Securing a movable solar panel?

[Strata]

I won't have roof-mounted solar on my converted shuttle bus for this year's burn, but will have a 100-watt panel that I plan to tie into my house battery + charger via Anderson power poles. I'm planning on having aluminet over my bus roof, so putting the panel on the roof is a non-starter.

I want the panel on the ground or near ground level so I can dust it daily (or more than daily). I have kind of a naive idea of mounting the panel on a stand like this, securing it with playa staples, and attaching a bike cable to it, and cabling it to my shade structure or camper bumper. Is this kind of thing light enough to blow over in a gust, though?

Is someone likely to swing by with a pair of cable cutters and get a free solar panel? I've heard of generators being taken, so I can imagine a panel might be tempting.

What have you done in that past that has worked well for you?

[Token]

That is a reasonable approach.

I like that little frame you linked. lets you set the optimal angle.

If you either use lag-bolts or staples, just go with an uncommon fastener for the panel, like a hex head for security.

The cable lock can't hurt, but the effort to pull out lab-bolts or staples pales in comparison.

[Securicor]

I use studded leather belts.
Vinyl works well, too.

[FlyingMonkey]

I won't have roof-mounted solar on my converted shuttle bus for this year's burn, but will have a 100-watt panel that I plan to tie into my house battery + charger via Anderson power poles. I'm planning on having aluminet over my bus roof, so putting the panel on the roof is a non-starter.

I want the panel on the ground or near ground level so I can dust it daily (or more than daily). I have kind of a naive idea of mounting the panel on a stand like this, securing it with playa staples, and attaching a bike cable to it, and cabling it to my shade structure or camper bumper. Is this kind of thing light enough to blow over in a gust, though?

Is someone likely to swing by with a pair of cable cutters and get a free solar panel? I've heard of generators being taken, so I can imagine a panel might be tempting.

What have you done in that past that has worked well for you?

It's Burning Man, everything is free (right)?

I had 2 x100 W panels that I just mounted to plywood. No one walked off with them but someone snatched (gifted themselves) one of out EU2000's during the Burn. I do like the idea of using a fastener that is hard for a thief to remove but not you with proper tools. I had legs attached to the plywood so I could adjust the angle. If you can put them a little above the ground it will help prevent drunks from steeping/falling on them and may help with dust. Mine were on my trailer which also allowed me to move them and chase the sun. That frame looks nice for the money & if you can mount it to something heavy or inconvenient to walk away with it may work. My big concern was that a gust of wind would turn them in to a kite. That year (2017?) we got a down burst that destroyed a few of our carports and my panels we just fine.

I'm always suspicious of strangers with bolt cutters

I may up my game this year & add a few panels and replace my batteries with a LI-ion. I plan to use it for more than Burning Man so the expense is worth it for me.

Side note - I didn't find he dust to really diminish the output of my panels as much as I thought it would. I still keep then as clean as possible though.

[Elorrum]

I have a 15 watt panel, one that was all the rage at harbor freight 10 years ago, fine for my lights and music. It’s big for what it does, about 18”x40”. I set it on the ground facing south at about 15-30 degrees tilt, in a similar bracket as shown and stake the bracket to playa with 12” spikes. Also with no problems, I just put it flat on the ground, and then slide it into unusable floor space in my tipi shade shelter in evening so folks don’t step on it. I haven’t thought about theft prevention yet, but I guess if I upgrade one day, I may do more.

[Popeye]

The "optimum " angle for a panel is 15 degrees plus the latitude. So about 56 degrees. From one source.
From another source, since August/September is moving into winter, is about 45-50 degrees.

[Token]

We have an encyclopedia on solar azimuth, elevation, zenith and all kinds of crazy stuff …



It’s pretty!



And fancy!

[Popeye]

Useful too!

[Drizzt321]

An idea, if you're going to have a 2nd 100W anyways on your roof, buy it now and get a 2nd stand. Run them in parallel, and put one partially facing sunrise, and one partially facing sunset. Gives you a longer solar day for earlier and later generation, at the cost of a little bit of max power middle of the day. Might be more worth the earlier solar day for generation in that any lights outside that you have running on your battery, you start to offset/recharge earlier, even if you have a light sensor to turn them off.

For securing it, don't see why a playa staple or lag bolt or two wouldn't be enough of a deterrence to people. It's not going to be a 5 second grab and go like you can with generators, while the resale value for the bulk is really not all that much these days, relatively speaking.

Another idea, if you have a rack on top of your converted shuttle bus already, just put those on it and use U-bolts to bolt it down. Sturdy, but easy enough to undo and pull off before leaving.

That's my vaguely my plan. I have a small vintage trailer I'm not going to put panels on the roof. Instead I'll have 2 sets of panels on mounts very similar to the ones you linked, and a small wood platform on my cars roof rack. I'll make sure it has a clear-ish view of sunrise area, and set one pair offset towards there, and then the other pair offset towards sunset. Run the pairs in serial (I have MPPT charger which can handle up to 150v input) and each pair in parallel. Higher voltage means more wattage for a given current, so less cable loss with the ~20' 8 awg run. Also it means the minimum startup voltage gets reached sooner, so charging can start sooner.

Anderson power poles are good connectors, but the gold standard for solar is MC4 since they lock together. If someone stumbles over your wiring they can accidentally pull them apart. Also make sure you have a cut-off switch/breaker for your solar between the wiring and the charge controller. You need to make sure you won't have any power running from the panels before connecting/disconnecting to avoid arcs which may, potentially, spot weld the connectors not fully closed. Which would be BAD.

[motskyroonmatick]

You could mount those rails to a piece of plywood using some small bolts, washers and nylock nuts and secure to the playa with 2 -14 or 16 inch lag bolts with fender washers through 2 pre drilled holes in the plywood. This contraption would fold up nearly flat and be quick to deploy once at the burn or in the future at any remote camp site.