxes....

Yes, I'm talking about the ability to change their angle slightly...not automatically tracking the sun....how much cash do you think I have LOL. Also, with 6 panels.. the layout is going to be a challenge. Probably 2 x 3 so volleyballs in a box wont work for me. My son suggesting towing a huge glitter ball with panels on every angle

Before I bought our solar panels we had to consider all the various options too.

Like you, we have a widebeam, though space is always valuable of course.

There were two factors that eventually decided for me that a fixed fitting of the panels would be employed (and not directional)

 

1/ There were local scrotes making an habit of "having it away" with solar panels off boats

2/ Where we moor strong winds are not uncommon - and that could make 'adjustable' panels susceptible to damage.

 

(Our roof is curved too - and we simply fitted different height brackets to compensate) -

[DeanS]

To be honest...this idea looks the easiest for me.

 

[magnetman]

I've used a satellite dish motor to create a polar aligned tracker. It bolts to an upright pole and with some relays and a mini solar panel it can track the sun relatively accurately.

 

Some sat motors are rated for a 90cm dish which is quite a big wind loading

[DeanS]

 

 

Yep...coming up with the right solution isnt easy. One of the things I found on the last boat was that clambering around the roof trying to throw a centre line etc....without standing on them, was tricky.....

 

ETA...just noticed that the guy in this pic...seems to have 2 panels facing one way and the middle one in the opposite direction...DOH.

Edited April 25, 2013 by DeanS

[Guest]

To be honest...this idea looks the easiest for me.

 

Possibly - but they don't look very secure to me.

[magnetman]

I've got one 75w panel on it but reckon it is strong enough for 2

[matty40s]

 

To be honest...this idea looks the easiest for me.

except for the fact that in the present layout, the shadows from successive panels will shade the others at the ends of the day - negating any benefit from tilting

Edited April 25, 2013 by matty40s

[DeanS]

[magnetman]

I recently saw a solar panel hanging in the water where it had been blown off a tilted mount so it is worth fixing them very securely

[ditchcrawler]

Have a look at this blog to see if it gives you inspiration

 

http://nbpistonbroke.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/its-done.html

The chap who moors behind me has just made some like that. Center bolt fixing so they can be rotated as well as the the tilt angle being changed. You just have to remember to nip out lunchtime and move them.

[Paul C]

http://www.macslab.com/optsolar.html#other is a good link explaining why and how much to tilt the panels. I mounted mine flat, partly for air draft reasons (for some planned trips to places with low tunnels) but at the time didn't know about this twice-a-year tilting stuff. I wish I did - I'd have made some kind of tilting mount. I may alter the mounting system in the future. Will probably make up a bunch of brackets and stuff myself.

[DaveC]

For the last couple of years my panels have been mounted on a rotatable / tilting frame. I found that when facing the sun they produced up to three times the power than they did when flat. The mechanism was hand turned / tilted.

 

Over the last winter I have rebuilt the frame and now it is motorised using a couple of golf trolley motors. I am working on an auto-tracking system when I get my soldering iron warmed up!

 

One advantage of being able to turn the panels is before turning in for the night I turn the panels to the east and thus get the benefit of the early (before we get up) sun.

 

 

 

Dave

[DeanS]

OMG....this subject is exploding

[smileypete]

Tilting might be a waste of time for an oversized array on a full sunny day, just means the batts hit absorption voltage at 11am instead of 12pm. On a cloudy day the light is diffused, so tilting probably makes very little difference.

 

Best idea I've seen is incorporate the panels into the 'lid' of a sturdy shallow storage box made out of decking, to make them less thievable. Suppose there could be some double hinge or some other arrangement so the box could be opened/tilted either way.

 

cheers, Pete.

~smpt~

Edited April 25, 2013 by smileypete

[Grace and Favour]

OMG....this subject is exploding

Just wait until you start working out the Amps/Amphours/Kilowatts/coulombs!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

[magnetman]

If you are moore with the sun on the other side of the boat from the tow-path there may be merit in having them mounted on the side of the cabin taking advantage of light reflected off the water

[ditchcrawler]

Tilting might be a waste of time for an oversized array on a full sunny day, just means the batts hit absorption voltage at 11am instead of 12pm. On a cloudy day the light is diffused, so tilting probably makes very little difference.

 

Best idea I've seen is incorporate the panels into the 'lid' of a sturdy shallow storage box made out of decking, to make them less thievable. Suppose there could be some double hinge or some other arrangement so the box could be opened/tilted either way.

 

cheers, Pete.

~smpt~

As in the blog details I posted