Camoflauge for Solar Panels---Any Ideas

[justanothergunnut]

I have been looking around the net trying to find ideas on hiding solar panels. Mainly the observability of them from the air due to reflection. I know there is cloth material that some clothing is made out of that allows UV to pass through. I know that their will be a reduction in efficiency so I will just compensate with more panels. It does no good to have solar at a remote retreat in the mountains if that same solar setup looks like a 4x8 mirror sitting on the ground screaming "hey, look over here". Does the anti-glare treatment offered on some panels diffuse the glare enough to make them difficult to observe from the air?? It is a often asked question on survivalist forums but I have found no credible solutions. Anybody solved this problem?

[DIM TIM]

Not sure that this is even possible. Seems to me they would stand out regardless.

[justanothergunnut]

Not sure that this is even possible. Seems to me they would stand out regardless.

Lol I don't like to hear not possible there are clothing materials that allow uv to pass through they make women's bathing suits out of it so they can fully tan uv causes tans it also drives solar cells WHY is it not possible? Perhaps because the desire to achieve it hasn't been strong enough to warrant the r&d effort

[ryder]

One thing that comes to mind is the honeycomed shields for rifle scopes. If you can stop the wide angle reflections it would certainly help. On a small scale a easily closed cover with some camo paint on it would help and also protect from hail damage.

[1Admin]

Here's an interesting tidbit. I threw a blackout curtain over a 235 watt panel when I was making connections to a controller. The volt meter still showed power coming in. So you may be on track to find something that works.

I would assume that this sort of thing would work better with larger panels, which are less apt to be affected by shading than smaller panels.

[justanothergunnut]

Here's an interesting tidbit. I threw a blackout curtain over a 235 watt panel when I was making connections to a controller. The volt meter still showed power coming in. So you may be on track to find something that works.

I would assume that this sort of thing would work better with larger panels, which are less apt to be affected by shading than smaller panels.

Think I may have the problem solved at least partially. I have found a material that will allow UV to pass through, is intended for outdoor use and can effectively camo a panel. Gonna run a few tests. Big downside though is that I may have a reduction of almost 40%. Perhaps I can mitigate some of that by changing the standoff distance will see..

[DIM TIM]

Been thinking about this one for the past few weeks, and I figure it WILL work, but will probably lower the power output to some degree no mater what. Perhaps something along the lines of one of those decorative scenes that you see in pickup truck rear windows would probably be a best bet. You don't see the scene from the interior through your rear view mirror, but it allows you to see what is behind your vehicle in the mirror, so some light is getting through, and from the rear of the vehicle, all you see is whatever scene is on the material. Might work pretty good.