Sorry. Did you get to the end? At least skip to the end and chuckle. btw:I find it interesting that people these days spend their time and energy telling other people how much they disliked their work ;o)

No, I'm the most un-political dude you'll meet.

I would love to see something similar.

@@nialbell8301 I noticed there wasn't a reply ton me seven months ago. I'm not expecting one now

That amount of hot water could heat a house provided you have enough radiators

I used Polycarbonate mirror, but it is not good long term in Florida because of UV rays. I would use highly polished aluminum next time.

I'm using a $3 LDR to do just that. It shows kzbin.info/www/bejne/fqavi6WOnMqamM0 at 4:05

BTW, I'm a sucker for bunnies. I used to own a rabbit (Butterscotch). Cutest video I've seen in a while.

Here, "Grace of the Nine Founders": kzbin.info/www/bejne/rIvHm6l8a9qharM

Maybe it sucks, but I assure you it's better than my voice, plus it solved a number of production issues. At the end of the newer version of this video, I reveal why the robot is narrating: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fqavi6WOnMqamM0

I had a copy of it from his other video. The important bit is the "cooked" bit at the end that causes heating of the water. for(v A((u A((e A((r-2?0:(V A(1[U])),"C") ),system("stty raw -echo min 0"),fread(l,78114,1,e),B(e),"B")),"A")); 118-(x =*c++); (y=x/8%8,z=(x&199)-4 S 1 S 1 S 186 S 2 S 2 S 3 S 0,r=(y>5)*2+y,z=(x& 207)-1 S 2 S 6 S 2 S 182 S 4)?D(0)D(1)D(2)D(3)D(4)D(5)D(6)D(7)(z=x-2 C C C C C C C C+129 S 6 S 4 S 6 S 8 S 8 S 6 S 2 S 2 S 12)?x/64-1?((0 O a(y)=a(x) O 9 [o]=a(5),8[o]=a(4) O 237==*c++?((int (*)())(2-*c++?fwrite:fread))(l+*k+1[k]* 256,128,1,(fseek(y=5[k]-1?u:v,((3[k]|4[k]<<8)<<7|2[k])<<7,Q=0),y)):0 O y=a(5 ),z=a(4),a(5)=a(3),a(4)=a(2),a(3)=y,a(2)=z O c=l+d(5) O y=l[x=d(9)],z=l[++x] ,x[l]=a(4),l[--x]=a(5),a(5)=y,a(4)=z O 2-*c?Z||read(0,&Z,1),1&*c++?Q=Z,Z=0:( Q=!!Z):(c++,Q=r=V?fgetc(V):-1,s=s&~1|r<0) O++c,write(1,&7[o],1) O z=c+2-l,w, c=l+q O p,c=l+z O c=l+q O s^=1 O Q=q[l] O s|=1 O q[l]=Q O Q=~Q O a(5)=l[x=q] ,a(4)=l[++x] O s|=s&16|9<Q%16?Q+=6,16:0,z=s|=1&s|Q>159?Q+=96,1:0,y=Q,h(s<<8) O l[x=q]=a(5),l[++x]=a(4) O x=Q%2,Q=Q/2+s%2*128,s=s&~1|x O Q=l[d(3)]O x=Q / 128,Q=Q*2+s%2,s=s&~1|x O l[d(3)]=Q O s=s&~1|1&Q,Q=Q/2|Q<<7 O Q=l[d(1)]O s=~1 &s|Q>>7,Q=Q*2|Q>>7 O l[d(1)]=Q O m y n(0,-,7)y) O m z=0,y=Q|=x,h(y) O m z=0, y=Q^=x,h(y) O m z=Q*2|2*x,y=Q&=x,h(y) O m Q n(s%2,-,7)y) O m Q n(0,-,7)y) O m Q n(s%2,+,7)y) O m Q n(0,+,7)y) O z=r-8?d(r+1):s|Q<<8,w O p,r-8?o[r+1]=z,r [o]=z>>8:(s=~40&z|2,Q=z>>8) O r[o]--||--o[r-1]O a(5)=z=a(5)+r[o],a(4)=z=a(4) +o[r-1]+z/256,s=~1&s|z>>8 O ++o[r+1]||r[o]++O o[r+1]=*c++,r[o]=*c++O z=c-l,w ,c=y*8+l O x=q,b z=c-l,w,c=l+x) O x=q,b c=l+x) O b p,c=l+z) O a(y)=*c++O r=y ,x=0,a(r)n(1,-,y)s<<8) O r=y,x=0,a(r)n(1,+,y)s<<8)))); system("stty cooked echo"); B((B((V?B(V):0,u)),v)); }

great infos on inplix, check that out

Thanks, Tim! The original 100 -plus year old design of a solar water heater; a black barrel inside a black box behind a sheet of glass works well because the stored water is being absorbed by the black painted surfaces and insulated by the trapped warm air in the box surrounding the barrel filled with water. And it doesn't matter how heavy it is. However none of that applies to this design. Plastic would block a lot of sunlight, glass would make it a lot heavier and more expensive and you would still block sunlight and have to keep it clean, deal with condensation, etc. I have seen some people use a vacuum sealed glass tube around the pipe in cold climates. They do a good job limiting heat loss from cold air and wind, but the glass tubes are expensive and fragile and increase the complexity of building this yourself. When it's cold, the more important factor is how well the STORED water is insulated. I insulated all the tubing that wasn't collecting sunlight, and insulated around the hot tub base and of course a thick 6" cover over the hot tub. The genius of this design (George Phlak) is that the parabolic concentrator requires relatively short footage of a fairly large diameter pipe, as opposed to un-focussed collectors that use a many feet of small diameter pipe. With short, large diameter pipe, as long as the water is moving through the pipe and there is direct focussed sunlight, the water in the pipes absorbs heat. And as soon as you stop circulating water, the unit instantly decouples thermally and does not cool the stored hot water.

Bruce Snyder Thank you for the detailed reply. You have clearly thought through all the parameters, designing a well thought out cheap project that even us "normal" people can build. I applaud you for: 1. doing this; and 2. openly sharing this. People like you help make our societies better. Thank you.

Yes, that's the first design I tested. I made a program that worked back and forth to "zero in" on the sun. But then I read a very wise and funny comment online that made me rethink that approach: the sun always moves from east to west relative to the collector-- it never moves backwards! So I set out to make it so it can never get "ahead" of the sun, and have to waste energy going backwards. Now I have a simple program that only moves west when the sun has moved west a bit, and is shining straight down the slit, causing a maximum reading. I turn on the motor while reading the sensor and stop when it creates a shadow again.

Of course you are not wrong, but there may be a case when the sun is blocked for some reason (clouds for example) and the device may overpass it. Also by having two sensors you have instant adjustment to low direct sunlight (for example when the sun is partially covered). You also have definite knowledge of the light level since at least one of the sensors faces the sun. Anyway, the exact algorithm I described will provide exactly the same functionality as yours in the general case, it will not move backwards if it doesn't need to (I didn't say that you should track the sun continuously, your idea of adjusting the position once in a while is good for power saving). My algorithm is also easier to program since you don't have to care about special cases and states. Each minute you just read the sensors and decide what to do. Since you already have it working though you don't have any reason to change anything if you don't have any overpassing issues.