By way of example and not limitation, the compass meter 204 may have a current compass direction arrow 208a and an optimum compass direction arrow 208b. By way of example and not limitation, a shaded region 209 may exist between the current compass direction arrow 208a and the optimum compass direction arrow 208b, with the shaded region 209 decreasing as the current compass direction arrow 208a reaches the optimum compass direction arrow 208b. When the current compass direction arrow 208a reaches the optimum compass direction arrow 208b, the smartphone may emit a signal (e.g., sound or vibration) to let the user know that the optimum compass direction has been reached. The user can stop moving the light tower. In this manner, only one person is needed to set the point direction and panel tilt. The person making the adjustment need not visually inspect the screen of the smartphone. The shaded region 209 may provide an easy visibility differentiation between how for the current pointing direction of the solar panels 102 (see FIG. 1A) are from the optimum pointing direction (see FIG. 1B). By way of example and not limitation, the current compass direction 208a may correspond to the direction the top portion 201a (See FIGS. 2A-C) of the smartphone 200 points. The top portion 201a of the smartphone 200 may point in the same direction as the pointing direction of the solar panels 102 (see FIGS. 1A-C) so that when the front 103a of the solar panels are pointed at different compass directions, the compass meter 204 (see FIGS. 2A-C) measures the pointing direction of the solar panels 102. Alternatively, the bottom portion 201b opposite to the top portion 201a, or one of the longitudinal sides 205, may be used as the reference portion to determine the current compass direction 208a.

The optimum compass direction 208b may correspond to the compass direction at a certain duration of day of the year and/or location where the solar panels 102 (see FIG. 1B) should face to receive the maximum, or close to the maximum, of amount of solar energy from the sun. As shown in FIG. 4, and by way of example and not limitation, the software on the smartphone 200 may use the GPS location of the smartphone 200 and the date from the smartphone that corresponds to the location of the solar panels 102 and lighting tower 100 to retrieve from a database/server 404 the optimum compass direction for the solar panels 102. By way of example and not limitation, the smartphone 200 may send the GPS location to the database/server 404 to retrieve the optimum compass direction 208b. Based on the retrieved GPS location, optimum compass direction 208b may be displayed on the screen of the smartphone without user intervention. By way of example and not limitation, the software may also use the day of the year, such as the current week, month, or season in conjunction with or in the alternative, the GPS location to retrieve from the database 404 the optimum compass direction of the solar panels 102. By way of example and not limitation, the smartphone 200 may send the day of year to the database/server 404 to retrieve the optimum compass direction. The sending and receiving of information may be done through a network 402. By way of example and not limitation, the network 402 may include one, some, or all of cellular communications networks, data communications networks, and/or the Internet.

As shown in FIGS. 2A-C, and by way of example and not limitation, the software may display the GPS information 216 of the city, state, zip code, and country that the optimum compass direction arrow corresponds to. By way of example and not limitation, the optimum compass direction 208b (see FIGS. 2A-C) may change and be updated on the software when the GPS information 216 changes and as the day of the year changes. By way of example and not limitation, the optimum compass direction 208b may change and be updated on the software, and thus on the smartphone screen after the passing of a certain duration of time, the duration of time being 1 to 12 hours, 1-7 days, 1-4 weeks, or 1-12 months and as the light tower is being moved around. Using the optimum compass direction 208b allows the user to set up the solar panels 102 in the optimum orientation prior to sunrise or prior to when the sun is at the optimum solar position, which may be around one or two hours before and after noon time.

As shown in FIGS. 1B-C, the tilting mechanism 106 of the portable solar light tower 100 may tilt the solar panels 102 in a way that the left 103c and right 103b sides of the solar panel 102 are inclined at an angle. The smartphone 200 attached to the left 103c or right 103b sides of the solar panels 102 may detect such tilt. The gyroscope 306 (see FIG. 3) of the smartphone may detect the change in tilt since the smartphone 200 is attached to the left 103c or right 103b sides of the solar panels 102 (See FIGS. 1B-C) in the mounting bracket 202. Although the gyroscope 306 is primarily referenced herein with respect to measuring tilt, other sensors of the smartphone, such as the accelerometer 308 and the magnetometer 304, may also be used in conjunction to determine tilt direction. By way of example and not limitation, the longitudinal sides 205 (see FIG. 2A) of the smartphone 200 may be parallel to the tilting axis 105 (see FIGS. 1B-C) of the solar panels 102, the tilting axis 105 extending upwards and downwards of the left 103c and right 103b sides. As the tilting axis 105 changes angular position, the smartphone 200 may also have the same change in angular position along its longitudinal sides 205 (see FIGS. 2A-C). In other words, the smartphone 200 may have the same change in angular position along its pitch axis that rotates the two longitudinal sides 205 extending between the top and bottom portions 201a-b of the smartphone 200 upwards and downwards. The gyroscope 306 (see FIG. 3) may be able to measure such change in angular position along the tilting axis 105 and display the tilt angle 210a on the smartphone 200 (see FIGS. 2A-C) using the software. Alternatively, the lateral sides of the smartphone 200 may be placed parallel with the sides 103b, c of the solar panel 102, instead of the longitudinal side, and the gyroscope 306 may measure the change in the incline of the tilting axis 105 using the lateral sides. In other words, the smartphone 200 may measure the change in the incline of the tilting axis 105 using the roll axis of the smartphone 200.

As shown in FIG. 1B, and by way of example and not limitation, the solar panels 102 may be laid flat in a horizontal position where the left 103c and right 103b sides of the solar panels 102 are parallel to the ground. Consequently, the longitudinal sides 205 (see FIG. 2A) of the smartphone 200 may be horizontal and parallel to the ground because of how the smartphone is attached to the mounting bracket 202 and to the side of the solar panels 102. As shown in FIG. 2B that corresponds to the smartphone of FIG. 1B, the tilting meter 206 displayed by the software on the smartphone 200 may show the horizontal orientation of the smartphone 200 and the solar panels 102 with the current tilting direction arrow 210a pointing at zero degrees. The horizontal orientation of the solar panels 102 in FIG. 1B may not be the optimum tilting position, and instead the optimum tilting position may be, for example, 35 degrees upwards from the horizontal direction, as shown by the optimum tilting direction arrow 210b. As shown in FIG. 1C, and by way of example and not limitation, the tilting mechanism 106 may move the solar panels 102 to such optimum direction.

As the solar panels 102 tilt to the optimum angular direction, the current tilting direction arrow 210a (see FIGS. 2B-C) may move towards the optimum tilting direction arrow 210b. This is because the longitudinal sides 205 of the smartphone may be parallel to the tilting axis 105 (see FIGS. 1B-C) on the left 103c and right 103b sides of the solar panels 102, and the smartphone 200 may be equivalently tilted with the solar panels 102 about the pitch axis of the smartphone 200. By way of example and not limitation, the gyroscope 306 (see FIG. 3) of the smartphone 200 may measure such change in tilt angle and update the tilting meter 206 (see FIGS. 2A-C) accordingly.

By way of example and not limitation, and as shown in FIGS. 2A-C, the tilting meter 206 may be displayed on the smartphone 200 in the form of a semi-circle or, alternatively, a full-circle. By way of example and not limitation, the incrementation of the tilting measurement may be in degrees or radians. By way of example and not limitation, the midpoint of the arclength of the semi-circle may be labeled as zero-degrees, which the zero-degrees may correspond to when the tilting axis 105 (see FIG. 1B) and the longitudinal sides 205 of the smartphone 200 are horizontal. By way of example and not limitation, the endpoints of the semi-circle of the tilting meter 206 (see FIGS. 2A-C) may both be labeled as 90-degrees. Alternatively, one of the endpoints of the semi-circle of the tilting meter 206 may be labeled as 90-degrees and the other end as negative 90-degrees. By way of example and not limitation, the top half of the semi-circle of the tilting meter 206 may correspond to pivoting the tilting axis 105 (see FIG. 1C) of the solar panels 102 to be inclined such that the front 103a of the solar panels 102 is pointing downwards towards the ground. By way of example and not limitation, the bottom half of the semi-circle of the tilting meter 206 may correspond to pivoting the tilting axis 105 of the solar panels 102 to be inclined such that the front 103a of the solar panels is pointing upwards away from the ground. Alternatively, the aforementioned reading on the tilting meter 206 may be reversed. By way of example and not limitation, the degree incrementation on the tilting meter 206 may be outlined by 5-degree incrementations, with major tilting directions that are multiples of 30-degrees are labeled with the actual number quantity.

By way of example and not limitation, the tilting meter 206 may have a current tilting direction arrow 210a and an optimum tilting direction arrow 210b. By way of example and not limitation, a second shaded region 211 between the current tilting direction arrow 210a and the optimum tilting direction arrow 210b may exist to clearly show the difference between the current tilt and the optimum tilt of the solar panels. The second shaded region 211 may decrease as the current tilting direction arrow 210a reaches the optimum tilting direction arrow 210b. When the current tiling direction arrow 210a reaches the optimum tiling direction arrow 210b, the smartphone may emit an audible sound or vibrate (i.e., signal) to let the user know that the optimum tilt direction has been reached. The signal emitted by the smartphone may be different for optimum compass direction versus optimum tilt direction. The current tilting direction arrow 210a may correspond to the angular direction of the longitudinal sides 205 of the smartphone 200 relative to the ground when the smartphone is positioned within the mounting bracket 202 (see FIGS. 1B-C). The mounting bracket 202 may also have longitudinal sides parallel to the ground when the solar panels 102 are horizontal, as shown in FIG. 1B. As the solar panels 102 are tilted along the tilting axis 105, the longitudinal sides 205 of the smartphone 200 may also be tilted by the same amount as the tilting axis 105 about the pitch axis of the smartphone 200. The pitch axis may correspond to the upward and downward incline of the two longitudinal sides 205 along with the tilting axis 105, the two longitudinal sides 205 extending between the top and bottom portions 201a-b of the smartphone 200. Consequently, the current tilting direction arrow 210a (see FIG. 2C) may change on the tilting meter 206.

The optimum tilting direction 210b may correspond to the tilting direction at a certain day of the year and/or location where the solar panels 102 (see FIG. 1C) should be tilted to receive the maximum, or close to the maximum, of amount of solar energy from the sun. As shown in FIG. 4, and by way of example and not limitation, the software may use the GPS location of the smartphone 200 and the date from the smartphone that corresponds to the location of the solar panels 102 and lighting tower 100 to retrieve from a database 404 the optimum tilting direction for the solar panels. By way of example and not limitation, the smartphone 200 may send the GPS location to the database/server 404 to retrieve the optimum tilting direction 210b. Based on the retrieved GPS location, optimum tilting direction 210b may be displayed on the screen of the smartphone without user intervention. By way of example and not limitation, the software may also use the day of the year, such as the current day, week, month, or season in conjunction with or in the alternative, the GPS location to retrieve from the database 404 the optimum tilting direction of the solar panels 102. By way of example and not limitation, the smartphone 200 may send the day of year to the database/server 404 to retrieve the optimum tilting direction. The sending and receiving of information may be done through the network 402. By way of example and not limitation, the network 402 may include one, some, or all of cellular communications networks, data communications networks, and/or the Internet.

As shown in FIGS. 2A-C, and by way of example and not limitation, the software may display the GPS information 216 of the city, state, zip code, and country that the optimum tilting direction arrow 210b corresponds to. By way of example and not limitation, the optimum tilting direction 210b (see FIGS. 2A-C) may change and be updated on the software when the GPS information 216 changes and as the day of the year changes. By way of example and not limitation, the optimum tilting direction 210b may change and be updated on the software, and thus on the smartphone screen after the passing of a certain duration of time, the duration of time being 1 to 12 hours, 1-7 days, 1-4 weeks, or 1-12 months and as the light tower is being moved around. Using the optimum tilting direction 210b allows the user to set up the solar panels 102 (see FIG. 1C) in the optimum orientation prior to sunrise or prior to when the sun is at the optimum solar position, which may be around one or two hours before and after noon time.

The features of the software described herein allows for the setting up of multiple portable solar light towers 100 (see FIGS. 1A-C) at optimum orientations in different GPS locations prior to sunrise or prior to when the sun is at the optimum solar position, which may be around one or two hours before and after noon time. Consequently, one user may travel to different GPS locations, such as different zip codes and cities, and attach the same smartphone 200 to the different solar light towers 100 in different GPS locations to optimize the orientation of the solar panels 102. The user may conduct such tasks at a time different from when the sun would be at its optimum solar irradiation position at the GPS location, such as noon time. This allows for the solar panels 102 of the solar light tower 100 to harvest more solar energy and avoid guessing or changing the orientation of the solar panels during the optimum solar energy harvesting time.

Referring now to FIG. 5A, optionally, the smartphone may be mounted to different areas on the solar panel or its frame. For example, the smartphone may be mounted to the side of the solar panel as shown by reference number 502 or the front of the solar panels as shown by reference number 504. Other locations are also contemplated such as location 506 (see FIG. 5A).

Also, as shown in FIG. 5A, the software application may allow a user to select the attachment point of the smartphone 200 on the solar panels 102 and allow the smartphone to calibrate the measurement of the compass and tilt direction accordingly. As shown in FIG. 5B, the smartphone 200 may be attached at a different location on the solar panels, which may require the software to calibrate the measurement of the compass and tilt direction accordingly. As shown in FIGS. 6A-B, different embodiments of the mounting bracket 202 are shown. Moreover, as shown in FIG. 7, the smartphone might not be level to the mounting bracket, the software application may calibrate the tilt direction of the smartphone 200 to be horizontal.

Using the application software, a user may input or select the exact location of the attachment of the mobile device (e.g., smartphone 200) relative to the solar panels 102 to allow the software to calibrate the point and tilt measurements according to the attachment point. By way of example and not limitation, the software application may display on the smartphone 200 the light tower 100 with one or more attachment selection options 502, 504, and 506. By way of example and not limitation, the user may choose from the right 103b, front 103a, left 103c, and back side of the solar panels 102 to attach the smartphone thereto. The first attachment selection 502 may correspond to the right side 103b of the solar panels 102, the second attachment selection 504 may correspond to the front side 103a of the solar panels 102, the third attachment selection 506 may correspond to the back side of the solar panels 102, and there may exist a fourth attachment selection (not shown) corresponding to the left side 103c of the solar panels. By way of example and not limitation, if the user chooses the front or back side of the solar panels 102 as the attachment point, then the software application may be calibrated to use the lateral sides of the smartphone to measure tilt instead of the longitudinal sides and also calibrate the compass direction on the smartphone accordingly. By way of example and not limitation, the user may also input which way the top portion of the smartphone is pointing relative to the solar panel for the software to calibrate the compass pointing direction of the solar panels.

Referring now to FIG. 5B, the smartphone 200 is shown mounted to the front side 103a of the solar panels 102. Consequently, the software measuring the point and tilt of the solar panels 102 may recalibrate based on the new attachment location to correctly display the current point and tilt measurements 208a and 210a, respectively, (see FIGS. 2A-C) on the compass meter 204 and the tilting meter 206. The recalibration may also be done if the smartphone is attached elsewhere relative to the solar panels 102, as described elsewhere herein. By way of example and not limitation, if the smartphone 200 is placed in the mounting bracket 202 of the front side 103a of the solar panels 102 such that the front portion 201a (see FIGS. 2A-C) of the smartphone 200 is pointing towards the right side 103b or left side 103c of the solar panels 102, the software may recalibrate to make the current point direction 208a of the compass meter 204 to read as if the front portion 201a of the smartphone 200 is facing the front side 103a. The front portion 201a of the smartphone 200 may be the reference portion for the magnetometer of the smartphone to determine which way the smartphone is pointing. The user may input in the software the location of smartphone attachment relative to the solar panels 102 (e.g., front side 103a of the solar panels 102) and the orientation of the smartphone 200 in the mounting bracket 202 (e.g., which way the front portion 201a of the smartphone 200 is facing). The software may then receive inputs of the actual compass direction that the smartphone 200 is facing and output the necessary compass direction of the smartphone