Solar Panel on DIY Pipe Pole

Solar Panel on DIY Pipe Pole
This project was created back in July 2011, I was sitting out on the new deck at the cabin enjoying a morning coffee and was starring at the fixed solar panels. Figured there was a better way to catch all the rays of sun with a rotating solar panel. After a few quick sketches on a scrap piece of wood, I went to the shop and found a bunch of left over plumbing parts and aluminium angle iron. The mount is based on a 1″ galvanized “T” that has two arms and a body (pole) that is treaded into a 1″ pipe union. The union sits nicely on top of a patio umbrella metal pole, which is inserted into a wider galvanized fence post. The left and right “arms” are standard 24 inch lengths that thread into the Tee. A U-Clamp was used to secure the pipe to an angle iron.The angle iron was bolts with stainless steel bolts to the solar panel frame. No really high tech, but it works. There is just enough friction on the union that the wind does not spin the panel, but can be easily turned by hand. The solar panel can be adjust up or down to match the summer or winter latitude.

Music credit:
Aces High Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/