The 7 foot circle of sunlight moves to rear deck.


Solar cooker in new position

I had a great time cooking with the big dish last summer.
I am not ready to sit out the winter without making some progress with my solar experiments.
As we head for January 2010, I decided it was time to start using the big dish on a daily basis, and to refine it so it has many uses.

The rear deck was built with 2X6 lumber so there should be no issues with ruggedness.
I used my electric telephone truck to move the dish from the front yard to the rear deck. The bucket on the truck has a remote control pod, so I was able to move and position the dish my self.
The controls and power PV panel were moved around to deal with the partial shade that the dish will see in the morning.
Not a fun job when it is 10 degrees with a 15 MPH wind.
A switch was added to that automatically rotates the dish to a convenient food loading/unloading position, and a battery connector that will allow 2 prius subpacks to power the system, and charge from the solar panel between moves.
I put my canning pot with about 4 quarts of water right from the tap on the holder, and started the test. The sun was behind slight haze, as I said earlier, it was 10 degrees with wind, and the thin walled steel pot was not insulated at all. Within 30 minutes the pot was boiling over. All with a 7 foot circle of sunlight.