So, after a rainy summer, overcast weather, and two hurricanes I have finally had a chance to try my home-made solar dehydrator, and it worked great!! Our yard gets very little sun right now…lots of trees. But, the dehydrator was out in the sun from 11 AM until 3:30 PM. I tried drying apples and bananas and in only 4 1/2 hours the dehydrator heated up really well. The fruit was about half dried by 3:30 (when the sun went behind the trees). So, if the dehydrator could gotten more sun-hours, I think it would have been quicker to dry the fruit in the sun than with my electric dehydrator!! (The rack of fruit sat inside the upper box while drying.)