first attempt at DIY solar tilt

I mentioned before that I was going to try to find some way to safely tilt the portables for cheap. I ran into some problems, but this is where I am right now:

Ignore the flat sheet on the right; the panel “feet” are just sitting on that because there were huge ants walking up onto on the panel from that end. For some reason that sliver of wood deters them.

The panels are held together with the tiebar (one for now, maybe two later) and tilted at ~12°. Optimal stationary tilt right here and now is ~16°, but this is as close as I can get right now.

Note the 2x3 tie about 1/5th from the top; my original intent was to affix it to the top edge but there are no predrilled holes there. I’m 90% sure I’m keeping the panels, but until I am sure sure I’m not drilling any holes in the frames. So I tied them together where the topmost holes are. There’s also protective film on the frames that you can see in the 2nd pic. Makes it look like the gap between them is uneven. I put the gap there for securing the paracord to the tiebar, but I might end up screwing an eye bolt into the tiebar for attachment and closing the gap.

This caused a problem for the tripod mount; the paracord tensioner would come up through the gap and partially shade one of the panels. So until I move the tiebar to the top the panels are just sitting on a tall Maxwell House coffee “can”.¹

I’ll update this post when/if I get the tripod support set up.

1. it’s an empty one that I store a bit of pine shavings in for bucket use. ↩