600 watt DIY Solar Tracker Part 1

[@abrahamnorthhampton3327]

Terrific project! Well executed. Lots of skill here, to maximize every minute of sunshine.

[@northlanddiy2524]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@jennifersmith3864]

Cool, looking forward to more info.

[@RixtronixLAB]

Nice video, keep it up, thanks for sharing :)

[@northlanddiy2524]

Thanks for the visit

[@davidcromapix9083]

Good Job ,Thanks for sharing .

[@neilwani1178]

Why not get a 12 zone sprinkler system with 12 relays all indoors. Eleven zones can move the panels from east to west for a minutes or two at plus 12 volts. And the last zone can move the panels back from west to east at minus 12 volts until the whole thing goes back to start when it starts to get dark.

[@northlanddiy2524]

That's pretty innovative thinking. Hat's off to you Neil. I really like your minimalist attitude. I'd love to see an implementation of your idea. Question: Would you really need 12 relays though? I would think that just one for each axis would work well if only one controller output was on at a time. Three reasons for me why I wouldn't do it that way though is that 1) Since the tracker motor is small and the PV array has over a 100lb of mass I wanted a way of accelerating/decelerating the start/stop. It would seem that the sprinkler controller timers would need to be reprogrammed frequently or the tracker wouldn't be able to compensate for the difference in the sun's monthly azimuth and elevation changes. 3) I have a background in industrial automation, the challenge to do something on a small budget was a appealing and also a lot of fun.

[@neilwani1178]

@@northlanddiy2524 I think you could wire 11 of the 12 to one relay as long as the transistor outputs on those lines can handle 24 volts when not in the on position. And of course the 12th output or last output would be in reverse polarity to move the solar array back to start. Since each controller works in minutes, we can only move the actuator with 24 volts ac in minute intervals. So we can move each time about 2 minutes for 11 lines. And move back 22 minutes on the 12th line. I think in the winter it will have to be reprogrammed. Maybe when we go out of daylight savings time. And then when daylight savings happens, it will change. So I'm thinking twice a year.

[@northlanddiy2524]

Neil, if I understand you correctly, you would divide the day's sunlight hours by 11 to set the time of day that each channel on the timer will trigger (minimum 2 mins.). Then at day's end you would trigger the 12th channel for 22 minutes to home the array. Is that how it would work? OK, so the earth rotates 0.5 degrees in one minute. On my system I've found it only necessary to move the azimuth axis every 24 minutes which makes a 12 degree window. That's a 6 degree error on either side of pointing straight at the sun which works very well with my MPPT charge controller. If I understand your thoughts it looks like you'll need to extend that interval slightly which should also work well. Then again perhaps that's over-thinking the solution. Are you instead thinking of something like simply setting the 6th channel to trigger at noon. Then have 5 channels on either side of noon triggering at set intervals, say about an hour each? (i.e. Ch1 @ 7hr, Ch2 @ 8hr, Ch3 @ 9hr, Ch4 @ 10hr, Ch5 @ 11hr, Ch6 @ 12hr, Ch7 @ 13hr, Ch8 @ 14hr, Ch9 @ 15hr, Ch10 @ 16hr, Ch11 @ 17hr.) In that example you would have about a +/- 15 degree offset in from the sun for each hour. Depending on your installation I'm sure that would still work out okay. How would you set up the running gear? If I remember correctly the minimum amount of time on my sprinkler timer was 2 minutes. So, if yours is the same you probably wouldn't want to have the gear exceed 15 degrees per minute. How much flexibility would you allow for?

[@neilwani1178]

@@northlanddiy2524 this is very flexible. The reason I choose a 12 zone is because it's only $100. And it has one minute intervals. I most likely may not need all 12 zones. But it will solve the solution and make it a timed setup which seems to be blocked by a patent. As long as your panel is facing the sun in that interval, it will work very well even if you are a few degrees off.

[@northlanddiy2524]

I'm not sure what you mean by "a timed setup which seems to be blocked by a patent" Are you planning on modifying the timer? Are you going to build a tracker using your idea? I'd like to see how it works out for you.

[@SigmaWorksSW3D]

Great tracker!!! ;) how much did it cost in total without panels?

[@northlanddiy2524]

Sorry for the delay, It's hard to say because I bought bits and pieces over time. A guesstimate would be some around $500 - $600 CAD. Part 2 coming shortly...

[@abird2931]

could have built it for a fraction of the cost if you just purchased an actual solar tracker kit. I did my 400watt system for around $225, excluding the panels, it monitors the sun and automatically adjusts for optimum efficiency; it even will stow itself during high wind and at night.

[@northlanddiy2524]

Nice, although that wouldn't have been as much fun. I have a friend looking to build one this summer. Can you provide a link to, or the name of the kit you're referring to? Thanks

[@AB-dy2ll]

😱😱😱😱😱🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🙈🙈🙈🙈🙈🙈🙈

[@oldwizzy]

All this can be made much, much easier. The easiest way is how an Optical Telescope basically works according to the 'Equatorial' principle. The equatorial mount has a north-south "polar axis" that is tilted to be parallel to earth's polar axis, allowing the telescope to swing in an east-west arc, with a second axis perpendicular to it so that the telescope can swing in a north-south arc. By swiveling the polar axis of the mount or mechanically moving in the opposite direction of the Earth's rotation, the sunpanel can accurately track the movement of the sun all day, easy by one clock on 24 hours time line. See the link for this >> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equatorial_mount#German_equatorial_mount

[@northlanddiy2524]

Looks interesting. How would you set up and control the gear to rotate the polar axis?