Solar awning

[LGsolar]

So, my wife bought our current house in 2015(The one I owned was too small for a family to be). It had a large deck off the back that needed resurfaced. While resurfacing she asked me to build a pergola on it. To me, pergolas are a waste of a lot of pressure treated wood. They are mostly for looks but since she said please so I started to plan. Going on Pinterest I found a simple box frame pergola that used shade cloth to cover the whole top. A Summer of my life later I was done, so I thought. The deck ran East/West so the south side roasted people sitting on that side. The next “Please” was to buy/build an awning. I had some panels and micro inverters from a cabin build that never happened ( darn shale gas pipeline just has to take all the high ground at my camp property). So after adding a little to the pergola I constructed a uni-strut framework that has hinges on all 3 sides of the triangles allowing for angle adjustment. Some ratchet strap rigging to pull the panels into place and Viola! She has her awning and I got to utilize the unused equipment. Win Win.

 

[DIYSolarShed]

That looks super cool. I just built something fairly similar, but it took up 80% of my back yard/patio! (City life...)

 

[bighammer]

Way cool. We have a deck on our west side that we don't use a lot because of sun exposure. I need to design something like that to make it more usable.

 

[JoeHam]

Looks great!

How did you attach the tall uprights to the existing structure?

 

[ArthurEld]

Very cool. I've been thinking of all the places I can put panels.

I have lots of room on my roof but I think a shed would give me space for PV and space for storage.

A carport would work too.

 

[LGsolar]

Looks great!

How did you attach the tall uprights to the existing structure?

The uprights are 6X6 PT that extend to footers below the deck. I just passed them through. The wife detects a .5 degree lean to the structure in the direction of the panels after a wind storm in Dec so I will add corner braces to it this Spring after winching it plumb.

Thanks for the comments. The solar carport framing is nearing completion. Just ran out of warmth.

 

[LGsolar]

While I'm strengthening up the structure this Spring linear actuators will be added to the angled supports. Picked up some special telescopic uni-strut and 1K lbs actuators to retrofit. Have a controller that will manipulate up to 4 actuators do I'll use that to make angle adjustments several times a year. Although it would be cool to automate it with a sun tracking chip I would not trust my creation to do it's own thing so manual powered control will be the answer for now to squeeze a little more out of setup.

 

[HRTKD]

Deck build looks great!

Is that a Titan or an Armada I see hiding in the trees?

 

[LGsolar]

Deck build looks great!

Is that a Titan or an Armada I see hiding in the trees?

Good eye, I have a lot of those ”where’s Waldo?” photos of the back yard. Some have Suzuki Samuri in them others have quads. That is one of the Titans. I had two but recently traded that black one for a superduty.

 

[HRTKD]

Nice SuperDuty. That's a 2021 Tremor?. I switched from a Titan to an F-350 about three years ago.

 

[LGsolar]

Nice SuperDuty. That's a 2021 Tremor?. I switched from a Titan to an F-350 about three years ago.

It’s actually a 2020. Ordered last Feb, COVID delayed it and we took possession in early Aug. Makes the remaining lifted Titan and the Flatbed truck look small. Funny thing is I gave up waiting for it, reserved a Bronco and the salesman called me about the Bronco. I recognized the voice and asked him where was my truck. He called a week later to tell me it just showed up. Took it home and it leaked tranny fluid all over the driveway. Dealer towed it back and without a timeline for the repair they ordered another one. The replacement was built Oct 21 and the dealer received it Christmas week. the 7.3 will gobble up the gas our daily drivers don’t. It all evens out in the end...

 

[HRTKD]

Sorry to hear about the fatal leak. I hope the 7.3 serves you well. Mine has been close to bulletproof. One NOx sensor replaced and a smattering of minor recalls.

My Titan was the most reliable vehicle I had ever owned to that point. I put way, way too much mod money into that truck. I would bring it into the dealer and get blank looks when I needed something fixed that I had broken. I had mod fatigue. The F-350 is close to stock and it's going to stay that way. I ordered it just the way I wanted it so I didn't have to fool around with it.

I'm active on the ford-trucks.com forum under the same username.