Author Topic: solar tracking  (Read 6351 times)

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12volt dan

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solar tracking
« on: April 14, 2005, 12:18:48 AM »
how about using the motor and drive for the old 8'@10' satilite dish? will it turn from horizon to horizon? My power solar pannels total 615 watts now so it's time for a proper mount. I have an old sign mast ($40) about 6" steel 15 ft high with a base to bolt down. I have a hole in the ground wear the pad will go ( 1 back)  all I need is a means of sun tracking to increase my input. I like the 3 led tracker from red rock and I have no problem building one from scratch but If there's a ready made solution I'd rather use that.


 Has anyone played with these things before?

« Last Edit: April 14, 2005, 12:18:48 AM by (unknown) »

BrianK

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Re: solar tracking
« Reply #1 on: April 13, 2005, 06:36:46 PM »
I havent tryed it yet but i have what is left of an old 10 ft

dish the pole, and mounting brackets and i have been thinking

of the same idea.


  .

« Last Edit: April 13, 2005, 06:36:46 PM by BrianK »

healerenergy

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Re: solar tracking
« Reply #2 on: April 13, 2005, 07:04:01 PM »
Do you still have the satelite dish and is it a aluminum one.
« Last Edit: April 13, 2005, 07:04:01 PM by healerenergy »

TomW

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Re: solar tracking
« Reply #3 on: April 13, 2005, 07:09:09 PM »
12volt;


Heck, yes, I do it every day. Mine are 8 foot above ground on my old sat dish polar mount with actuator computer controlled right now. Well worth the effort. I just added a rack sufficient to hold my 300 watts of panels.


Cheers.


TomW

« Last Edit: April 13, 2005, 07:09:09 PM by TomW »

12volt dan

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Re: solar tracking
« Reply #4 on: April 13, 2005, 07:24:40 PM »
Thanks Tom that's all I needed to know. I have people fighting over who's going to get rid of their's first. Now that I know it works I'll probably scoop them all. This Red rock controler just closes relays for a perm magnet motor. (one relay per direction) it's simple enough for me to understand :^) And it's only 30 bucks,even better


 I hear that tracking doubles the input. What did you find?

« Last Edit: April 13, 2005, 07:24:40 PM by 12volt dan »

Volvo farmer

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Re: solar tracking
« Reply #5 on: April 13, 2005, 07:29:08 PM »
I've got a couple of 80W panels on a satellite dish mount. I haven't motorized it yet, though. I don't know anyone using the red-rock tracker and I don't understand how it knows to return to the east in the morning but it's what I plan on using .



The ordinary old 6'-10' satellite dishes use a linear actuator and will not track horizon-to-horizon. Probably pretty close though. There is a special kind of satellite dish that uses a big gear on the back that will track h-to-h but these are rarer and were much more expensive when new. I've scored a couple of them for free though so they're not impossible to find.

I'm still using a big dish for TV so I've got a little knowledge about the mechanics of it. Elevation is pretty easy to change in 5 min with a couple of crescent wrenches.



You want a pretty sturdy frame to mount six or eight panels though. The wind can make quite a sail out of that much surface area and it would really suck to find your $2500 worth of solar panels blown off their mount and twenty feet away from the pole. I've seen 10'solid dishes so the basic mechanics from a dish like that should support  75 sq ft of panel.



Here's my mount. It's only good for 3 panels the way I set it up. I just used bed frame angle iron welded to the satellite dish mount. It's kind of embarrasing but this is on a pretty messy part of the property at the moment.







« Last Edit: April 13, 2005, 07:29:08 PM by Volvo farmer »
Less bark, more wag.

TomW

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Re: solar tracking
« Reply #6 on: April 13, 2005, 07:44:15 PM »
Dan;


Well I tried the RedRok tracker and i got a unit that  did not work, the guy was a real uncooperative jerk about replacing or refunding. Just my experience there. I would not deal with him again myself but others seem to have had good luck.


As far as power gain I think the pros say 30% but I can show you that at some times it is well over 3X the output. Like early AM and fixed I get a few amps maybe 5 but if I track on to the sun it hits full output which is 19 amps.


Just observation there. Cheaper to track than to add more panels.


Add tracking and I guarantee you will see it as a good investment of time and effort.


Cheers.


TomW

« Last Edit: April 13, 2005, 07:44:15 PM by TomW »

pyrocasto

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Re: solar tracking
« Reply #7 on: April 13, 2005, 10:30:55 PM »
I'm one with a good experience with RedRok so far. I emailed him about something not working right on mine, and he sent me a new one before I even had a chance to double check everything.


12volt dan, for converting the satelite dishes and if it's possable or not, check out my website link below. They work great, and like you said, there are plenty to go around. :)

« Last Edit: April 13, 2005, 10:30:55 PM by pyrocasto »

healerenergy

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Re: solar tracking
« Reply #8 on: April 14, 2005, 01:25:56 AM »
If any of you still have your satilite dishes and they are solid aluminum I might be interested in one or more of them.
« Last Edit: April 14, 2005, 01:25:56 AM by healerenergy »

pyrocasto

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Re: solar tracking
« Reply #9 on: April 14, 2005, 09:27:03 AM »
I may be able to get a few. The last one I took down was 110~lbs of aluminum. I got $40 out of it for scrap too. :)


Just tell everyone where you are in the world.

« Last Edit: April 14, 2005, 09:27:03 AM by pyrocasto »

pyrocasto

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Re: solar tracking
« Reply #10 on: April 14, 2005, 09:32:54 AM »
Since my net is back up, I'll tell.

The tracker uses two leds that produce electricity when in the sun(like a solar cell). The tracker senses the two voltages and when one is higher than the other, it moves that direction. At night, when there is no voltage, it goes back to east. It keeps driving the motor back all night, so your motor must have stop points on them, so it wont unscrew itself. If you put your hand over it, it would go back east. As soon as the sun comes up and give the leds some power, it tracks.
« Last Edit: April 14, 2005, 09:32:54 AM by pyrocasto »

srnoth

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Re: solar tracking
« Reply #11 on: April 14, 2005, 04:14:04 PM »
Dude! Is that bar 120VAC buss bars I see there?!?!?!?!?!?! Are you suicidal or something??


Ok, that was exagerating a bit. Nice system, up intil it reaches 120vac. Why do you have all that nice thick wire and that nice big battery (How many amp-hours by the way?), and a decent looking inverter, and then use what looks like the plug of a stereo connected to some exposed buss bars? Is it a recently installed setup or something - still in the testing faze? I would hope that you have plans to improve it, mabye install a separate 120vac breaker pannel or something.


Anyway, I like everything else about the site. Those exposed wires and that stupid little plug scared me though. Lol.


Keep up the good work,

Cheers,

Stephen.

« Last Edit: April 14, 2005, 04:14:04 PM by srnoth »

pyrocasto

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Re: solar tracking
« Reply #12 on: April 14, 2005, 04:50:46 PM »
Haha, yes the bus bar is exposed and only connected by a small plug, but that's because nothing else is neccesary. I only use the bus bar setup for lighting. Since that is all my barn needs for AC. If I run power tools, I just use the remaining plugs on the inverter. Also, the reason I have big and small is because you dont need as big of wire for 120 as you do for 12 volts. That's 4 gauge wire. It actually has 4 spots for 4 gauge, but I dont expect to be pulling the full wattage anytime soon.


And the battery is only 120ah, since I dont run much out there.

« Last Edit: April 14, 2005, 04:50:46 PM by pyrocasto »

12volt dan

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Re: solar tracking
« Reply #13 on: April 14, 2005, 05:29:33 PM »
Tom


 "Just observation there. Cheaper to track than to add more panels. "


 I've just recently had that revalation :^) Call me a convert


Cris


 I'll have to load your page at a later date. This living in the bush on dial up makes things a little slower but yeah 3" tubing is overkill :^) Kinda like the way I'd do it. Is the information on the motor stops on your site?

« Last Edit: April 14, 2005, 05:29:33 PM by 12volt dan »

healerenergy

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Re: solar tracking
« Reply #14 on: April 14, 2005, 06:21:41 PM »
I am in north east Kansas U.S.A.     Atchison

« Last Edit: April 14, 2005, 06:21:41 PM by healerenergy »

srnoth

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Re: solar tracking
« Reply #15 on: April 14, 2005, 10:39:28 PM »
Haha, yes you're right. If it's just lighting you're running then that wire should be fine. Didn't realise it was just a barn you were powering.


Nice setup though on the whole,


Cheers,

Stephen.

« Last Edit: April 14, 2005, 10:39:28 PM by srnoth »

Trivo

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Re: solar tracking
« Reply #16 on: April 15, 2005, 06:11:11 AM »
last year I made a simple solar tracker with 4 small solar panels 2 each side with a piece of cardboard pointing up between the panels connected + to - and - to + so if the sun hit both of them equally nothing would happen but when the sun moved one would get more sun and it would activate a circuit to turn the motor in the direction it needed to compensate simple but worked well

Trivo

« Last Edit: April 15, 2005, 06:11:11 AM by Trivo »

pyrocasto

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Re: solar tracking
« Reply #17 on: April 15, 2005, 09:03:49 AM »
I built a mini tracker just to get the concept like that. It was a dual axis though, with 4 cells, and a + of cardboard.
« Last Edit: April 15, 2005, 09:03:49 AM by pyrocasto »

Psycogeek

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Re: solar tracking
« Reply #18 on: May 23, 2005, 04:08:24 AM »
a link i discovered by accident, with a LOAD of trackers, including schematics, and completed curcuits.

http://www.redrok.com/electron.htm#led3x
« Last Edit: May 23, 2005, 04:08:24 AM by Psycogeek »

Flyeribe

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Re: solar tracking
« Reply #19 on: July 31, 2009, 05:19:34 AM »
I guess this would be considered thread hijack if the moderator could place this in the proper place would be a appreciated, I guess Tom I'm in the same boat as you I wouldn't deal with Duane at RedRok again as you got your item but I'm still waiting it's been now 4 months and many phone call with promises of delivery stories well It's come too my attention that I'VE BEEN RIPPED OFF buy RodRok that Duane you give such a warm and fuzz feeling in dealing with. Thank You for retiring on my money and probably many others.
« Last Edit: July 31, 2009, 05:19:34 AM by Flyeribe »