Thursday, May 23, 2019 at 16:26
Hey Rangiephil,
I was looking for an inexpensive and thin, lightweight setup like you. My 100 watt thin panels (x 2) were a discontinued item at Jaycar and came at the right price. They, along with my
table, store upright with foam separators across the back of the storage unit in my ute.

Table and panel storage
To make them more robust when deployed I made a frame from 10mm square U section aluminium extrusion from Bunnings and pop rivetted it onto the panels.
I made the side stiffeners a bit taller to accommodate legs.at each end if needed.

Panel with frame
With offcuts from the side stiffeners I made a hooked centre prop which is all that is needed most of the time. The prop goes behind the panel, which sits in the hook at the bottom.

Hooked centre prop and rear leg
The rear legs are 6mm solid round aluminium rod, again from Bunnings.

Centre prop and leg
The panels are light enough to be blown over by the wind. If necessary I use a bit of cord tied into the centre hole at the top of the panel and bull it back against the centre prop to a peg in the ground.
With my unsophisticated PWM controller my 200 watts give me about 140 watts - the last I recall noting was 10 amps as the battery went into absorption at around 14.2 volts.
Cheers
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