My DIY Off Grid ‘Rooftop Solar’!

I had bought a 180W Monocrystalline PERC solar panel to build an off grid power supply for my ham radio shack. It was not giving good results as it was kept on a partially shaded terrace. I have been brainstorming on how to get the most out of my solar panel. Today I thought of lowering it on to the tiled roof of a portion of the ground floor of my home. There was no easy access to that region and I decided to lower it tied on to nylon ropes. That is what you are seeing here. As the slant of the roof somewhat matches the latitude of this region, I did not have to keep it further slanted.

Tiles have uneven surface, permitting some ventilation for the under surface of the solar panel. That will reduce undue warming in bright sunlight. Undue warming of the solar panel can reduce its efficiency. The nylon ropes can also be adjusted to change the slant of the solar panel if needed. I have heard that it will need more of slope to increase production in winter. Solar panel has to be tilted towards the South in Northern hemisphere and the other way round in Southern hemisphere. More tilt is needed at higher latitudes to make them face the Sun better. You can see a PVC pipe on one side of the solar panel. That is to prevent water spout from the terrace falling directly on the joint in the cable. Hopefully that will prevent too much damage to the joint in the long run. Joint has already been secured by waterproofing tape bought online.

I was wondering whether anyone has tried using an automatic azimuth/elevation tracking rotator for solar panels to follow the Sun as we do in Low Earth Satellite operations and Moonbounce! May be that will not be an economically sound option in view of the cost and energy used for the rotator. If it could be done in an energy efficient way, a computer program could drive the panel movement, with changes from morning to evening and from winter to summer! Satellite operators and Moonbounce operators routinely use such automatic antenna tracking for getting signals from fast moving satellites and the Moon, respectively.