Solar PV tracker

Step 6: Finishing it up

This is pretty much the finished product, and it works well. I had an issue of condensation accumulating inside the peanut butter jar and had to seal it better. The size of the tracker can be made to fit however many panels you need, and there are many ways to configure a tracker like this. I hope this was a helpful, and good luck in your tracker project!

Comments

[shakespeare1212]

Great project but honestly it could be so much more better looking. Please may I suggest that you find a hippy, artist friend to carve some awesome nature scenes into the wood, faries, suns, moons, stars. etc, then stain it, and you're ready for the solar festivals.

[tbone56]

Thanks for making this. It is truly instructable.
I have a question about the movement.
How many degrees do the panels move each day?

[kosme]

great project

[playfair1965]

Great work.. Now I just got to get a solar panel to put on it hehe Thxz for the post.

[doctorbigdaddy]

This is a well thought out project! I may have missed it ;but, how does the device return to the morning position after it follows the sun until sunset?Again many thanks for sharing your work!

[redrok]

Parking is built into the LED3X.

When it gets dark or with heavy storm clouds it heads toward the Eastern limit switch. If the sun comes back out it resumes tracking.

Duane
Red Rock Energy
redrok.com/led3xassm.htm

[shetonus]

I like the concept of pointing your solar panels at the sun, and have suggestions for improvement:

1. I would suggest that the wheels be mounted on an A-frame so that struts could be placed from the outside edges of the panels to points tangent to the wheel to provide bracing against strong winds. 

2. I find that sun position sensors aren't really necessary for pointing since we already know where the sun will be at any given time of the day.  Also, some sun trackers may have difficulties tracking the sun's position on overcast days and may operate erratically on partially sunny days when clouds intermittently block and reveal the sun.  A system built around small uProcessor with an on-board clock can be programmed to provide positioning information to your drives, and if you want to get fancy, the sky's the limit for adding sensors, providing web connections, what have you. 

[redrok]

For PV panels and the like the sensor method is superior to the clockwork methods because they find the brightest part of the sky. Yes this may not be where the Sun is behind the clouds.

If you measure the power from the panel this other direction will be greater.

Furthermore, the sensor is influenced by other sources of light such as reflective sand and snow adding even more power.

Duane
Red Rock Energy
redrok.com/led3xassm.htm

[shetonus]

Just a thought about item #1... Cables could be used instead of struts if the PV panel were sufficiently sturdy. 

[winnerceramics]

I would think you could use the one tracker to control multiple actuators. you would probably need to set up a relay to accommodate the increased power load when the actuators are on.

 

[shetonus]

A mechanical linkage between PV modules with one larger motor driving all would be less expensive than a motor on each module. 

[winnerceramics]

If you are having difficulties with the condensation in the peanut butter jar,  you could always use a descant. like the little packets that come in shoes, and with dried foods. they usually have little clear balls and are in a paper packet.

 

[alex young]

Hi how are you . Your project look great. DO you have the wiring diagram for the sensor. Thank you

[jdagol]

do you have pictures or diagram on how you wired the actuators with the redrok sensor/tracker?

[chrisnotap]

Man what a sweet unit! Nice job. The wheels are the perfect rotation device and the actuator would have no problem moving the panels. Very nice. I was wondering if these trackers can be used or set up to control a mirror to continuously reflect the sun at a fixed item?

[filmo]

Can you use 1 tracker to control several different actuators?

[bwitmer]

That's a good question- I would think so, but I haven't tried it. Duane over at Redrok is very helpful, and could give you the right answer on that.