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turk123 · 03-27-2019, 09:51 AM

So after building my portable solar panel system, I needed an inexpensive, simple and easily broken down panel support system. I thought about building an aluminum frame "A" frame type, but threw that out the window due to complexity and weight. Looking around I had some 1 1/4" PVC schedule 40 pipe. At first, I thought that several legs and a cross piece for each panel would work best. I changed that to one leg per panel and that worked very well!

The 1 1/4" pipe also was overkill. I changed that to 1" pipe. Bought all the fittings and pipe at Home Depot for about $12. They also had 1" rubber feet that I needed to provide some friction between the panel and the frame.

I looked up the statistics for what angle I would need to best set the panels into the sun. Lots of data out there. Almost too much. I just came up with a nice angle which can be adjusted in many ways. The angle of the frame, the point where the panel touches the frame, the depth that you push the vertical supports into the ground are all ways to get different angles.

turk123 · 03-27-2019, 09:53 AM

My solar panels are flexible. I bought and cut to fit, 1/4" PVC board to back the panels and give them more support. I add wire tent stakes to the bottom corners to provide more protection from them moving in the wind.

The frame is not glued together and can break down to it's smallest component if need be.

The panels will also fit in between the highest supports. I could add one more set and support the panels "in-between". That would allow me to add a string across the top of the panels securing them down from the wind. For now, this is the simplest design for me and should work fine and I could still add the string.