Suntactics mounting tips needed

Why don't you model your Suntactics mount based on the Nomad-7? It works for me.

You would not need to make it fold up closed, but otherwise the Nomad-7 has the pieces and parts for hanging off a pack or standing upright.

–B.G.–

Not sure I follow Bob. Perhaps making a sleeve of sorts with cutout windows and sewn in loops that the Suntactics would slide into? Thus resembling the Nomad design? Sounds feasible actually, and light, if that's what you're getting at. Wish I knew how to sew lol. But it does bring up a good "holster" option.

I have one and have carried it many miles.

The manufacturer doesn't recommend hanging them from a backpack but I wanted to try it. I drilled holes in the corners and used mini bungees to hang it on my pack.

I found out that charging while walking doesn't work nearly as well as I had hoped. These are great chargers when aimed at the sun. When not aimed properly they lose their effectiveness to the point where I was losing ground on battery charge. I went back to just charging during breaks which worked well. I still have the holes available if I want to use them.

If you want to try it yourself it seems that Velcro might stick on the back of the charger.

I also drilled holes in all four corners on my sCharher-5. I used to work with a lot of circuit boards and the sCharger is made with regular FR4 fiberglass. It's really tough stuff. Just make sure that the holes aren't too big and obviously don't hit any of the traces.

I agree with Buck's assessment that charging while on the move is grossly inefficient. The sCharger will charge an iPhone just as fast, if not faster, than a wall charger while stationary in full sunlight but while on the move mounted to my pack I'd say that I'd average about 10-30% of that for a whole day's hiking.

If you try to hang your solar panel on the back of your backpack while you move along the trail, then I hope you are aiming it at the sun. The altitude elevation is how high the sun is in the sky, and the azimuth direction is where the sun is moving across the sky, like from east to west. If you aren't aiming the panel at the sun, then the solar energy captured will be reduced either a little or a lot. In a high latitude place like Alaska, you have to aim lower in the sky, and since the light is at such a low angle, it is "spread" over a wider area, which is why solar panels never seem to work great in Alaska. The closer you get toward the Equator, the easier they are to aim, and the more energy will be produced.

–B.G.–

So drilling holes is an option after all. Well that's good news. Small 3mm holes should be more than enough for some thin spectra/dyneema loops. I'm not looking to bear loads off it.

As I say, I would never expect very good results from hanging it off a pack on the go. Strapped across rear panniers pedaling down a treeless country road however, is a different story.

But hanging off the side of a tarp, a small prarie bush, or whatever is important IMO. Just having those options, because if not, I know I'd find myself saying "I wish" a lot.

But to say you're losing ground? Isn't there diodes in the sChargers?

So I went ahead and dug mine out and I guess I lied, I had only drilled two holes. Now as I recall I had wished that I had been able to lash down the other corners as to alleviate the flopping around that I encountered.

Here is a photo of mine:

I just used some guy line that I had around and tied loops on one end and a knot on the other end. I believe I used an 1/8″ or slightly smaller drill bit, so I’d say go for the 3 mm.

Might not be quite so UL, but it seems to me you could get really decent efficiency by mounting the solar panel on the canopy of an umbrella, like the chrome dome. You yourself provide the tracking gimbal, and it will be somewhat intuitive to point it direct into the sun since you will want shade at the same time. Tape a very small dowel to the handle to ovalize the handle, allowing you to control the rotation of the umbrella without looking up all the time to check.