Solar panel array for Burning Man

When I attended Burning Man last year, my camp’s gas generator broke down after only two days. Fortunately, the camp next to us let us run an extension cord from their power source. This year I hope to power my camp completely from solar.

Selecting a power station

I started looking online for a power station (also called a solar generator). I came across few videos reviews of the EcoFlow DELTA Pro and I found this power station on sale at Costco at a significant discount.

EcoFlow DELTA Pro has a 3,600 Wh battery and can accept 1,600 Watts from solar.

Selecting solar panels

After ordering the power station, I started sourcing some solar panels. San Tan Solar has a great website and customer service. I ordered six 265 Watt Jinko solar panels that were delivered in a couple weeks. Although shipping was expensive, these used panels were very affordable so it all worked out and I really like the idea of giving used panels a second life.

The solar panels were delivered from a big truck with a pallet jack.

Supporting the solar panels

I decided to build the stand with strut channel from Home Depot. Some of the parts, like the post bases and U brackets, had to be ordered online. Once attached to the ground, I will run two diagonal ratchet straps along the back mitigate shearing forces. Specification for the structure are published here.

The main structure is built entirely of 1–5/8" strut channel.

Attaching the solar panels

I wanted to use the existing mounting holes on the panels. I had considered drilling holes through the side of the strut channel to mount studs, but that was going to be very difficult. Eventually, I found a way to use conventional strut channel hardware to securely mount the panels using two twist nuts.

The panels sit on top of two twist nuts and a machine screw secured with a wing nut.

Portable solar array

The stand and solar panels can be put together in a few minutes. It’s critical to point the structure south before mounting the panels as they weigh about 250 lbs. The strut channel structure weighs another 150 lbs.

Six 65“ x 39” Jinko 265 Watt solar panels mounted to the structure.

Wiring the panels

The power station takes an XT60 (yellow connector) and can accept a maximum of 150 Volts. Each of these panels can generate 37 Volts with no load or 30 Volts under load. That could be 222 Volts with six panels wired in series (too many Volts). We use a parallel “Y” connector to cut the voltage in half with an inline fuse (with white sticker) on the female end of the XT60 cable. With two sets of three panels wired in series, you may also need a short MC4 cable to get from the far end of the panels back to the XT60 cable. Finally, an MC4 tool (the blue gadget) is helpful to tighten and disconnect the MC4 connectors.

Some special cables are required to connect solar panels to the power station.

Cooling and dust mitigation

The power station has fans in the top of the unit that come on whenever necessary. We can assume the four internal fans will come on whenever the inverter or charger are working hard.

Access to AC and USB is down at the bottom of the rack so the top of the rack can stay enclosed.

I use a wire rack with a shelving cover, to keep the power station up off the ground and direct air flow. I use fans to pull air through a 14" x 30” furnace air filters. This should allow reasonable access to the power station while pushing out dust. I have an AC Infinity Rack Roof Fan KIT that should work and uses less than a Watt, but I intend to bring another more power fan in case pulling air through the filter is creates too much of a load on the Rack roof kit.

The air filter is held in place with gravity.