Gadgets

Tie-downs for portable solar panels

Introduction

As I have mentioned in my review of the Bluetti PV200, one of my gripes is not being able to tie down the panel in strong winds. Fairly recently, Jasonoid put up a review of a gadget made for just this purpose, which is available on Amazon.

For what you are getting (two tie-downs), this is quite expensive if one takes into account the delivery cost to the bottom end of Africa.

Pat felt she could make an equivalent tie-down without too much effort.

Let's do it!

Pat had about 600mm of a stretch fabric strap left over from another project, and I have grommets, so this is what she came up with:

Attaching it to the PV200 was as simple as the one that Jasonoid showed in his clip:

Comments

It definitely does the job. In a pretty strong gusty wind, the panel didn't fall over.

What is worrying is that the grommet in the stretchy strap might cause runs in the material with the stretching caused by gusts of wind. I feel the the grommet needs to be in a more unyielding material, like thin leather or canvas (with that attached to the strap), rather then being directly in the stretchy material.

(updated: 13 September 2023)