Cool Mods - Thread restored 10/18/2012
My daughter was getting a little warm in her bunk during our last camping trip, so I decided to put her a fan in to keep the air flowing. I had been wanting to add a 12-volt fan to the main livin...
Forum Discussion
After looking into all my options for solar and trying to decide if I wanted my panel mounted to my roof for security and simplicity or if I wanted a portable solution. I liked the security of mounting it to the roof but, then what happens when I park the trailer in the shade? On the flip side what if I went portable and someone decided they need my panel more than me?
Which brought me to this idea... If I mounted my panel to a pole, had enough cable to move my panel to the front or rear of the trailer and had mounting points at either end I would be able to minimize the chances of someone walking of with my panel and would have the flexibility to move the panel for the best possible sun. I haven't actually made the mounts for the rear yet but, I will most likely do something similar to the front and use the rear slide frame as a mounting point. The picture with the panel and trailer set up was before I came up with the solution for anchoring the pole with the clamps in the other pictures.
Built aluminum frame using an old satellite dish mounting bracket.
[img]
Click For Full-Size Image.[/img]
Panel with frame mounted on pole.
[img]
Click For Full-Size Image.[/img]
heavy duty pole mounting brackets.
[img]
Click For Full-Size Image.[/img]
This is my preliminary test with the solar panel mounted on the pole before I installed the brackets.
[img]
Click For Full-Size Image.[/img]
Which brought me to this idea... If I mounted my panel to a pole, had enough cable to move my panel to the front or rear of the trailer and had mounting points at either end I would be able to minimize the chances of someone walking of with my panel and would have the flexibility to move the panel for the best possible sun. I haven't actually made the mounts for the rear yet but, I will most likely do something similar to the front and use the rear slide frame as a mounting point. The picture with the panel and trailer set up was before I came up with the solution for anchoring the pole with the clamps in the other pictures.
Built aluminum frame using an old satellite dish mounting bracket.
[img]
Click For Full-Size Image.[/img]Panel with frame mounted on pole.
[img]
Click For Full-Size Image.[/img]heavy duty pole mounting brackets.
[img]
Click For Full-Size Image.[/img]This is my preliminary test with the solar panel mounted on the pole before I installed the brackets.
[img]
Click For Full-Size Image.[/img]
