I love the drag humor, especially in 2023 when people are attacked for making good jokes like this. Also, thank you dor explaining the geometry for the actuator. This is exactly qhat ive been trying to find, i wasnt thinking about the problem the right way, but now it makes sense. Now i know what i need to mount it and can calculate the right length. After about 10 videos, you actually explained the tilt. Thanks so much❤
Thanks. It was quite a bit of work and I don’t think many people have appreciated how tricky it was to do. I really appreciate you noticing and commenting. Thanks for watching. Ben.
This in one reasonable in depth How-To for a tilting mechanism - should be standard watching this before anything else ... (Very pro editing and presentation as well ... underrated channel ! - thank you.)
Great video, very cleer edition, very useful and precise information. Good humour an very clear speech as well. I'm brazilian and didn't even bother to turn subtitles on.
Excellent video. Thank you very much. On our 2015 LWB Sprinter, we have 3 x 300 watt panels, held up by fixing struts, which is a pain. Going to fit actuators, and your video nailed very important points, and I loved the steering wheel notice. Have suscribed.
One of the guys here said my thought, that’s extremely comprehensive guide I could ever imagine here on youtube. A wonderful example of color paper strips ❤ Thank you sir for ur sharing
Thanks so much for your kind words. We’re really pleased it helped. We have just made a small modification by raising it up by about 50mm because we’ve fitted an air con unit underneath. Video out soon. Sarah & Ben.
Thanks for sharing this. I have a lwb VW LT35 that I am going to build a similar aluminium frame all the way across and slightly higher to open roof vents and enclosed for additional storage and to stop wind getting under the panels. You have basically given me everything I need to do to make it work. Thankyou so much...Ray
How about Laying it flat on the roof (fixed by brackets) the opposite way around pointing away from the hinges and then on the end of the moving tube of the actuator is a strip of box section about 20 inches slightly angled upward attached to the end of the panel. The force would then cause the end of the box section near the end of the panel to rise. The brackets holding the actuator down would then be the “anchor” to stop the now vertical box section from moving, so that the panel wouldn’t move either as the other end of that box section is attached to or near the end of the panel. That way 2 small actuators could be used with minimal pressure on the hinges of the panel. Hope that makes sense?
Thanks for watching. I think I can picture what you're suggesting and that would probably work. The main consideration is the leverage at the bottom end of the movement as it amplifies all the stresses enormously. This configuration works well for us and was pretty simple to fabricate. Thanks again for watching, Ben.
What a cracking video Ben! Thank you! It's just packed full of easy to follow instructions and I've already referred it to two amateur pals setting out on a similar exercise to you.
Great video, I have seen a few that show tilting panels on a van. Some seem to over complicate the mechanism. But yours is a simple effective design. I have a Trina 415 watt on my van and I'm in the process of fitting a second that will slide out on slides using an actuator. Noticed the wheel clamp! Do you need to bolt your van to the driveway over there?
Hi, thanks for watching. The wheel clamp is just an added precaution. There’s no reason to think it will be stolen, but we just wanted to be absolutely sure. Thanks again, Sarah and Ben.
You could put the actuator on the roof about where you have it on the panel and mount on the end of the panel. Basically swapping the mounting positions and then you don't have the large unmounted section above the actuator
You could do that but it wouldn’t lift as high. The nearer you fit the actuator to the pivot, the more you amplify the elevation through multiples of leverage. The downside is that it also amplifies the force required by the same amount. Thanks very much for watching, and for your comment.
12:44 Explanation for where to place actuator starts here. Raises panels to 50 degrees. 22:04 Simple sign that goes on steering wheel warns you to lower the panels before driving. Description has links to stuff used.
Good video. Thank you! Questions, please…. 1) 21:06 Did you install the manual switch inside the van or outside? 2) If the manual switch is installed inside, is it possible to break the actuators because you kept trying to lower the panels AFTER they had already been lowered as far as they are supposed to go? 3) Did you ever consider a system that would tilt the panels from the right and left sides, or even all four sides? Thank you!🤙🏼
Hi, thanks for watching, great questions. 1) the manual switch is inside, near the fuses in the garage area. An outside switch would have needed to be waterproof with little to be gained by putting it outside. To reach the switch you need the back doors to be open so you can see the panels even though the switch is inside. 2) the actuators fully closed position is only about 10mm beyond the closed position of the panels. So, if you just keep on closing them after the panels are down, the panels and their mounting frame would bend rather than the actuators being damaged. In practice, the actuators slow down when they’re under that sort of serious strain and it’s clear from the sound that they make that it’s time to stop them. As they are fully closed soon after starting to bend the panels, the actuators reach their limit stops and cut out before any damage is caused, although I wouldn’t want to put the panels under that much strain so I always stop it before it gets that far. 3) I didn’t consider multiply tilts, really just because of the additional weight that would put on the roof of the van. I’ll also be putting air conditioning up there in the next few months so there’s already a lot of weight up there that I want to minimise. The ultimate solution would be a single tilt on a rotating base so that it can follow the sun all day. That could even by controlled automatically using data on the sun’s position, but that would be a serious undertaking and the return on that investment wouldn’t be worth it for me. Just parking with the panels as close to south as possible gives a good improvement on the panels’ output on average throughout the day. Hope that helps, and thanks again for watching. Ben.
This was informative so thank you. You've got a good setup with a lot of thought gone into it all. I've always wondered what would happen if the system failed while the panels were tilted. Is there a way to manually bring them down without electricity? Also, you use the actuators to lock the panels down, so if they weren't working, would there be a way to secure them down? Another question if it's ok. How did you begin the process of a starting point of what size actuators to start with? Were you able to get all of your measurements and then decide that you need an actuator of X length with Y stroke. Thanks again for the video and your time.
Hi, thanks for watching. They’re great questions. If the actuators failed completely while raised, I can just pull the pins out where they fix to the panel and lower the panels manually. I would then hold them down with a ratchet strap. Not a very sophisticated solution but it would get me out of trouble. At the start, I mocked up the roof rack and the frame that holds the panels, lifted them up and measured the sizes. I did have a failed attempt when the first actuators I bought turned out to be the wrong size but I was able to change them to size that worked. Thanks again for watching. Ben & Sarah.
@@diamondsontour i appreciate the response, I'm going to be building a rack for my panels as well and it's the the question that continues to come up in my head so I'm going to consider creating a pin setup to lock the lift down if the actuators ever need to be unpinned in an emergency. Maybe even a cradle to place the actuators in under the panel as well so they won't have to necessarily be unwired, disassembled and taken off the roof if this were an emergency and i had to relocate before fixing them. Thanks again and I'll be checking out your channel.
@@chipmeister111 Hi, yes that would work. Having said that, the actuators have been reliable. You might find you do a lot of work to cater for failures that don't happen.
Hi Ben, such an informative and well constructed video. Can I ask how the linear actuators you got from Amazon are holding up after the months/years of use? Any issues, corrosion or need for replacement? Thank you
Hi, thanks for watching and your kind comments. They’re holding up very well, no problems so far, touch wood. We’ve done about 15000 miles since fitting them from 40 degrees C in Spain to -23C in Norway so I reckon we’ve given them a thorough test. Ben.
@@diamondsontour thank you. That’s really reassuring - I’m hoping to get two to fit to my self built roof top tent instead of my current gas strut set up!
Hi Ben, excellent video,thanks! Wanted to ask if you could find the dimensions of the actuators you have used? the Amazon link in the description isn’t working for me, greetings Thomas
Hi, thanks very much for watching. I'm sorry the link to the actuators wasn't working. I have updated it now so it should work. Bear in mind this size worked for me but check that your set up will work with that range of movement before you purchase actuators. This link isn't to the exact ones I used as they're not available now but these should do the job. Mine are 500mm.
Hi, thanks for watching. I'm sorry the link to the actuators wasn't working. I have updated it now so it should work. Bear in mind this size worked for me but check that your set up will work with that range of movement before you purchase actuators. This link isn't to the exact ones I used as they're not available now but these should do the job.
First off I want to say this video is great help to someone like me who is starting to build my rv system! I have a few of questions. I see you have two panels mounted together vertically. Do you think you needed to to use two actuators to safely lift the panels? I was going to bolt mine together horizontally. I was going to fabricate it so I can put one actuator in the middle. Do you think that would be ok, or should I put one on each end? I see you used the 3000N. Was that too much lifting power? I was going to go with the 1000N or 1500N. Would you agree that the actuator base lenth should be 1/2 the width of the panels?
Hi, thanks very much for watching, I really appreciate your comments. The panels are quite heavy but there were two reasons for using two actuators. First was mechanical stability. With a single actuator, the sides would be less stable and would be more prone to wind damage. It's a big area that can generate a huge amount of pressure in a gust of wind and having four anchor points makes it very stable. Secondly, the geometry means that at the bottom of the movement, the leverage is so huge that you are lifting way more than the weight of the panels. It's fine when they are higher because the action of the actuator is more perpendicular to the panel so the force is closer to equal the weight of the panel. You would need a mathematician to work out exactly what the force is when starting to lift the panel, but it is many times the weight of the panel. I expect if you could find a single actuator that could exert that much force then it may well be more expensive than two less powerful actuators. In addition, to lift them from a single point, that one mount and the mount at the base of the actuator would have to be very strong to avoid distorting the mountings when all that force is applied. You might be able to make the geometry work, but It is much easier to just spread the force between two points to share the load. I couldn't say a simple factor such as half the panel length for your set up. It would be best to make a mock up or trial design on the floor and try out a few different arrangements. I'm sure you'll find something that works for you. Have fun, and thanks again for watching and getting in touch, Ben.
@@diamondsontour Great enginerring points! The leverage at the bottom of the movement and force on the actuator mount are crucial things to consider. The two panels i'm going to use are 35"x24" each. Soulds like I can't go cheap. I will construct separate panels/actuators and call it a day. Thanks for all your insite!
Very nice video! Seeing that you still answer questions round here: Have you considered locking the solar panels in place when they are down? Automatically would introduce a lot of weight, but maybe just with a small thumb screw or similar? Because i am located in germany and i dont know, how strict our TÜV (MOT Test) will be with this. Cause i suppose it is allowed bc stuff like a maxxfan is too, but maybe i am better off putting on some kind of locking mechanism. Even for my own safety. I wont drive more than 100kph, but technically i am allowed to drive as fast as my van will go^^
Hi, always happy to help with questions. I made it so that when the panels are down, the actuator is not fully retracted. I can then operate the actuators for a little longer to pull the panels firmly down onto their supports. They are held down very firmly and as the design of the actuators means they can’t move without being powered, the panels are effectively locked down. We rarely drive over 100kph but have occasionally gone up to 120 with no problems at all, apart from the amount of fuel you burn at that speed. Hope that helps, Ben.
You tilted your panels using one axis. Do you have any plans to tilt it using two axises? How would you do that? Then you could follow the sun perfectly from sunrise to sunset.
Yes that's a good point that would be possible to achieve. However, it would be a lot heavier and would also use some electricity throughout the day to enable it to follow the sun. That would reduce the potential gain of having it follow the sun in the first place and the weight would be a problem. The power intensity of the sun at dawn and dusk means that the best compromise is to have it perpendicular to the sun at midday and if we want to help it a little, we can just steer the van slightly left or right to move the whole thing towards the sun. Great idea though and thanks very much for watching.
@@diamondsontour Thank you for your response. ...and I forgot to mention: The "drag" joke was presented very professionally. The hardest part of telling a joke is to keep a straight face yourself. YOU did this perfectly!!! :)
Well I guess we would get our chairs out and sit outside to admire the view. If we’re using solar, then the sun would be out and it would be nice to sit outside. Thanks for watching.
arabanızı anlattınız sanırım arabanız çok güzel ama ben araba kullanmayıda bilmem arabadanda anlamam siz eşiniz beceriklisiniz türkiyemizede gelin misafir olun türkiyeden sevgiler selamlar😀
Sorry to hear that. In my experience, they have not faded and still work perfectly after 2 years and over 12,000 miles of driving, including -26C in the Arctic and over 4C in southern Europe. I’m still very happy with them. Thanks for watching, and commenting. Ben.
I love the drag humor, especially in 2023 when people are attacked for making good jokes like this.
Also, thank you dor explaining the geometry for the actuator. This is exactly qhat ive been trying to find, i wasnt thinking about the problem the right way, but now it makes sense. Now i know what i need to mount it and can calculate the right length. After about 10 videos, you actually explained the tilt. Thanks so much❤
Hi, thanks very much for your kind comments. We try to make a fairly dry subject a little entertaining, glad you appreciated it! Ben & Sarah.
Shout out for that clever cut at the start of the video to a static image of your van!
Thanks. It was quite a bit of work and I don’t think many people have appreciated how tricky it was to do. I really appreciate you noticing and commenting. Thanks for watching. Ben.
Yeah that was well done!
@@chrisluehmann3094Thanks!
I really wish someone as clever as you would help us with our tilting solar great video ! Has helped a lot !
We’re really happy the video has helped you a little. Thanks so much for watching and for your kind comments. Ben & Sarah.
This in one reasonable in depth How-To for a tilting mechanism - should be standard watching this before anything else ... (Very pro editing and presentation as well ... underrated channel ! - thank you.)
Thanks for the kind comments, we really appreciate it.
Great video, very cleer edition, very useful and precise information. Good humour an very clear speech as well. I'm brazilian and didn't even bother to turn subtitles on.
Thanks very much for your kind comments and for watching.
Thumbs up for the high heals
Thanks! And thanks for watching.
Excellent video. Thank you very much. On our 2015 LWB Sprinter, we have 3 x 300 watt panels, held up by fixing struts, which is a pain. Going to fit actuators, and your video nailed very important points, and I loved the steering wheel notice. Have suscribed.
That’s great, thanks very much for watching. Hope it goes well. Ben & Sarah.
Brilliant explanation and execution!
Thanks for your kind comments, and for watching.
Best linear actuator solar panal tilt video I have ever seen.
Thank you for watching and your comment. Hope it helps you. Ben
One of the guys here said my thought, that’s extremely comprehensive guide I could ever imagine here on youtube. A wonderful example of color paper strips ❤ Thank you sir for ur sharing
Thanks so much for your kind words. We’re really pleased it helped. We have just made a small modification by raising it up by about 50mm because we’ve fitted an air con unit underneath. Video out soon. Sarah & Ben.
I'm designing my solar setup now and really want to include power actuated tilt. Awesome video and information. Cheers!
Thanks for watching and we’re really pleased it helped.
Thanks for sharing this. I have a lwb VW LT35 that I am going to build a similar aluminium frame all the way across and slightly higher to open roof vents and enclosed for additional storage and to stop wind getting under the panels. You have basically given me everything I need to do to make it work. Thankyou so much...Ray
Thanks for watching. I’ve recently had to raise it a couple of inches as I’ve fitted an air con unit underneath. Video will be out before too long.
How about Laying it flat on the roof (fixed by brackets) the opposite way around pointing away from the hinges and then on the end of the moving tube of the actuator is a strip of box section about 20 inches slightly angled upward attached to the end of the panel. The force would then cause the end of the box section near the end of the panel to rise. The brackets holding the actuator down would then be the “anchor” to stop the now vertical box section from moving, so that the panel wouldn’t move either as the other end of that box section is attached to or near the end of the panel. That way 2 small actuators could be used with minimal pressure on the hinges of the panel. Hope that makes sense?
Thanks for watching. I think I can picture what you're suggesting and that would probably work. The main consideration is the leverage at the bottom end of the movement as it amplifies all the stresses enormously. This configuration works well for us and was pretty simple to fabricate. Thanks again for watching, Ben.
Explained well 👏
Thanks very much, really appreciate you watching. Ben & Sarah.
@diamondsontour love the roof rack too .brilliant 👍
Very kind of you, thanks.
What a cracking video Ben! Thank you! It's just packed full of easy to follow instructions and I've already referred it to two amateur pals setting out on a similar exercise to you.
That’s great to hear, thanks for your kind comments.
You could use abother pin on the actuator and then a drawing pin to connect the actuator arm to the solar panel. Such a cool way to show it tho!!
Ha, yes you’re right, I could have perfected my visual aids a little more. Hopefully it got the idea over.
Thanks for watching, Ben.
@@diamondsontour was more an idea, think the way you showed it was really cool
I am building my tilting 5x200w = 1000w PV for my ford transit L4H3. Thanks for this very good video !
Glad you liked it, thanks for watching.
Thanks for another excellent video. Loved the 'drag" humor!
Thanks. It can be a dry subject so a little laugh helps.
Great video!!!
Thanks for watching!
Glad you liked it!
So well made!
Thank you. Glad you enjoyed it. Stick around. The videos get even better. Sarah
Great video, I have seen a few that show tilting panels on a van. Some seem to over complicate the mechanism. But yours is a simple effective design.
I have a Trina 415 watt on my van and I'm in the process of fitting a second that will slide out on slides using an actuator.
Noticed the wheel clamp! Do you need to bolt your van to the driveway over there?
Hi, thanks for watching. The wheel clamp is just an added precaution. There’s no reason to think it will be stolen, but we just wanted to be absolutely sure. Thanks again, Sarah and Ben.
You could put the actuator on the roof about where you have it on the panel and mount on the end of the panel. Basically swapping the mounting positions and then you don't have the large unmounted section above the actuator
You could do that but it wouldn’t lift as high. The nearer you fit the actuator to the pivot, the more you amplify the elevation through multiples of leverage. The downside is that it also amplifies the force required by the same amount.
Thanks very much for watching, and for your comment.
@diamondsontour sure it will if you use the right size arm
Excellent guide
Thanks for watching, we really appreciate your time.
Nice job! Thanks for the valuable information 👍
Glad it helped and thanks for watching.
12:44 Explanation for where to place actuator starts here. Raises panels to 50 degrees.
22:04 Simple sign that goes on steering wheel warns you to lower the panels before driving.
Description has links to stuff used.
Great video. 👍
Thanks, we really appreciate you watching and commenting.
Oh shoot.....I came for the hair and make-up tips!😂😂😂
Sorry Fred. Hope you managed to get a little something out of the other stuff🤣
Good video. Thank you! Questions, please….
1) 21:06 Did you install the manual switch inside the van or outside?
2) If the manual switch is installed inside, is it possible to break the actuators because you kept trying to lower the panels AFTER they had already been lowered as far as they are supposed to go?
3) Did you ever consider a system that would tilt the panels from the right and left sides, or even all four sides?
Thank you!🤙🏼
Hi, thanks for watching, great questions.
1) the manual switch is inside, near the fuses in the garage area. An outside switch would have needed to be waterproof with little to be gained by putting it outside. To reach the switch you need the back doors to be open so you can see the panels even though the switch is inside.
2) the actuators fully closed position is only about 10mm beyond the closed position of the panels. So, if you just keep on closing them after the panels are down, the panels and their mounting frame would bend rather than the actuators being damaged. In practice, the actuators slow down when they’re under that sort of serious strain and it’s clear from the sound that they make that it’s time to stop them. As they are fully closed soon after starting to bend the panels, the actuators reach their limit stops and cut out before any damage is caused, although I wouldn’t want to put the panels under that much strain so I always stop it before it gets that far.
3) I didn’t consider multiply tilts, really just because of the additional weight that would put on the roof of the van. I’ll also be putting air conditioning up there in the next few months so there’s already a lot of weight up there that I want to minimise. The ultimate solution would be a single tilt on a rotating base so that it can follow the sun all day. That could even by controlled automatically using data on the sun’s position, but that would be a serious undertaking and the return on that investment wouldn’t be worth it for me. Just parking with the panels as close to south as possible gives a good improvement on the panels’ output on average throughout the day.
Hope that helps, and thanks again for watching. Ben.
@@diamondsontour Thank you for taking the time to so thoroughly answer my questions! I really appreciate it.
This was informative so thank you. You've got a good setup with a lot of thought gone into it all.
I've always wondered what would happen if the system failed while the panels were tilted. Is there a way to manually bring them down without electricity? Also, you use the actuators to lock the panels down, so if they weren't working, would there be a way to secure them down?
Another question if it's ok. How did you begin the process of a starting point of what size actuators to start with? Were you able to get all of your measurements and then decide that you need an actuator of X length with Y stroke.
Thanks again for the video and your time.
Hi, thanks for watching.
They’re great questions.
If the actuators failed completely while raised, I can just pull the pins out where they fix to the panel and lower the panels manually. I would then hold them down with a ratchet strap. Not a very sophisticated solution but it would get me out of trouble.
At the start, I mocked up the roof rack and the frame that holds the panels, lifted them up and measured the sizes. I did have a failed attempt when the first actuators I bought turned out to be the wrong size but I was able to change them to size that worked.
Thanks again for watching. Ben & Sarah.
@@diamondsontour i appreciate the response, I'm going to be building a rack for my panels as well and it's the the question that continues to come up in my head so I'm going to consider creating a pin setup to lock the lift down if the actuators ever need to be unpinned in an emergency. Maybe even a cradle to place the actuators in under the panel as well so they won't have to necessarily be unwired, disassembled and taken off the roof if this were an emergency and i had to relocate before fixing them.
Thanks again and I'll be checking out your channel.
@@chipmeister111 Hi, yes that would work. Having said that, the actuators have been reliable. You might find you do a lot of work to cater for failures that don't happen.
Hi Ben, such an informative and well constructed video. Can I ask how the linear actuators you got from Amazon are holding up after the months/years of use? Any issues, corrosion or need for replacement? Thank you
Hi, thanks for watching and your kind comments. They’re holding up very well, no problems so far, touch wood. We’ve done about 15000 miles since fitting them from 40 degrees C in Spain to -23C in Norway so I reckon we’ve given them a thorough test. Ben.
@@diamondsontour thank you. That’s really reassuring - I’m hoping to get two to fit to my self built roof top tent instead of my current gas strut set up!
Hi Ben, excellent video,thanks! Wanted to ask if you could find the dimensions of the actuators you have used? the Amazon link in the description isn’t working for me, greetings Thomas
Hi, thanks very much for watching. I'm sorry the link to the actuators wasn't working. I have updated it now so it should work. Bear in mind this size worked for me but check that your set up will work with that range of movement before you purchase actuators. This link isn't to the exact ones I used as they're not available now but these should do the job. Mine are 500mm.
@@diamondsontour yes I’ll measure everything out before purchasing, thanks for the help !
By the way the link to the actuator arms does not work :) I would like to buy these but would prefer to use your links after such an excellent guide.
Hi, thanks for watching. I'm sorry the link to the actuators wasn't working. I have updated it now so it should work. Bear in mind this size worked for me but check that your set up will work with that range of movement before you purchase actuators. This link isn't to the exact ones I used as they're not available now but these should do the job.
First off I want to say this video is great help to someone like me who is starting to build my rv system! I have a few of questions. I see you have two panels mounted together vertically. Do you think you needed to to use two actuators to safely lift the panels? I was going to bolt mine together horizontally. I was going to fabricate it so I can put one actuator in the middle. Do you think that would be ok, or should I put one on each end? I see you used the 3000N. Was that too much lifting power? I was going to go with the 1000N or 1500N. Would you agree that the actuator base lenth should be 1/2 the width of the panels?
Hi, thanks very much for watching, I really appreciate your comments.
The panels are quite heavy but there were two reasons for using two actuators.
First was mechanical stability. With a single actuator, the sides would be less stable and would be more prone to wind damage. It's a big area that can generate a huge amount of pressure in a gust of wind and having four anchor points makes it very stable.
Secondly, the geometry means that at the bottom of the movement, the leverage is so huge that you are lifting way more than the weight of the panels. It's fine when they are higher because the action of the actuator is more perpendicular to the panel so the force is closer to equal the weight of the panel. You would need a mathematician to work out exactly what the force is when starting to lift the panel, but it is many times the weight of the panel. I expect if you could find a single actuator that could exert that much force then it may well be more expensive than two less powerful actuators. In addition, to lift them from a single point, that one mount and the mount at the base of the actuator would have to be very strong to avoid distorting the mountings when all that force is applied. You might be able to make the geometry work, but It is much easier to just spread the force between two points to share the load.
I couldn't say a simple factor such as half the panel length for your set up. It would be best to make a mock up or trial design on the floor and try out a few different arrangements.
I'm sure you'll find something that works for you. Have fun, and thanks again for watching and getting in touch, Ben.
@@diamondsontour Great enginerring points! The leverage at the bottom of the movement and force on the actuator mount are crucial things to consider. The two panels i'm going to use are 35"x24" each. Soulds like I can't go cheap. I will construct separate panels/actuators and call it a day. Thanks for all your insite!
Pleasure. Have fun building it all.
Very nice video!
Seeing that you still answer questions round here:
Have you considered locking the solar panels in place when they are down? Automatically would introduce a lot of weight, but maybe just with a small thumb screw or similar? Because i am located in germany and i dont know, how strict our TÜV (MOT Test) will be with this. Cause i suppose it is allowed bc stuff like a maxxfan is too, but maybe i am better off putting on some kind of locking mechanism. Even for my own safety. I wont drive more than 100kph, but technically i am allowed to drive as fast as my van will go^^
Hi, always happy to help with questions. I made it so that when the panels are down, the actuator is not fully retracted. I can then operate the actuators for a little longer to pull the panels firmly down onto their supports. They are held down very firmly and as the design of the actuators means they can’t move without being powered, the panels are effectively locked down.
We rarely drive over 100kph but have occasionally gone up to 120 with no problems at all, apart from the amount of fuel you burn at that speed.
Hope that helps, Ben.
You tilted your panels using one axis. Do you have any plans to tilt it using two axises? How would you do that? Then you could follow the sun perfectly from sunrise to sunset.
Yes that's a good point that would be possible to achieve. However, it would be a lot heavier and would also use some electricity throughout the day to enable it to follow the sun. That would reduce the potential gain of having it follow the sun in the first place and the weight would be a problem. The power intensity of the sun at dawn and dusk means that the best compromise is to have it perpendicular to the sun at midday and if we want to help it a little, we can just steer the van slightly left or right to move the whole thing towards the sun. Great idea though and thanks very much for watching.
@@diamondsontour Thank you for your response. ...and I forgot to mention: The "drag" joke was presented very professionally. The hardest part of telling a joke is to keep a straight face yourself. YOU did this perfectly!!! :)
But what if you needed to tilt them the other way, but the view is on your passenger side?
Well I guess we would get our chairs out and sit outside to admire the view. If we’re using solar, then the sun would be out and it would be nice to sit outside.
Thanks for watching.
arabanızı anlattınız sanırım arabanız çok güzel ama ben araba kullanmayıda bilmem arabadanda anlamam siz eşiniz beceriklisiniz türkiyemizede gelin misafir olun türkiyeden sevgiler selamlar😀
izlediğiniz ve nazik yorumlarınız için teşekkürler.
The tail lights you put link too have very bad reviews, fading,water ingress, and very poor quality.
Sorry to hear that. In my experience, they have not faded and still work perfectly after 2 years and over 12,000 miles of driving, including -26C in the Arctic and over 4C in southern Europe.
I’m still very happy with them.
Thanks for watching, and commenting. Ben.