DIY Solar Tracking System Inspired by NASA (Parker Solar Probe)

In this video I demonstrate a simple autonomous solar tracking system that can be used with solar panels or parabolic mirrors to improve their performance in producing renewable energy. For this system I use two 10rpm, 6v geared electric motors, and four 5v, 0.6w solar panels connected in a configuration that allows the motors to constantly move the panels into shade (purchasing links for these items below). The cost of the electronics was about $10, and could easily be scaled up or down as necessary for a variety of solar applications.
Check out Destin's video about the Parker Solar Probe to see what inspired me to build this project: • The Parker Solar Probe...
A big thanks to my Patreon supporters who continue to support my videos through thick and thin! You all are awesome. A special thanks to my top Patrons: Syniurge, Matthew Leitzke, TheBackyardScientist, Enzo Breda Lee, John Johnson, & Thibaud Peverelli!
Check out my Patreon page at: / nighthawkprojects
The geared motors I used in this video can be found here (this is an affiliate link): ebay.to/2SOTKhR
0.6w 5v solar panels (this is an affiliate link): ebay.to/2QGKsQS
Let me know if you try this project for yourself. Thanks for watching!

[@buffplums]

It’s great to see someone who finds a solution that doesn’t require a flipping arduino … can’t beat good old fashioned analogue and op amps

[@bobsnabby2298]

Arduino could make the design much more "intelligent", flexible and adjustable. You think NASA is using tracking systems without computers LOL

[@alec4672]

Honestly, I'm not comfortable putting an Arduino outside and trusting it with hundreds of dollars worth of panels. This is dead simple and as far as I can tell unless a kid with a laser pointer gets clever it's fail safe too. I just trust this analog solution in the weather and elements more

[@buffplums]

@@alec4672 the trouble we have today is people don’t understand analogue electronics … it’s either a microcontroller (usually an Arduino) or a bloody 555 and everyone copies everyone else’s ideas from the internet …. Nothing wrong at all but come on people start learning about other ways of doing things… play with some OP Amps get your hands dirty and learn about analogue electronics come on guys you’ll feel great when you can build a flashing led with only 2 transistors 4 resistors and 2 capacitors … as opposed to a microcontroller that could land a vehicle on the moon. Hahah

[@buffplums]

@@bobsnabby2298 actually they do there is much more to,electronics than using an arduino … you should try learning about electronics it’s fun

[@TheDaspiffy]

@@alec4672 or at night if a near by street lamp or other lighting causes the panel to rotate such that the sun won't hit the trackers in the morning or if light is reflecting off of a nearby surface, etc, but if you can control the nearby environment then this should be a cheap reliable method.

[@IggyDalrymple]

My system uses a shade loving pitbull tethered to rear end of the panel boom. When the shadow moves the pitbull pulls the panel to the correct position. Problem is, all hell breaks loose when the mailman arrives.

[@owenparker6651]

Always a few bugs with every otherwise brilliant solution!!

[@charleslyell3748]

😂😂😂😂

[@joehowe9532]

Brilliant😮…😂

[@AndrewGilpatric662]

To see something used by NASA and have the insight to change it into something people can use everyday is a gift in itself great video thanks

[@joewoodchuck3824]

The fact is that NASA has invented all sorts of things for public use. Nothing new. I used to receive their periodical which served to publish many inventions.

[@wyattfisher8760]

We designed a system that was exactly this for a class in college (18ish years ago). We realized that we could do it with one pair instead of 2 as long as we were willing to make weekly elevation adjustments manually. We also built a system that was time-based with a wind-up alarm clock. It worked surprisingly well for having zero feedback.

[@FrnnkEducation]

I am DISGUSTED at how amazingly brilliant and simple this is. This is exactly what I needed for my own system. And it uses the age old crankshaft rotor system from automobiles. Lol I'm blown away.

[@RightOne1]

Disgusted! I am appalled and horrified!! Also thinking about how much customers are ripped off by these solar companies.

[@wolfmane8839]

Why you think the Democrats push solar so hard they all have ther hands in the pot I love solar but self made systems is only way to go. never buy full turn key your paying 3 times or more and are mostly stuck with there parts and service people

[@gabe20244]

@@wolfmane8839 Wait, how is this remotely related to politics? Do you have proof Dems have their hands in solar and would make money on it? If so is it more so than Repubs? You made a really cool video, some creative comments, into an unnecessary political stunt? That's lame dude.

[@gabe20244]

@ no one brought it up in this thread. Go away .

[@therdubya]

@@wolfmane8839 Democrats also push hard for education, to include continuing education like 4 years of college at a min, available to all who want to pursue, without leaving kids in crippling student debt. Judging from your horrendous spelling and grammar issues, and a complete lack of basic understanding of the environment, I'd say you could benefit greatly from that. Or, to put it in terms your uneducated brain can understand, you're (YOU'RE = YOU ARE. "YOUR" = ownership. dumbass) STUPID.

[@cornpop7805]

I design machines for a living and I often design low budget scale prototypes like this for proof of concept. In that vein, think what you've done here is excellent!

[@johnkulpowich5260]

Keep it simple

[@bobsaturday4273]

sure , and think ; it only cost nasa $500 million to figure it out !

[@fck45]

@@bobsaturday4273 And you are here benefiting from science how cool!

[@BrilliantDesignOnline]

Update: for the problem of the sunrise vs the sunset position: place vertical shades on the east sides of the solar panels to block any morning sun on the west and top/bottom solar panels, with a mirror inboard on the east panel that can reflect the morning sun onto that panel, which would kick start it moving back to the east, until the acute rays became more direct.

[@ejrupp9555]

Just angle the east panel more eastward. In practice, it will only turn east all in one motion in the am, and west, slowly through the day.

[@Alliendo]

​@@ejrupp9555exactly my thoughts. Basically it's starts with east side. Then don't use it until next day. Maybe with some kind of sprinkler system might not even need to east panel.

[@dcf476]

​@@Alliendoduno because any return mechanism would require a trigger, if it goes cloudy in the arvo, the trigger might not activate the return. I think the eastern panel should have another panel facing 90° to it. Once the day is done, the 90° panel would catch the morning shine, rotate the assembly to the east, ast it gets there the flat east panel takes over for proper alignment which then renders the 90° east panel inactive till the next morning.

[@Shallnot]

@@dcf476that’s exactly what I was thinking, add another panel to do the reset and everything else would work appropriately after reset, only thing would have to put into consideration is what input can the motor handle so you don’t accidentally fry the system

[@FelonyVideos]

My ego is always boosted when I hear people say "What I realized is that..." and then say "(something I actually did 35 years ago)". 😂

[@prairiecracker214]

I always try to design and refine my projects to their simplest form. I think this is brilliant and I thank you for sharing your insight into this method.

[@joea1433]

This is NOT a "crazy" invention. It is practical, simple and elegant.

[@DIYPerks]

Very cool! I enjoyed following your thought process on this one. Such a clever idea!

[@somewhatobsessedwithgaming9862]

I totally had a similar idea, but this is a far better implementation. Totally impressed!

[@cmawhz]

I just watched like 10 of your videos yesterday funny seeing you here. I'll be using one of your ideas to make a light panel with led strips so thanks!

[@maticsnoj5959]

Nice man i folow you to :)

[@ReanimatedItachi]

The god of diy is here

[@flitehacks9604]

Hatss off to this mann...damn ....

[@matthewbrown7170]

What?! This is freaking brilliant. Thank you for breaking down exactly how you built this. It’s incredible.

[@hu5116]

Great video! I had seen a one axis version of this in other videos, but they all had the problem of the solar cells being in the light all the time, and therefore always fighting each other to drive the motor in opposite directions. This ended up causing very jerky motion, because there was not enough current to drive the motor until the sun had moved substantially, and then the stall torque finally let loose and let it move, resulting in a jerk motion. Yours is smooth as butter because all the cells are shielded from the sun until the sun has moved, and then only one in that axis gets the light. Absolutely one should baffle it the way you showed, because that will further block light from undesirable direction. Bravo, on a wonderful design!

[@carll2339]

I built a single axis solar tracker in college in 1980 that used an op amp and a couple of transistors to move a detector wheel. My device balanced the light hitting four 1 x 2 cm cells and it would set toward the west at night and spin to the east in the morning. It always found the sun from every possible position. Good work Night Hawk.

[@snap-off5383]

Yeah in 1997 a solar tracker was our assigned freshman project.

[@ajarivas72]

@@snap-off5383 Make a video 🎥 of your devices

[@snap-off5383]

@@ajarivas72 You think I still have it from 25 years ago?

[@ajarivas72]

@@snap-off5383 It would be a home-run with full bases if you had it.

[@agabaronald4830]

Can you please tell me more on this

[@mickeyfilmer5551]

The simplicity of this makes it a brilliant concept design

[@bobsaturday4273]

sure , and think ; it only cost nasa $500 million to figure it out !

[@dixiemine5556]

Exactly, we dont need arduino to track the sun

[@hasangedikoglu3126]

That is what I call a real ingenuity ! You solved a quite complicated problem with a very simple solution. Congratulations.

[@Sturb100]

Love this. An even simpler version is just to have a fulcrum over which a panel lies and adjust elevation manually as the seasons change, as the east to west change is much more prominent than elevation change. This would make it stronger too.

[@donm1547]

Very awesome and simple. For the Sunrise reset issue, inside of the East panel, mount 1 or 2 mirrors or more panels at around 45° each to form a 90°or so that will catch the rising sun and deflect it to down to the East panel causing it to rotate back to sunrise. I love this one, thanks, I'm going to build it, or multiple ones.

[@josepeixoto3384]

You need *one more solar panel* in the back of the large shade panel, to catch the morning sun and return the array back from its night position; so,one motor will have 6 wires going to it; you can use diodes on the wires to avoid discharge from panel to panel.

[@mytube001]

Was about to suggest the same thing, but checked the comments first to avoid repeating the same idea, and sure enough. :)

[@ivanlawrence2]

instead of another panel, could you just angle the lateral eastern panel so it could catch the light? Or maybe the "optional" shade wall could instead be a mirror to reflect the light to the eastern panel? Just some brainstorming... this is so amazingly simple!

[@G-ra-ha-m]

A mirror or foil on the back of the panel may do the job.

[@QuantumRift]

a rechargeale battery could power it to move back to retrack the sun in the morning.

[@ivanlawrence2]

@@QuantumRift But how to trigger it in a computer-less setup? I guess a "dumb" timer to just turn on lateral movement for n sec at midnight?

[@frankreid8624]

I am installing a solar aerator for my pond and want it to be as efficient as possible. I think I've found the answer in first video I watched. Thank you sir, this is a very elegant solution to the problem.

[@HopWorksET]

BRILLIANT! Being a skilled fan of MCU controlled devices, you would think I would hate this approach, but on the contrary. It's terrifically simple!! I LOVE IT! I am curious how this would work on overcast days, but then I also wonder how much that would matter to the main solar panel. Thank you sir for your contribution!!

[@igornoga5362]

Adding aditional pannel facing backwards wired to the latteral motor should flip it in the morning. Angling your pannels outwards a bit will reduce deadzones. Also don't forget some diodes, pannels get damaged by reverse current.

[@MrRasZee]

solar panels are diodes and diodes wont allow reverse current

[@AZOffRoadster]

I was thinking just a slightly concave (on vert axis) mirror beside one of the horiz panels that would reflect light from behind.

[@kidharris]

a simple light sensor (to little light situation ) could also be used to "flip" it back around. Cloudiness could be determined by all pv panels having the same production while the light sensor still senses light but this would be getting more complicated and probably require some logic

[@uweschroeder]

@@kidharris If you want to go that sophisticated: nothing a little arduino or raspberry pi couldn't handle...

[@stephanweinberger]

MrRasZe true, but they aren't very good diodes and can easily break down in reverse polarity (multicrystaline cells can break down at reverse voltages as low as ~12-13V). That's why many panels come with builtin bypass diodes to prevent damage (because even in a normal setup, where you have multiple cells in series, single panels or cells might be in the shade while others continue to push current through them). If you happen to have solar panels with builtin bypass diodes, the proposed design will not even work (as the bypass diode of the shaded panel will short-circuit the motor). Adding a simple blocking diode for each panel doesn't hurt...

[@rodkirt9273]

Adding a tracking system only increases the power of the power by only 33% using a directional system; electronic directional aiming circuit. I get it! My system has 170 “static” 225 to 300 watt panels, that can produce about 29 kilowatts per hour With your suggestive control system, the expensive unpractical controller electronic controller would increase my system’s by 10 kilowatts per hour: = to 39 kilowatts per hour. Yeappers, a very nice increase. My system cost me about $40.000. A 33% increase would definitely be worth the small cost of your basic sensor. Bravo to you. !👍

[@danstrayer111]

Rod-----What do you do with all that power?

[@SteampunkSammy]

@@danstrayer111 Use it, sell the excess id assume

[@paulcartwright8777]

This is a perfect example of the design philosophy of Colin Chapman, the legend behind Lotus Cars, with his remark that to make the car faster "you need to add lightness". Simplify it. With the deluge of content on YT it's become a rare thing to be truly impressed by anything anymore. Hats off to you Sir, I'm impressed. 👍

[@FakeReclaimer]

As soon as I saw the solar panels I understand how it worked. Brilliant idea!

[@joemccormick1660]

Brilliant. The concept is so simple, yet perfect in its simplicity. The presentation is 10/10!

[@vovanikotin]

Simplest solution is using table of analemma, no need any sensors

[@magisterchief]

This is without a doubt the smartest thing I've seen in a long time! So simple yet so brilliant.

[@leightonwestbury92]

That is a really neat idea, i love the simplicity of it, in fact i cant believe just how simple it is, some of the very best ideas are the simplest ones

[@NemonicanatLarge]

Wow...the simplicity of this design is awesome. A most elegant device. You must be congratulated!!!

[@Bicyclehub]

That's not a crazy invention. It's just about the most sensible and brilliantly simple solution to this problem! You have done something wonderful. Thanks so much for sharing it.

[@FloatingOrbProductions]

Dude, really smart. I was just thinking about this the other day. Thank you.

[@YoutubeHandlesSuckBalls]

I thought of this concept independently around 15 years ago. Been waiting to get a solar system to put it into operation. Glad to see the idea gaining traction.

[@1965Haval]

That is great. Such a simple but very cleaver approach to achieve that function. Thank you for sharing this video.

[@BayouAlex111]

Wow! This is brilliant. Not only with the idea but with the simplicity and cost effectiveness as well. Something I would of never even thought of. Thanks for sharing this information and idea with us. :)

[@Diprotic]

I've always thought of a system like this but never really thought it out completely, thanks for the video/idea.

[@MegaAshabasha]

Been looking for this idea in my head for some time. Thanks for the good work!

[@rationalicthus]

Dude, you have continued where TKOR deviated. I cannot tell u how many times I’ve rewatched your videos. Clear, easy to understand, educational AND just fun.

[@badw01f23]

Would love to see a time lapse of this to see how sensitive and precise it is.

[@dylanwoodard5378]

I think it would be very precise because once the sun hits a panel it will not take long for that to create enough power to drive the dc motor

[@waitemc]

Me to

[@N4ppul4]

For a solar system, I think its accurate enough. I dont think there is enough to fuss about such a small angle difference to a perfect angle than a simple experiment like this gives. Also added bonus, if you attach those vertical shields then you maximize the power output even between trees and other shadowy areas or mirror like lakes and such.

[@bpark10001]

It doesn't need to be precise at all. As the drop off in solar efficiency is cosine function (which "stays near one" over broad angle) and sensor signal is sine function (which changes rapidly with angle), even the crudest system with 10 degree tracking error will result in little degradation (98.4%). One motor/sensor can be eliminated by setting its axis parallel to earth polar axis (like equatorial telescope mount).

[@yusufpraditya4421]

@@dylanwoodard5378 what happen if the weather is cloudy?

[@SeanFarbolin]

I saw a guy at the Bay Area Maker Faire this year that had an electric assist bike that he made a solar panel trailer for. The panel could only tilt left to right, but the tracking method he used was really clever. It was two photoresistors mounted on the side of the panel, each pointing about, say 20-30 degrees off perpendicular in the axis of movement. These ran to a mini arduino which controlled a tiny linear actuator. It didn't use the shade. Instead, it took the analog input from the to photoresistors and tried to move the panel so that they would equal out. Similar in concept to how yours works, but I'm extremely impressed with the simplicity of your design. I spent the first half of the video looking for where the arduino!

[@SaltGrains_Fready]

Congratulations !!!! You've done it dude !!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You Get The Preppers Nobel Prize !!! 100% SIMPLE and Minimalist !! LESS IS MORE !! You have created the total OFF GRID simple control of all time. There's no limit to the way this can be built out with motors, bearings, and components !!

[@callistusjoseph6388]

Great, fantastic idea, I always was trying to find a system like this, without complicated electronics. When it goes to the west limit let it activate a limit switch and a timer and turn it back to the east for the next day to re start the cycle.

[@Freizeitflugsphaere]

Wow! Very simple and effective👍🏼 Love it!

[@AlekseySholka]

Love it. Very simple and elegant. Keep creating, man!

[@relaxaredormir9694]

Amazing, simple ideas that made the changes. It blow my mind with new ideas. Congratulations.

[@plumtiger1]

Great design! If the vertical shade was actually reflective, it could catch the sun at obtuse angles and still keep the panels separate!

[@eadams5037]

Outstanding in its simplicity. Nice job of getting to the heart of the science.

[@GamingAmbienceLive]

yes scientists didnt know this until a youtuber made the video

[@vocalpatriot]

"science"?!? oy!

[@vocalpatriot]

@@GamingAmbienceLive I designed one (on paper) when I was a boy. Using a paper towel tube and photo resistors instead of panels..mine would've needed power...I like this idea better..photovoltaics was still in it's infantile stage then..

[@vocalpatriot]

@UCvmT0yBXzuQcSclDDTaPChA No I didn't know of KREOSAN...but thanks to some smart dude, I now do! I wouldn't call this a "complete fail", it was presented as a beta version...in a way. But yes, digital is now the way.. I will be doing some solar setups for my modest RV..some on its roof and some for the spot next to wherever we choose to park. Tiny is the buzz word for that project. lol Thanks for the tip..and love your channel, been watching for years..

[@szankony6276]

Yep, good to work in... clear sky days, but... hopeless solution eg. winter snow conditions. It is much better predict sun position using btw. also NASA toolkit for this.

[@AlbertWestra]

What cool with this is once you get the kinks figured out, you can use this guy as the main tracker and tell the other panels where to point.

[@MasterCommandCEO]

So awesome. I had seen another video with just the 2 panels but the shadow idea is great because it helps with the whole shorting all the time issue people brought up.

[@PMGTV.]

Bro, thank you for the love of God. You literally did a step by step in how to get to this video from your short. I seriously wouldn’t have gotten here without the baby steps. No sarcasm, just not familiar with the platform anymore. Please continue to look out for the little guys.

[@vincenthenry3102]

Superb concept. One possible adaptation that would overcome the problem of opposite horizon sunrise would be to slightly angle each of the smaller panels outward. They could still be completely in the shadow of the large panel when it the sun is up, but when it rises or comes out from behind a cloud, having them at an angle will allow them to still catch a little sun. The angle would make them slightly less effective, but those motors wouldn't need to turn quickly anyway.

[@locouk]

Mounting the panels at a 20-45 degree angle to the front board would help find the new day’s sun first thing in the morning, the solar cell would seater its own shadow on one side, the opposite side would be better angled for the new sun.

[@MascottDeepfriar]

I was thinking the same thing. The sun blocks would add weight and more dangerously surfaces for wind to catch on.

[@charleslyell3748]

Simple and probably an effective solution.

[@Electrowave]

Such a simple design, I love it :-). Thanks for sharing.

[@user-bm8ip4tz2t]

it's been almost 4 years ago.. you made this nasa inspired solar tracker and still the best concept..

[@mrhupen]

That is amazingly simple. Love the project and the smarter every day credit as well. Great video!

[@bobsaturday4273]

sure , and think ; it only cost nasa $500 million to figure it out !

[@bootyholeman5659]

Great idea! Here's an improvement. When one of the solar panels is generating current the shaded/reverse polarity one is burning some of that current along with the motor. if each panel had a blocking diode in series with its positive lead then this would solve that problem.

[@AverageWorkshop]

newbie here! How would you calculate the value for the diode?

[@victordonchenko4837]

@@AverageWorkshop The only pertinent value a diode has is its voltage drop, and I doubt that would matter much in this case.

[@TimeSurfer206]

@@victordonchenko4837 Well, another number that matters is its Ampacity. How much current can it block, and/or carry, before it lets the Magic Blue Smoke out?

[@matthewmaxwell-burton4549]

@@TimeSurfer206 it's a linear device pretty much so P=UI. You know the voltage drop so you must look at how much power it can displace. If it has a heat-sink you be good for hundreds of amps. 0.7*100 ... Again the datasheet is the only reference you need

[@shannondwhite]

I would not recommend a diode. In this setup, the energy is only for and going to the motors, and if they do their job, leave it. The voltage drop on typical diodes is around half a volt. At the size of the panels and motors used here, that half volt may cause it to not work or be slow to respond (behind the sun). If the panel is 5 volts at peak sun, and its a little cloudy, that drop may prevent detection. The energy wasted in the other motor does not hurt anything (won't overheat), and the system works. Even in a larger setup, a diode could be added, but wouldn't be needed (an extra expense and effort). --- Typically you would use a diode with a solar panel, some have them installed already, but in this case I do not believe it is needed.

[@argellaguardia9390]

Wow! Pretty awesome. I was planning to make a manual adjuster to focus my solar panels towards the sun. I know i cant afford the current solar trackers sold online. This invention is so simple and very affordable and can be replicated by me or anybody else. Thank you so much.

[@Don-sx5xv]

ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT...LOVE TO WATCH THIS ONE DEVELOP, IN THE MEAN TIME I AM GOING TO EXPERIMENT ALSO....THIS IS MORE THAN A GREAT START....WELL DONE MY FRIEND

[@platypusrex2287]

I love the going back to how things were done before digital electronics and computers... Analog Tech!!

[@SuperMapupa]

all computers are analog by design, we just call saturated output as "1"

[@bobsaturday4273]

sure , and think ; it only cost nasa $500 million to figure it out !

[@Crucifixionmachinemusic]

I really enjoy when someone simplifies something to it's component elements. You're exactly right not to use a computer to do all this, What you have is a little neural network.

[@JamesBiggar]

...until you have an overcast day and the tracker is wandering all over the place constantly, trying to find the sun through varying cloud densities (which could cause it to use more energy than what the array above it can harness during these conditions), or a wind storm happens on a sunny winter day when the panels are at an extreme angle - then it becomes a sail. Not a big deal for a tiny model like this, but if you've got a couple thousand watts of panels to worry about, you'll wish you spent the $200 on a proper controller that can program an automatic homing position to maximize harvest during overcast conditions, and senses the wind speed with an anemometer and automatically angles the array out of potentially damaging winds, which are becoming increasingly extreme as time passes...at least here in Atlantic Canada anyway. A very small price to pay to protect a serious investment.

[@JamesBiggar]

...and just an FYI, this isn't a new concept. A friend of mine built something very similar a few years ago. It's here on KZbin. My commercial controller uses a similar sensing system too. Very simple. But it does employ a controller for the sole purpose of providing the aforementioned efficiency and safety features.

[@trevor5290]

@@parishna4882 Yup.. James STFU!

[@sven-olavnoren1149]

@@parishna4882 7! :) 11 or 1111 etc = "laughter", I think most people don't read Age of Empires II jargon.

[@user-lg6nf2qv2r]

So Great , So Simple , way to go . I have wondered for a long time if this would work and you proved it , thanks so much , so appreciated .

[@dalsio]

You could try angling the panels away from each other. That would reduce the potential for the sun to hit all of them while increasing the potential for them to catch the sun when it is facing the absolute wrong direction (such as at dawn or after a storm).

[@RobertShaverOfAustin]

Great idea. It triggered the following thoughts ... Scaling it up will take some thought. The weight of a substantial solar panel will require a much heaver structure. To use such small motors means that the moving structure will have to be well balanced. This balance will require consideration of wind load as well or the torque of the small motors will not be sufficient to contract the wind (not a problem in space :). Gearing the motors down more would give them more torque. The question is, how slow is okay for the tracker to acquire the sun? I think the sun moves about a quarter of a degree per minute. [360 degrees per 24 hour day / (24 hours * 60 minutes/hour) = 0.25] So maybe the tracker could move one degree per minute. Another possible simplification would be to eliminate the elevation axis. Just have a polar aligned mount that presents the panel at the average elevation based on the latitude of the installation. I think the loss of power generation would be negotiable at most populated latitudes.

[@NoxmilesDe]

TRIGGERED

[@michaeltempsch5282]

Instead of solar panels driving motors directly, I've seen it done with light dependent resistors as inputs to a microcontroller that in turn controls motors through appropriately sized motor drivers. Saw one with a roughly 4" diameter setup with about 6" tall shade cross (as he suggested to use the cardboard), all mounted on the front of the structure next to the solar panel

[@UpcycleElectronics]

Or you could miniaturize this system and use it as a directional guide for more robust mechanics ;) -Jake

[@halted_code]

there are a few ways you could scale this up, one is to put this on a 2 axis solar panel, and have this power relays to move larger motors. Or another option is to put this tracker off the solar panel assembly and to make it so 1 degree of motion of this tracker is 1 degree of motion of any solar panel motors to move large solar panels, and so you basically have the other solar panels just mimicking the tracker.

[@thebge1237]

Maybe instead of using the energy generated by the small solar to power the motor use it as a switch instead . This would enable us to use a stonger motor

[@halfbeardsilvertongue5129]

That's such a cool, simple, straightforward concept and proof! Awesome, sir!

[@radamest2]

Brilliant. Thank you for showing!

[@fusion2x]

Such a simple ingenious design!

[@guestchannel3080]

I clicked on the video, I Instantly understood what it was. Simple. Smart. Impressive. Subbed.

[@crustycobs2669]

There should be a huge market for these as RV'ers, and people forced to live in camper vans, will need one of these for sure. Excellent design, great video. Others with homes will need them also.

[@marknoveck8395]

Thank you I had not seen that in use and it looks practical simple to design and build I will try to create one myself and use it for my own system

[@USWaterRockets]

I love the simplicity of this design. I have a suggestion if you ever revisit this project, which would be to do a time lapse video of the tracker in operation. I'd love to see how it behaves over time and what happens in the morning the next day. Keep these videos coming!

[@Nighthawkinlight]

I'd like to have done that, but I only had the one sunny day to film in the last three weeks. I picked a bad time of year in Michigan to film a solar project. Might try a timelapse when the days get longer again

[@pleasecho2]

I would imagine you'd see it moving in steps due to overcoming the deadzones

[@realazliving]

This is great, thanks. There’s another type of simple solar tracker that several of my neighbors use. It uses horizontal pipes filled with oil. When the sun hits one side of the pipe the metal expands. More oil fits in it and the weight tips the panel. I think they might be one axis trackers but I’ll have to go inspect some. There are no moving parts. Maybe it’s another fun project to play with.

[@nemac23]

He mentions that type of design in this video. The problem with those is that if it is cloudy in the morning it will fail to start it's motion.

[@avrahamkrichevsky4831]

Brilliant! Thank You a lot! I hope to use this idea in my solar installation.

[@larrymcdowell9576]

Thanks,your solar tracker idea is going to make my life a lot easier

[@predmaster]

You should to record a timelapse of this device workig for 1 day ;-)

[@GamingAmbienceLive]

He would, if it actually worked.

[@MrRbuxton]

He's proven his concept.👍

[@akashbharadwaj1]

@@GamingAmbienceLive haha... exactly... hes controling it secretly

[@explorerpragun431]

@@GamingAmbienceLive noobs

[@abh-itsanamazingworld6283]

I was thinking about your design and had an idea to make it even more simple. If you wire the panels so when a panel receives light, it moves towards the light source and angle the panels somewhat away from each other, the device will move until all the panels are equally receiving sunlight at which point they will counterbalance each other and no current will flow to the motors. The sun shade would not be needed. This may also solve the next day problem. Try it out and see if it works!

[@dustinshort6207]

Wouldn't that short out the solar panels? After some amount of time they would probably fail.

[@cerebral3591]

I like this idea. Might have to try it. Maybe add some diodes to protect the panels.

[@kwippl4207]

I also like this idea, but there is an added benefit which should be tested. By angling the pannels away from each other, you are also increasing some of the light catching perameters, thus making the morning light easier to catch and cause the panel to return to the Sun. I have not done the math but I would start with them at 30 degrees and run some testing.

[@SolarpunkLife]

This is great... thank you for making this

[@Oroborus710]

Leaving a comment so I get recommended more awesome stuff like this. I've been subbed for many years now, but I somehow missed this project. Looking forward to watching the whole video!

[@WilliamRossi]

Dude, you should work for NASA, awesome job. Greetings from Brasil!

[@bobsnabby2298]

NASA made this design, so why would they hire him to invent the wheel again ?

[@charleslyell3748]

Na verdade ele utilizou a ideia da NASA.

[@oremooremo5075]

And people say spending money on space programs is a waste. Yet we can learn so much from them.

[@nathandean1687]

well alot of tech has come from nasa . that we use every day.

[@eggaweb]

The microprocessors in our computers are a result of the Apollo program for example.

[@danstrayer111]

"People say" a lot of stupid things. This is America, so we have a lot of that.

[@grokitall]

people say spending money on any form of blue skies research is a waste, but they don't know what they are talking about. such research acts as a driving problem, and even if the eventual outcome is impractical, the commercialisation of the resultant technology to get to that point usually returns 7 times more than was put in to get there, so even if you had not got satelites and launchers, the return from things like teflon and the improvements in computer reliability would have been worth it by themselves. this is backed up by hard data from tracking the return on the money spent for the apollo program and many other examles.

[@bettingru]

Simple yet genius invention. Thank you for sharing publicly before a big company claims patent rights.

[@mahmoodmoossavi243]

Greetings Sir: What a simple but a genius idea to accomplish a great task. I did and really do enjoy your educational presentations. Wishing you all the best. Thank you very much.

[@mrharvest]

Improvement idea: It will be difficult to mount a large solar panel on the front of the solar tracking array because of the weight / torque requirements. This isn't necessary. Use a small dummy array coupled to potentiometers for sun position and use that information to drive linear actuators for moving the actual large solar panels.

[@astyles51]

until u build one as u stated your comment will mean nothing

[@toamaori]

I was thinking the same thing, using the tracker to control an array of panels

[@IonutJaR]

@@toamaori is much simple to use those solar panels to activate electrical relay used to comand larger motor

[@karlgiel8891]

@@astyles51 pussy

[@haruakatsuki6874]

@@IonutJaR if you use relay or something like that why dont you just use some ldr its way cheaper than solar panels but you use electricity while using motors

[@Kahsimiah]

You know what? I LOVE that you're not 3D printing this! You're a craftsman, I respect that! Plus, printing all the parts would take way more time than just putting in a bit of elbow grease! Nice!

[@davidyee152]

Totally inspiring, I just subscribed and will be following your channel to see more of these simplified and awesome videos 👍🏽

[@HarryVK4TK]

Brilliant, just what I was looking for! Simplicity, but extremely effective. Just saved me $ hundreds $. I will post what I do, it will take a few weeks though. Keep up the good work.

[@blitzkreg335]

it's that simple... And it's really cool ! I love it

[@maglectric3624]

Brilliant creations usually are created by finding the simplest cost effective way to replicate nature. Thank you for demonstrating one such pathway forward.

[@bobsaturday4273]

sure , and think ; it only cost nasa $500 million to figure it out !

[@kevinkidderphotographer]

Simple, yet brilliant design Well done!

[@mRendyIrawan]

The way this works is so brilliantly simple, I love it!

[@bigtexuntex7825]

So it is simpler and more elegant than the one I designed using a raspberry pi. And the sun shade at the end was the answer I was looking for with regard to the sunset/sunrise transition. Well done! I still prefer my aoftware automation as the cost if very low, and I can aim through the clouds. This was not my first tracker, back in 1978 I wrote software for star tracking for telescope use, and that implementation was very much a clock-like function based on sidereal time. It was a go-to system with a database of celestial objects, so it was very similar to a modern goto telescope. One sensor I made for the sun tracker was solar cells arranged on the inside wall and bottom of a short shadow tube. It was effective and compact, but it's role was as a alarm for a failure of the raspberri pi... In practice the aim alarm never fired, but it was tested to work. In the end I decided that aiming a large array wasn't practical, instead I opted for manual seasonal configuration of the panel elevation with a fixed azimuth. After all the aiming work, I decided not to do the aiming... But it was fun to revisit my old ideas from the 1970's.

[@ideoformsun5806]

I love this! Now paint it green, and paint a Sunflower on the panel! A school could make a nice sculpture for their entrance, or their garden. I wonder if this could be made sturdy enough to support a Sun Oven. (Just the horizontal motor).

[@snap-off5383]

Nice. We all had to build a solar tracker for freshman year project at DeVRY. (1997) Did it with a shadow bar (had vertical separator as well) and little photo diodes, and had to demonstrate it with a flashlight.

[@owenparker6651]

You have definitely triggered a completely different train of thought in the ol' noggin!. I thank you very much for sharing.

[@DeeJayh]

Love this, so simple yet so effective. I really would have loved to see a sped up full day recording of this working. Like the footage you used of the sprouts...

[@thoughtlesskills]

Nice, not the first time I've seen this method used for solar tracking though.

[@ethandelwood5700]

This is genius! I'm getting into a little bit of electrical engineering this year - only at the point of working with only slightly complex circuits right now and learning how to solder.. But with the price tag of this I might try to build one by July!

[@MarcNosrednug]

WOW! MY NEW FAVOURITE CHANNEL! EXCELLENT WORK!

[@VincentOak]

I think great Scott built a solar tracker using little solar panels as sensors and a wall cross between them to tell the little brain box where to turn

[@mrqthews]

his requires a 5 volt power source

[@tigerseye73]

Nighthawkinlight : I am thinking that a 5th stationary solar cell facing due east can accomplish the reset when the morning sun rises. It would need to be electrically deactivated with a simple micro switch once the solar array reaches full reset position. It would also require a physical sun blocking panel mounted on the array to maintain shutoff for a period of time once the morning sun position begins to change. I have seen other KZbin channels with similar idea's but this simple wooden prototype makes it really easy for viewers to understand. Excellent video .

[@CrazyCoupleDIY]

This is amazing, I am going to use this in my next project.

[@rotorque4254]

An absolutely brilliant idea, with demonstration of it. Wish you all the very best in life and the living of it.

[@gregpresnall5732]

I had considered something like that myself as a thought experiment. I also realized the sunset/sunrise problem that you noted. It was VERY satisfying to see you actually construct a working prototype. I wonder if (like an impact head lawn sprinkler) when the array gets to the sunset position, it might automatically reset to the sunrise position using some kind of limit switch. I have wanted to build a tracking solar array for my grandsons' fort, but didn't want to spend much. I think this could make a nice project to build with them, not just for them. Thank you!

[@jt659]

Well now all I'm going to think about is an awesome solar tracking fort.

[@Netherdan]

@@jt659 FIRE THE SUN BEAM!

[@michaelsherrill6561]

What if there were 2 switches . 1 for the sun's position at sunset to return to the position at sunrise. Then use another to start the cycle over again in the morning. Maybe someone with more electrical knowledge could come up with something.

[@ZeorGaming]

You could probably put another solar cell facing backwards that will turn the whole thing around until the front facing cells catch enough sun to do their thing

[@ejrupp9555]

Just angle the east panel more eastward. I did it to mine with east and west angled and it worked fine. Then I made one for my friend but the nut and bolt fell out of the west bracket on the way somehow, so it laid parallel with the main panel. I found the nut and bolt in the back of the truck when I got home. So I went back the next morning as the sun was coming up and watched it turn back east with no problem ... It worked just fine. You don't have to angle the west one ... it was a rectangular panel laying horizontal and the west panel didn't see the sun from the east. I put it back with the angle to make it look even. They are sundials ... they don't do good in heavy wind though lol.