DIY Solar Tracker info
On October 05, 2007 in photovoltaics
DIY means not shelling out way too much money for something you can easily put together yourself if you have the patience and time. In this spirit, I’ve started compiling a list of resources for DIY solar trackers for PV panels.
Increasing PV output sounds good to me. Here is a site that has some information about what solar trackers are and how they work.
At the bottom of the article is this:
Useful Solar Tracker Links
My Homemade Solar Tracker - “If you have enough carpentry skills to make a bird house, you can build this tracker.”
Redrok - A collection of DIY electronic projects including solar trackers, solar charge controllers, shunts and much more. Complete solar tracker circuits are available for sale.
Sun-Tracking Circuit for Solar Arrays.
Wattsun - Manufacturers of Wattsun Solar Trackers
The most “DIY” of the bunch looks to be the “My Homemade Solar Tracker” page, but these didn’t quite match what I was looking for, so I dug a little further.
As usual the people at BuildItSolar.com came out on top with this $35 solar tracker built with an LED tracker from http://www.RedRok.com/
“Old C band satellite dish and actuator - free
3″ steel pole found in neighbors scrap pile - free
Bed frame found in alley - free
Telco AGM battery from buddy at Qwest -free
Assorted scraps of wire -free
Pickle jar -free (Mmmmm, kosher dills)
Redrok LED tracker $35
20% gain on 160w panels, five sun hours/day…160WHR/day…. Priceless! ”
They also had a link to THIS article about PV tracking basics.
Just a moment ago I found this one, which rivals the BuildItSolar tracker. Coincidentally, this is on the green-trust site which I have linked, as the author is quite close to my general area.
MAKEZINE has a post about a passive solar tracker that sounds like an excellent idea…
“It is a new type of ‘passive’ solar tracker that uses a combination of direct sunlight (radiant heat) and shade (ambient air temp) to affect the thermal expansion and contraction of a liquid to make the solar panel rotate. The expansion of the liquid causes the panel to rotate toward the west during the day and the contraction causes the panel to rotate back towards the east at night, ready for the morning sunrise. The simple hydraulic system, ensures that the solar panel is angled towards the sun from dawn through to dusk - all year round.”
Here is some new info on efficient and CHEAP solar cells…
http://www.digitalworldtokyo.com/index.php/digital_tokyo/articles/1mm_diameter_solar_cell_spheres_formed_in_freefall_by_gravity/
Thanks for breaking the tables on the site and thanks for the link, Travis
I’ve just designed and built a simple homemade solar tracker than can accurately align to the altitude of the sun as it changes daily, with the seasons, and also track the sun, from sunrise to sunset.The heart of the unit is a Intermatic® 12 Hour Spring Wound Wall Timer (Model FD12HC), with a 21 tooth spur gear mounted on the 3/16″ diameter knob shaft, and a 36 tooth spur gear mounted on the 1/4″ threaded axis that holds and rotates the solar panel. The electrical contacts of the Intermatic® device were gutted to reduce drag.
Check out this link for the details:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Portable_Sun_Tracking_Solar_Panel_With_A_Windup_Cl/
here is a DIY site featuring a very simple tracker canuckle guided by a LED sensor circuit called the sunswitch
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