Warning: my solar fan project taught me something about panel angles I missed

I was building this little solar USB charger for my phone last week and my neighbor Bob walked over. He saw me just laying the panel flat on the ground and said "you know the sun moves right?" Then he showed me how tilting it 30 degrees towards the south doubled my output. I had watched like 10 YouTube tutorials and none of them mentioned that. Has anyone else found a simple angle trick that made a big difference?

2 comments

2 Comments

scott.mia1mo ago

Tilting it 30 degrees towards the south doubled my output" - yeah that's solid advice. I found pointing mine at true south instead of magnetic south made another 10% difference, easy to forget those aren't the same thing.

aarons361mo ago

Does your setup actually need that level of fine tuning or is it mostly a placebo? Most people slap panels on their roof and they work fine without obsessing over a few degrees.