Adjustable Solar Panel Mount w/ Control Box Mount by T311

Last crawled date: 3 years ago

For this project I needed to make an adjustable mount for our solar panel in order to easily change the angle of the panel in relation to the sun. I used this iPad mount from amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/EMPIRE-Adjustable-Flexible-Extension-Mount/dp/B005VSHMSY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1371562742&sr=8-1&keywords=ipad+flexible+arm+stand
Solar Panelhttp://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005LR9IOG/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
First, I made a backing out of 1/4" plywood using a laser cutter to match the exact dimensions of the solar panel. Then I cut 4 holes to put printable rivets into the holes to secure the panel to the backing.
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:79580
I then added clips in each corner to hold the panel even more securely to the backing.
Finally, I added the flexible iPad stand to the backing using the mount provided above.
The last piece I needed was a way to mount the solar panel control box to our outdoor Coleman 13 x 13 canopy. I added three neodymium magnets to the inside of the Control Box Mount. These three magnets held the control box tightly again the canopy for 4 complete days without budging.
I highly recommend this solar charger as well. We used the panel and a 12v marine deep cycle battery to run 3- 12 inch fans while charging 2 iphones for 4 days in a row. The battery never lost its charge.