diy solar

diy solar

Stolen solar panels?

I find cabling the panels priceless not for theft prevention but to keep them from blowing away.

I made my own cables with 1/8” cable bought by the foot at Home Depot, and a Thimble on each end. The thimble is just a fancy name for the loop the lock will fit around. I bought as water tool to crimp it all. I also put some heat shrink where I cut the cable to make it look neat. I have two of these 20’ long each.

I built them to keep the panels from being stolen, but found the first trip I used them on, they saved my panels from blowing across the parking lot. Of the five trips and two different places I’ve been, most nights the wind gets strong enough to blow a portable panel away. Now before I got sleep, I lay the panels flat and make sure they are not tilted, but winds of 25 gusting to 35 will blow them away and I find them dangling on the cables.

I have not come up with a good way to secure portable panels to the ground to keep them from blowing away. There are some methods, but they are just not worth the effort for a two or three night trip.

Lately, I’ve taken to putting them away at night. The weather forecasts are not that great. I guess the places I tend to go are in valleys at the the border of the mountains and plains with a lake, and there’s not a weather station nearby that covers the microcllimate I find myself in.

Still, I’m not at the RV all the time and the cabling is now more to keep my panels anchored in case the wind picks up when I’m away for a few hours.
 
I find cabling the panels priceless not for theft prevention but to keep them from blowing away.

I made my own cables with 1/8” cable bought by the foot at Home Depot, and a Thimble on each end. The thimble is just a fancy name for the loop the lock will fit around. I bought as water tool to crimp it all. I also put some heat shrink where I cut the cable to make it look neat. I have two of these 20’ long each.

I built them to keep the panels from being stolen, but found the first trip I used them on, they saved my panels from blowing across the parking lot. Of the five trips and two different places I’ve been, most nights the wind gets strong enough to blow a portable panel away. Now before I got sleep, I lay the panels flat and make sure they are not tilted, but winds of 25 gusting to 35 will blow them away and I find them dangling on the cables.

I have not come up with a good way to secure portable panels to the ground to keep them from blowing away. There are some methods, but they are just not worth the effort for a two or three night trip.

Lately, I’ve taken to putting them away at night. The weather forecasts are not that great. I guess the places I tend to go are in valleys at the the border of the mountains and plains with a lake, and there’s not a weather station nearby that covers the microcllimate I find myself in.

Still, I’m not at the RV all the time and the cabling is now more to keep my panels anchored in case the wind picks up when I’m away for a few hours.
At least a cable will keep the honest, honest
 
I use a cable lock to secure my portable panel to keep the honest...honest.
Also, I use a cheap car alarm with another wire loop.
It looks like "is this guy kidding me or what" then they cut the wires and off goes the alarm :)

I've never had anything stolen when camping in 40 years (knock on wood). I'm just paranoid.
 
i use a cable and padlock mine together. my boxer/can corso mixed dog sitting outside near his panels usually keeps most people honest.
love the electronic collars.
 
Theft and vandalism is one of my main concern, since I am operating environmental measuring stations unattended on the public domain or someone else's property.
I am happy when I get the authorization to use a roof on a barn, more rarely to mount the panel on a pole.
 
If you are gone for any length of time, the thief has all the time they need to get past your best efforts. The pony way to be certain is to take them with you.
 
Make a box with a battery, small relay and horn. Connect the battery lead to the horn through the normally closed contacts on the relay and a switch. Connect the relay coil to the battery through a long length of wire that can be threaded through a hole in each panel. If the wire gets cut the horn goes off.
 
Howdy,

Twenty years ago I installed 10 BP75 panels at my remote site in Western Wa.

I drilled holes thru each panel and ran a single wire thru all the panels.

I connected the wire to a cheap ebay Auto alarm with a large alarm speaker.

In ten years the alarm went off twice. And the panels are still there.....

BTW, using the Auto Alarm will turn off the alarm after 90 seconds or so.

Now that we have cellular in the area, I use the same wire connected to a home brew cellular linked system, that reports alarm status plus a bunch more.

Good luck....
 
If you are gone for any length of time, the thief has all the time they need to get past your best efforts. The pony way to be certain is to take them with you.
Problem becomes.... the panels don't charge the TT batt very well, if I don't leave the panels with the TT.
 
Thought this would be a good idea until I saw it's only a 400 ft range.
Are you kidding me? I left a tile protected device in a hotel 5 hours from my home. tracking showed that it was still at the hotel. One phone call and it was shipped back to me.
 
Are you kidding me? I left a tile protected device in a hotel 5 hours from my home. tracking showed that it was still at the hotel. One phone call and it was shipped back to me.

I don't own one or know much about them: just what they told me on the phone.
If it's out of range, the app will tell you the last known location. Maybe that what happened in your case.
Then again, they said that you can turn on "notify when found", but
that requires someone else who has one passing by in range to anonymously connect to it and send info back.
In all, it's a great idea. I'm sure there are other options.
I guess it depends on how much you want to spend to protect it.
Hopefully my camera will pick up their license plate :)
 
You can also get a carbide pen and etch your name, or code number, on your panels to ID them if they are stolen. A carbide pen works on plastic, metal, glass, ceramic, all kinds of things. Permanent ink COULD be washed off by solvents, although not completely in many cases.

Sometimes I use the first 6 digits of my driver's license ID as the secret number to etch.

Can you mount the panels on your roof to make them harder to get at? Thieves just want an easy steal.
 
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