Maximizing Solar Production for the Minimum Cost

[@mitchsays1]

I'm already using this method and incorporating trailer jacks. $35 ea.

[@royamberg9177]

Little light is all

[@vespadavidson2315]

My choice too!

[@TrevorL88]

Now that's min/maxing

[@michiganengineer8621]

Do the trailer jacks have that much adjustment range though?

[@wwet-gx4cg]

For the $750 cost I would expect a much better solution than manual hand cranks. The manufacturer needs to send the design back to engineering for an electric or hydraulic setup. Light duty trailer jacks should work fine when used with locking pins/bolts.

[@teekay1785]

I built my whole DIY tillable mount for 30 panels for about $1200 !!! I plan to add in the future 2 salvage satellite C-Band ( the big 10 foot dishes similar to gate actuators) that have reed measurements and use a satellite tv receiver to actuate the tilt remotely and they will move at the same time though you could move one at a time. Here are 2 pics of the setup with full tilt of 52 degrees and much less tilt. You could tilt totally flat or even toward the North if you wanted to without the actuators as they are now. For some reason can't insert pic right now will try in a reply later.

[@TaxpayerDave]

if you are only going to adjust it seasonally, why bother with the crank at all. If the panels are balanced on the pivot, just tilt them by hand to the next hole position. Then secure with a multi-hole strut.

[@anothercasualobserver8764]

That guy in the middle running the crank handle is a natural cowboy and the other fella is a natural rube running the entire length of the array each time instead of the guy in the center just manning the crank on the end.

[@jamest.5001]

You could mount a piece of pipe to the panel Mount, so at mid day you can adjust to where the sun shines through the pipe, the adjustment would be about as perfect as you will get it.

[@richardservatius5405]

sun crosses the sky and moves so it doesn't shine through the pipe.

[@dvdrwsor]

Richard, feel free to let them be. I can adjust by shodow as long as the sun is visible, but that's just me.

[@andrewjackson244]

I tried this idea. I waited for 4 hours for the sun to come to the pipe. When it did, it sent damaging rays straight into my retina. I now have blurry white spots in the center of my vision. Your pipe ruined my eyes!

[@HippieHillHomestead]

I made some similar to this back in the 90's but now we use our own DIY homemade trackers. Thanks for sharing. This is definitely an option for some people

[@markchapmon8670]

I bought a DPW adjustable tilt ground mount for our big array (24 x 240w Sharp). It allows for 15 different settings, but I made notes for the two angles I was interested in. The array is 8 columns of 3 landscape panels. Start to finish takes me about 45 minutes, switching it on the equinoxes. When I compare our annual output to PV Watts estimates, it adds about 10%. Adjustable ground mounts, however you do it are well worth the money and time spent to adjust them.

[@sbunny8]

You didn't explain how you dealt with the fact that the jacks themselves need to pivot slightly. They are designed to push/pull in a straight line, but you have them tracing an arc. It appears you have the two mounting holes of the jacks attached firmly to the uprights. But the point where they attach to the rack follows an arc, not a straight line.

[@juskarn]

I believe they move in those slots. Which is not the optimal method in my opinion. They should be pivoting on two points. I did a job with these about 2 years ago but dont remember exactly how those were setup.

[@diyrenewableenergyelectron4996]

Pretty sure you loosen the bottom bolt so the jack can pivot freely, then retighten after adjustment.

[@Madactionmedia]

Love it, no motors mean no need for extra maintenance on electronic parts. Brilliant!

[@richardservatius5405]

electric trailer jacks are designed and built for outdoor use.

[@davefroman4700]

The further north you are? The more compelling a tilting ground mount becomes! Not only for max winter capacity, but also for snow melt.

[@michiganengineer8621]

I'd be tempted to add a little bit more to the cost. Ground mount an outdoor rated equipment box where your conduit is coming up to put your combiner and other electronics that are normally shielded by being under the array. That way they're still protected even if you do need to crank the arrays closer to vertical, like I would in the winter here in Michigan.

[@ronsafranic5177]

There is an item called a Linear Actuator that could do the adjustment at the touch of a button. Looks like those jacks with a motor on the end! They ain't cheep though!

[@buzzbob2]

Why not link the handles so they all turn together?

[@alane6555]

Have to figure out a means of turning them that will reach about 24 feet. Maybe some gearboxes that are feed thru with an output at 90 degrees and have .5" shafts so that .5" pvc could be used with a support in the center of each run as the connecting rods. Still have to keep an eye on the system while cranking it to make sure all three actuators are working together so the array does not twist.

[@addohm]

@@alane6555 You mean a chain? It would be stupid easy to link all these together. You don't need gearboxes. Chains and sprockets. Thats it. KISS

[@farmer864]

Yall are overthinking it. two electric trailer jacks on each end. One button on the end near the box. One boxed stitch weld (toe to toe, 4" side running ground to sky) C4 running entire length of system, attached to the vertical purlin cee's. (much like garage doors, the DBL C4X4.5 is acting as a transom or header beam) A worm gear is expensive and exposed to the elements..... Or you could do one jack in the middle, electric or manual, with the same c4 setup. You might have to over crank some to count for deflection at the ends so you can pin the pulin to the post in one of the holes, then back off the jack in the middle to pin your center post.

[@farmer864]

@Thomas Chrombly sounds good to me but now your maintenance is going up in cost. You now have three pillow block bearings, worm gear housings

[@teekay1785]

@@addohm true but hardly worth the trouble

[@r.b.l.5841]

49th parallal solar azmith is 18.5 degrees at solar noon, A solar panel angle set to match one hour prior to noon is just under 16 degrees above the horizon, or panel angle of 74 degrees.

[@johngaltman]

I have also seen people that use a setup with an arduino controller on them that tracks the sun throughout the and turns/angles the panels.

[@rsellers]

Would love to see you build a solar system for an RV and offer all the parts on your website store for me to buy there. God Bless You!

[@electromechanicalstuff2602]

Got my Sinclair mount ordered through Lori. 16*390w heliena panels. Can't wait! Im close enough to Sinclair I can pick up direct from the factory. 7' deep though. Going to need to borrow the neighbors backhoe attachment

[@robostudio4305]

Dear Scott, actually I do not understand the simplest thing in your mechanism. If you crank the handle and the rod becomes longer, I cannot fix this rod with 2 screws on the pole to make anything happen. I must have overlooked something. I see the bar that holds the panel is pivoting around one bolt, then there is another pivot connecting the crank arm to this bar, but if the crank makes the rod longer it forces another angle. I do not see anything else changing than the angle of the double-T-bar to the crank-rod. I hope I explained my problem well enough

[@HomesteadEngineering]

That is one sweet looking ground mount!

[@williamjohnston3770]

I have been waiting for years to find something like this. Thanks for posting this Scott!

[@Subgunman]

Reminds me of real heavy duty trailer jacks. Far less than cost of these adjusters with some mods.

[@SuperVstech]

It’d be cool to have a single pipe strung between the cranks, and rotate the pipe, that turns them all at once.

[@engineer775]

that would be cool

[@alane6555]

Scott, What wind speed is this tracking system rated for? I live at nearly 43 degrees so the ability to track would be great. The reason I ask is that we also get a great deal of wind here. Thanks for all the GREAT videos.

[@offgridwanabe]

15 - 60 that is pretty close to 45 d latitude perfect for most of the populated areas of Canada.

[@phide01]

Would the cost for adjusting the angle offset the cost you gain by the kilowatt it makes?

[@samanthapowell5882]

Make them motorized and add a sun tracker!

[@SovereignDirt]

Next time, the one turning the ends should only turn one end and then walk to the middle and the guy in the middle should walk to the other end, and alternate, instead of one of yun's doing 4/5 the work.

[@michiganengineer8621]

I think he was try to "get his steps in" since he's trying to shed some weight. But I was actually thinking the same thing LOL

[@dutchcourage7312]

Jups, it's all about angles and your longitude... do note that the angle of the sun also changes by the time of day...

[@swaterman08]

make your own with some electric trailer jacks

[@timvonr2802]

What’s the brand of those beautiful panels?

[@solarforfuture]

game changer! 50 lbs each panel. 1.5 tons of goodness in motion! i want one

[@machampson1972]

Engineer775, how many watts would this array be able to provide and did the customer install a battery bank as well to store electricity if needed? Second question as I’m learning more and more about solar, is there a loss of power if the panels heat up to much? If so has anyone ever thought of cooling the panels with some sort of water radiator system that could double as a solar water heating source?

[@mickwolf1077]

I want to make something like this but to only have 6 panels on each set, you could probably get those adjusters to link up with turning shafts so they move together

[@Kosmonooit]

So they are not ganged...I can see panels being twisted and coming loose. Think a cable system with threaded wheels might be an idea.

[@jur4x]

60N? that's around St.Petersburg (the one in Russia). Latvia is at 56N. Sweden is stretched South to North between 55N and 70N. In North America that would be the border between British Columbia and Yukon. Also - Yakutat Bay in Alaska is around 60N

[@SkyCharter]

Help me here... Shouldn't the point where the jack attaches to the vertical post be on a pivot to accommodate the different angle imposed by the varying angle position of the piston-array connection point?

[@teekay1785]

If anyone goes to the trouble of a single electric jack you might as well use a sensor circuit to adjust the array automatically for maximum sun . There is a you tube video where such a circuit is featured for exactly this purpose.

[@richardservatius5405]

use one set of button controls for two electric trailer jacks to control each end of the support system.

[@lindaferguson593]

I've looked at home depot side mount trailer Jack's around $40 that could probably do the same job as these jacks.

[@fisherus]

That's the best looking ground mount I've seen. Probably has a big price attached with it but I couldn't see the $ tag.

[@engineer775]

No it's the most reasonable rack on the market. Send me an email and I'll send you a quote. [e-mail]

[@leeackerson2579]

I've been comparing racking systems for about 3 months now and the Sinclair is by far the best I've seen and it's cheaper than the others. Note it is all galvanized steel, not extruded aluminum, maybe more expensive to ship but probably stronger.

[@anthonygasparini1734]

You can also use a $40 dollar trailer jack!

[@rickychurch5630]

Where did you get the lifts?

[@mikereimer368]

I wish I could have had the adjustable in Winnipeg. Great looking system.

[@ybirch9735]

So it looks like it would take two people to adjust those at the same time? Or can one person adjust them on his/her own?

[@JustinsProject]

What solar panels did you guys use on this system. I really like the 2 sided black. Great Vid btw!!! 👍🏻

[@alec4672]

What's your opinion on heated panels? Would you recommend an optimum angle and heated panels or a steep angle with no heat for snow? I've been debating which is more efficient. Ideally I could heat them hydronically so as to not waist my solar energy as heat.

[@davefroman4700]

If you are in an area that gets a lot of snow and have a steep angle, not a lot is going to pile up on them. And even in -30C the sun has heat in it. When I had my system in Saskatchewan the only time I bothered sweeping it off is if it was cloudy out after a snow storm. Otherwise it would generally melt off by noon. Mind you I had wind to back me up too so a lot of times the storm had little effect on my daily battery consumption. The turbine would top me up over night for the lack of solar during the storm.

[@sabriath]

Or you could just get a few $30 electric motors, some worm gears and a tooth rack with safety locks. With the money you save, you can even buy some acceleromters ($13 each) and an arduino or raspberry pi, then program it to give you the pitch on all of your racks, feed the lines that run the motors so that they all go in tandem without having to do each leg yourself. If you want to get really fancy, you can use a simple dual light sensor box with a dark separator, mounted on the track edge to detect best inclination....then run it through an opamp to run the motors, using the same arduino to poll the circuit so it doesn't go off continuously and waste power.

[@ElPasoTom]

It's a great solution... and none of it would be protected from EMP which I know Engineer775 likes to take into consideration. Manual adjust less likely to have issues IMO.

[@sabriath]

@@ElPasoTom ... I'm not saying leave all the wires and electronics exposed to the weather.....thought that was obvious.

[@ElPasoTom]

@@sabriath Not talking about leaving everything exposed to the weather, but rather any potential EMP. All those microprocessors, Raspberry Pi computer etc are all susceptible. Maybe most people don't care about that, and I do think it's a great idea, but I prefer my electronic things a bit more "hardened"

[@sabriath]

@@ElPasoTom ... EMP is a weather event as well, you know, like a solar storm? A lead box will suffice. And if you come back stating "nuclear war," then I will just retort with the fact that if there is a hit of EMP that can damage the box within a lead casing....then your panels are fried anyway. But say your panels survive the blast radius and the EMP, you are looking at nuclear fallout for years, and handcranking such device is more dangerous than a lead-lined raspberry pi that you MIGHT have to "turn off and turn back on" maybe once a week from a safe distance, like a bomb shelter, maybe wired to a simple light switch. So either it's a lot of EMP and you're screwed regardless....or it's a little EMP and it won't be affected. Which one?

[@farmer864]

@@ElPasoTom what is going to protect the cells from an EMP? The whole thing would have to be surrounded by a Faraday cage, which its not.

[@robertorr1670]

Is there an adjustable mount for roof mount ?

[@richardservatius5405]

your site is shielded by trees, so the wind load won't be as bad, but otherwise the vertical posts look like they could bend.

[@markmaugle4599]

I heard you mention shedding snow. What about snow depth?

[@stevepailet8258]

what is the gage of the metal that you are using? 14 or 16 gage?

[@kylesinclair5350]

9 gage (.150)

[@Mike-sl1wd]

Any chance you can do another review of the AC/DC hotspot AC system and it’s ability to cool with solar and small generators? I’d like to use it with some panels and a Honda 2000e small generator if possible. So during the day both and night just the generator with less load.

[@cowtv7190]

God bless you and your family. So much great information! What do you charge for a phone. Consult?

[@cd1168]

Where can you buy these jacks

[@christophvonwaldhuf]

Is there a similar product for the European market?

[@davej7458]

How resistant is that mounting to strong winds?

[@Brad.W]

Really want to add something like this to my array but with 80 panels and 18 pile driven 10ft structural U-Beams I don't think I want to be buying 18 adjusters. I wonder if I could just put one every 4 or 5 beams?

[@u8un7u]

you may use torque tube

[@contentment164]

Love the hat, Scott! Great idea, if a little cumbersome in adjustment. Maybe one could place a bar that turns all handles at once?

[@onesimusiii]

Is there a manual adjustment to the angle of that hat brim?

[@serversurfer6169]

You could add an Arduino and some stepper motors, and this rig would adjust itself. 🤓👍

[@chrisrobey77]

How much extra production can be expected?

[@ek9772]

I would guess between 25% to 35%.

[@chrisrobey77]

@@ek9772 I would guess much lower. Using the PvWatt calculator for middle of the USA (st louis area) the gain for a 2 axis tracker is predicted at 36% and 24% for a 1 axis tracker (probably polar tracking but can't tell). I'm going to run a couple simulations using 4 different array tilt values.

[@ek9772]

@@chrisrobey77you are right; the number that lit on my tired head was the one for a two axis tracker. Your numbers are sound and spot on. In any case, for the amount of money spent on the jacks, a 15% increase in energy production seems like a good trade off. On the other hand, there is probably some smaller array size at which it might not.

[@chrisrobey77]

@@ek9772 some quick math is showing 5% gain over the fixed optimal tilt when repositioning once a month using 20/30/40/50/60 degree tilts

[@ek9772]

@@chrisrobey77I guess the little electric motors on one axis trackers are doing more work than I gave them credit. It seems like the other 19% is due to more than one tilt per month. The only option I can remember to an electric motor was one introduced by Zomeworks. (I really miss HomePower magazine.) They had some kind of liquid or oil that was heated during the day, as this happened, I think the liquid changed density, and it gradually tilted the array. This worked ok in warmer climates, but it did not workout as well in colder climates, but if you were lucky enough to be located in the warmer states it worked out ok. www.zomeworks.com/photovoltaic-tracking-racks/how-trackers-work/

[@jeffpurdy2347]

Are these ground mounts never inspected? How do they get around NEC 690.31(a). “Where PV source and output circuits operating at voltages greater than 30 volts are installed in readily accessible locations, circuit conductors shall be guarded or installed in Type MC cable or in raceway” I have to mount mine high enough to be out of reach. The only manufacturer that I ever saw with a guarding system, was Silicone Energy. They are now out of business. So how are these low ground mounts meeting code?

[@engineer775]

That is covered in NEC 2017 and you'll notice the paragraph where it says ground mounts are excluded.

[@jeffpurdy2347]

@@engineer775: 690.31(a) in the 2020 NEC has no such paragraph. It does have some additional commentary that reads as follows. “Most PV modules do not have means for attaching raceways. These circuits might have to be made “not readily accessible” by use of physical barriers such as wire plastic or metal guards.” I’m always looking for better ways to do installs, but I can’t leave the wiring behind the modules “readily accessible”. Electrical inspectors will write it up. I raise my equipment so no wiring is below eight feet from grade.

[@balrog006]

Your answer is in your quote. You have to prevent access by some physical barrier-fence off the area under the panels, mount a small mesh screen or panel on the bottom of the array or similar to prevent access to the wiring on the bottom of the panels. It isn’t really that difficult or different than code for pool access.

[@thomasmoore4576]

That's crazy running back and forth turning 6 turns at a time or whatever why not just put a tracker on there from windynation with actuators and let it do it automatically is simple you ain't got to go back and forth cranking handles because they got electric motors on it and they don't cost no $250 probably for $400 you can get the whole thing with three different actuators

[@engineerirfan]

NICE & INFORMATIVE VIDEO SIR

[@Ted_E_Bear]

Great video !

[@solarintel1727]

How much is the total cost of the concrete used for the three posts?

[@engineer775]

600.00

[@solarintel1727]

Is it Ok to say I love you Sir. I think you just minted a new Solar superhero, as I'm already comfortable with pretty much every aspect of Solar, including sales, batteries, sourcing equipment and parts, and now, I know how to do ground mounts that can withstand 120 mph wind gusts!!! Pls keep doing what you're doing, and I hope to make you proud with my own installs. My only regret is that I can only like this once! All that being said, I may still ask for your help on my installs, and I'll happily pay to learn from watching you do maybe a couple of installs.

[@98grand5point9]

Where can you buy that ground mount system?

[@engineer775]

practicalpreppers.com/product/sinclair-ground-mounts/

[@KypHeM]

just connect all 3 with a cable so you only need to to turn one

[@kevinmatthews2620]

damm that adjustacool :) :)

[@rokadamlje5365]

12 marks for each month should do it.

[@frankthies221]

You would only need 6 since they would repeat. But a nice addition.

[@ssoffshore5111]

I would guess the additional effort would have significantly diminishing returns compared to just moving them 2-4x per year.

[@htf5930]

sure looks Purdy 775

[@JohnBaker3000]

Looks risky for winds above 40mph.

[@WeaponsMachinist]

Three jack's taking three putts to sink the ball in a hole.

[@kdenyer1]

Sorry it’s called the Cornish Rocker

[@Gruuvin1]

"These jacks are $250 each" That's a ridiculous price for one jack. That's more than a panel. I would expect no more than $100.

[@kdenyer1]

Have you seen a Cornish Mount ?🤔

[@MolloRelax]

A few people mentioned the use of mirrors to boost the output of their system. Here is a video I saw this past week end referring to this possibility. You can judge for yourself if the added heat intake on the panels is worth the added output kzbin.info/www/bejne/fHzLpK14aapkla8

[@joemc111]

So I might of missed you saying the price or output. I don’t care about location. Just ballpark. You could of said what that guy paid you.

[@leeackerson2579]

Go Sinclair-Designs,com and they give the estimated price per watt. They say $.10 to $.12 per watt for fixed and about $.12 to $.16 per watt for adjustable. So Engineer775's 24 panel setup by my calculation would cost a maximum of about $1280 for materials without shipping or labor(8KW * .16) or as little as $960 cheap.

[@a_landstander]

I've often wondered if mirrors directing more light to the panels would be a cost effective way to capture more power. Have you ever considered this or tried it?

[@kschleic9053]

When solar cells were extremely expensive a few decades ago, parabolic reflectors were in the discussion... Now days the complexity of aiming a mirror constantly makes it more expensive than just adding more panels. On the other hand, in theoretical future weight critical situations like a mars colony, they make sense.

[@ursodermatt8809]

no, for one thing the panel would have to be illuminated by the mirror consistently on the whole surface. plus like mentioned the control system to keep up with the movement of the sunis fairly complicated. plus the mirrors alone are probably more expensive than panels are now.

[@ek9772]

Solar panels work better with low temperatures. Light from mirrors could potentially increase the solar panel temperature and decrease performance.

[@ursodermatt8809]

@@ek9772 yes, but the increase of power is probably way bigger than the loss if the higher temperature.

[@ek9772]

@@ursodermatt8809 seems to me like an interesting experiment to try out.

[@mainlawcafewv7681]

You need three guys for three adjusters.

[@Roll2Videos]

🇨🇦✌️

[@johnmirbach2338]

😁✌🖖👌👍 😎

[@atnstn]

This is impressively cheap engineering.

[@cottoncb]

where do you buy the adjustment jacks