THE AMAZING $30 SOLAR SITE SELECTOR

(Page 2 of 2)

July/August 1978
By the Mother Earth News editors 
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Don quickly chose Option Three and is his baby ever a honey! It consists of [A] a semi-circular baseplate (that you can hold on your lap, balance on a rock or fencepost, or mount on any standard camera tripod) with a built-in compass and leveling bubble, [B] an attached, curved, transparent screen imprinted with solar day/hour sun paths for the local latitude during the critical fall/winter/spring portion of the year, and [C] an attached 180° optical viewer that is precisely positioned to make the first two parts "do their stuff".

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HERE'S HOW IT WORKS

The operation of the Lewis Solar Site Selector is simplicity itself. Just set the, baseplate up on the site you want to survey, use the compass to point it due south, check the bubble to make sure the whole shebang is level, and then take a squint through the optical viewer.

Presto! As you look through the viewer at the transparent screen superimposed on the trees, buildings, and other obstructions in the background . . . you can see exactly where the sun will be during any hour from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. from the autumn equinox (September 22) through the spring equinox (March 21). Does the screen tell you that the spot you've picked will be free of shade between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on December 21? If it does, you've just chosen yourself a worthwhile site for a solar collector, suntempered house, etc. If it doesn't, now's the time to find out . . . before the heavy investment in time, money, and materials has been made.

Unfortunately for Don and Sheri-at least in the short run—their little Site Selector (which cannot tell a lie) quickly turned thumbs down on the solar possibilities of the lot they'd just purchased. But fortunately for us all (even Don and Sheri)—in the long run—the Lewis couple rapidly realized what a tremendously useful tool their Selector can be to the solar experimenters, architects, contractors, and other members of the Sunshine Generation. And so they've gone into the mini-business of manufacturing and distributing their slick little device.

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