The need to (or not) carefully track the sun for solar

profdant139 wrote:
DarkSkySeeker, I would bet that you could acquire an equatorial telescope mount with a stepping motor and then adapt it for this project.

Plus you could then use it for landscape astrophotography -- double-duty!!

Ha! If I could find an EQ mount like that I would just do some long exposure Milky Way photos with my DSLR.

Anything I make DIY for tracking would be way too crude for astrophotography. However, the vendor I found for my solar tracker is very good and perhaps another project will be my own EQ mount.

A Morning portable panel facing east helps to achieve absorption voltage earlier and give a much better chance of reaching full by late afternoon.

This is about as far as I will go for tracking in my location with my current elctrical usage.

This was how I mounted the flopper on the roof for the summer when at a seasonal site, trailer rear pointing South. I used the single whip to operate it and the two clamps to hold it in place when flat so it would not flop. I only moved it three times a day:
-after sunset to flop Eastwards
-late morning to be flat-tilted South
-early afternoon to flop Westwards

That gave us sufficient AH haul with the 130w panel for our approx. daily 70AH usage. Only needed generator charging once in a while when it got cloudy for a few days in a row--not often in the summer.

Next year I built the twirler ground mounted as seen in the earlier photo.

This was one of my other contraptions. You can have "tilted twirlers" like the one I showed earlier, or like this, which I call a "tilted floppy"

A do-it-yourself project is excellent at about one-thirtieth the cost of a commercial tracker. That is another ballgame entirely. The big issues with on the earth trackers is a) theft b)the wind may have an entirely different idea of where to place your tracker.

The first ten percent and last ten percent of a day's irradiation are not worth the trouble harvest wise IMHO especially Oct - Feb

THIS is the alternative to sitting next to the panel all day. This is why commercial trackers are heart-stopping expensive.


http://www.budgetastro.net/tracking-the-stars.html

DarkSkySeeker, I would bet that you could acquire an equatorial telescope mount with a stepping motor and then adapt it for this project.

Plus you could then use it for landscape astrophotography -- double-duty!!

valhalla360 wrote:

If it's not automated, are you really going to sit there 16hr per day constantly tweaking the angle?

Geez.

DarkSkySeeker wrote:
Thanks.

This was the kind of detail and guidance I was seeking. Obviously the roof-mount case is unworkable as I doubt any rig owners move their RVs to track the sun.

I may build a tracker just for the fun of it and ignore the costs since I had so much fun on my last DIY project.

If you just want a project for projects sake...go for it...doesn't matter what it does to output or cost.

If you want to double your output, a lot cheaper, simpler and more reliable just to add another panel.

If it's not automated, are you really going to sit there 16hr per day constantly tweaking the angle?

As you can see with most residential/commercial fixed solar panel installations, pointing them to the optimal southerly direction and averaging your daily winter/summer solar angle of inclination is usually the most efficient.

Making sure that ALL the panels are in full sun, ALL day, never partially in shade or shadow, and, keeping them clear of dirt/debris will give you your best solar bang for the buck.

Chum lee