Solar reflecting.....need you solar savvy souls to weigh in

BridgerSunset

I'm  frequently moving a little 10W solar trickle charger around to better catch the sun, while the camper sits in my driveway (charging a secondary 12v battery in the tub which I use for misc things).  I just enjoy not wasting free power.

But it got me wondering.... for the rooftop solar - when it's in the sun, but never at an ideal azimuth - is there a product anyone's heard of which can be retrofitted to chase the sun & reflect some of that sunshine onto the rooftop solar panel?

Or is that not how the physics of solar works?

I already have a 140 watt suitcase to supplement rooftop.  But that'd be too easy....

Denny16

Nope, just the portable panels.  You can get am Azmiuth mount for a portable solar panel, but they are fairly big and expensive (designed for fixed commerical,solar installations) the last time I looked.  For your 10-watt panel, I would just mount it where it gets sun for most of the day, and it will keep a small battery charged without chasing the sun.

The TaB400 roof mounted solar panel does just fine, our’s is currently is pointed North ( back of TaB) but gets good mid day sun, which keeps the main battery charged whilst it is stored between use.
 Cheers 

Grumpy_G

What you're describing is a "heliostat" and these are used in large scale solar power plants like the Ivanpah Solar Farm that do not use silicon solar panels. There are some DIY solutions if you're a tinkerer but nothing off the shelf AFAI can tell. One specific challenge is the orientation of the rooftop solar panel which would require the mirror to operate with shallow angles. 

Denny16

Interesting, I had not seen the mirror based reflector system to keep the sun on the solar panels.  We were designing some Ag solar setups, and found a solar panel mount that worked like a telescope mount, to aim the panels (4 to 6 panels per mount) at the sun, from am to pm positions.  This was what I was referring to.
 Cheers 

TNOutback

Our 400 is parked in our driveway with the rooftop solar pointing north.  Even in winter time with the sun low to the south, I got enough sun to trickle charge the camper batteries.  I haven’t experienced a need to do anything different, even with the panels facing north.

Denny16

That has been my experience also @TNOutback.
 Cheers 

BridgerSunset

@Grumpy_G
Thanks for the note.  No market, I suppose.
I seem to recall a James Bond villain used the concept to focus a beam to earth & destroy whole cities.  Thought maybe someone by now had a product to eke out a few dozen watts at least!

SLJ

I try to park East/West when I can. Roof panel facing East catches the morning sun and my portable panels facing Southwest/West catch the afternoon sun. That way also the drivers side is in the shade all day and the door side has the awning over it to keep cool. Too bad NuCamp doesn't have the option of a second panel on the back side of the roof. Plenty of room for it.