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Hot take: solar panel angle adjusters are worth the hassle or just a waste of time?
I built a little solar phone charger last month out of spare parts from an old garden light and a 5 volt regulator. Taped it to my window at home in Austin, pointing south, and it worked okay for about 3 days. Then a buddy told me I needed to tilt it at 30 degrees for my latitude, so I rigged up a hinge with some scrap wood and a bolt. Last week, I spent 45 minutes adjusting it every 2 hours to track the sun, and it did charge my phone 20% faster by the end of the day. But now I'm wondering if that extra time and effort is really worth it for a 20% boost, or if I should just stick with a flat panel and wait longer. For you guys, do you mess with angle adjustments on your little projects, or just slap it on and let it ride?
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wyatt_ross271d ago
30 degrees is about right for Austin in the summer, but you are overcomplicating it for a 5 volt phone charger. I had a similar setup with a 10 watt panel on my balcony in San Antonio for a year and a half. I started out adjusting it every couple hours like you, got the same 20 percent boost maybe, but after a month I stopped. The real trick is to just set it at a fixed seasonal angle instead of chasing the sun all day. Point it where the sun is around 1 or 2 PM, that gives you the best average over the whole day without all the fussing. For a little phone charger, that 20 percent faster charge is nice but not worth losing 45 minutes of your day. Save the tilt adjustments for winter when the sun is low, otherwise just let it sit and charge while you do other stuff.
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the_kelly1d ago
Man that's the real pro tip right there. I did the same thing with a little 15 watt panel charging a power bank on my back deck. Once I quit messing with it every hour and just pointed it south at a 45 degree angle year round, I actually got more total charge because I wasn't forgetting to move it and letting it face shadows half the afternoon. Those few minutes of peak sun chasing give you bragging rights but you're better off putting that effort into something else, like making sure your panel isn't covered in dust.
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