TV Satellite Dish Solar Panel

Found a use for old TV satellite dish: support some Harbor Freight/Thunderbolt Solar Panels.

Solar Panels (I used these Harbor Freight panels )

Two 6-foot fence pickets

Couple screws

Old satellite dish

Old 12-v motorcycle battery

Remove everything from the box, with the HF panels, there are

4 panels

1 controller

2 Lights

1 multiplex cable

Layout the panels and use the fence pickets as frames on the top and bottom of the rows of panels.

On the HF panels, there are pre-drilled holes in the tops and bottoms of the panels.

Hint: don't try to drill with a long screw and you are holding the panel up with your foot. Ahem. Yes, been there done that.

My dish wasn't too curved, so I only had to jump on top of it a few times.

A few glasses of wine makes this really fun.

I glued a few extra pieces of the fence boards to the backs of the two center panels to give the dish something to screw into.

Here, I put the whole schmeel onto an old umbrella stand.

The cables from the panel run to the controller, then from the controller to the battery.

Here I just used an old 12v motorcycle battery.

Connect the lights (12v light, this came with the kit) to shed light on your messy shed.

Done.

Eh, it'll work for now.

If I did it again, I'd use just three of the panels since they are kind of large for my dish.