Self proclaimed ‘The Nutty Professor from Down Under’ Jacob Strickling decided he needed to reduce the angle of his solar panels to make the most of the winter sun in Australia.
As the solar array is quite large and hence quite heavy, he decided to use his car and a long rope to assist in the process.
Once he attached the rope to the panels and the car he reversed the car to take some force off the bars holding the panels. He then used a hammer to knock the supporting bar away, but given the incorrect geometry of the rope and the car, the rope didn’t help much and the panels unexpectedly swung down and were only stopped when they crashed into the supporting bar which had fallen to a lower level.
To fix the problem, Jacob repositioned the car and this time put the rope on top of the car to get a better angle on the rope. It worked a little better, so for a further improvement he put a crate on the roof of the car to lift the rope even higher. This was much more successful and he was able to reverse the car and lift the solar panels to the desired angle.
Jacob now thinks he might just leave the panels as they are in the future and not bother changing them with the change of seasons.