Next Phase - Installing Solar

[dlenox]

All,

Planned upgrade from my 17' wind turbine, I am well into my next phase of electrical generation and am awaiting four Mitsubishi UD180MF5 solar electric panels, each capable of 180 watts for a total of 720 watts.

In the mean time I have been researching solar trackers and was a bit surprized by the prices: passive $1700, active $2500

Solution - build my own!

Typically I research the heck out of stuff, and this project is again no exception! And as usual I also over-design and over-build my projects, but again I am in a high wind area and do not want to have wind destroy my tracker.

Here is a quick drawing of the basic design, it's just a large equilateral mount to hold some framework and solar panels.

I calculated that the solar panels take up less space if put into a 'staggered' flower pedal arrangement as such:

So construction began last weekend, and the tracker is almost completed, I am short 3' of steel to mount the post mount onto the pipe cap. I will be using a 24" ball screw dish actuator for the movement and the RedRok sensor/controller to drive it.

The main column mounts are so far apart that I should not have any problem with having the actuator mount off center. Here are pictures showing how I mounted the actuator:

And here is the actuator in fully retracted position (parked).

Mechanically I have about 210 degrees of rotation, but due to geometry of actuator mounts I have to limit the motion to about 160 degrees. I also have to make up some positive stops so that the wind will not blow the tracker past 0 or 180 degrees. And finally mount some angle iron to bolt the panels onto, but it is coming along pretty nicely.

Hopefully in about a week I can dig out the hole, dig trench for conduit, form up some wood and pour the concrete base in place.

This additional capacity should round out my power generation nicely. So far I have less than $1000 into post/steel/sensor/actuator/stainless hardware.

I know that watching your solar tracker/panels is about as exciting as watching watching paint dry, and certainly can't beat watching a wind turbine in operation, but it certainly is less climbing/maintenance!

But I also can't wait to have it in operation and when sun goes down watch it automatically park itself so that it is pointing back towards the East...

Dan Lenox

[dlenox]

PS: forgot to mention that actuator shown was an old SuperJack XL that used to be on my old C-Band 12' antenna.

It simply allowed me to mock up a mounting, and is a placeholder while I await my new Pro Brand 24" Ball Screw ($50 new in box - craigslist.com)

Dan

[willib]

Hi Dan

wow 720 watts is nothing to sneeze at.

I particularly liked your files , your linear actuated windmill brake was a nice touch.

your stator design was cool to. Is it 12V ?

Bill

[Ungrounded Lightning Rod]

My first thought when seeing that layout was "Sieg HEIL!".  B-)

You'll probably want to minimize the space between the panels in the assembly, so it looks more like a tile pattern and less like an icon from WW II.

[dnix71]

It must be a long day. I just noticed that. That symbol has been used since antiquity.

It's a shame about that j@ck@ss from Austria who took someone elses's holy symbol and misused it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika

[dlenox]

ULR,

Did not mean to offend.

When I draw out those images I basically do it freehand using Paint Shop Pro, so they are never to scale, just built using lines, rectangles and circles.

In reality they are a lot closer together and less air space...

Dan

[dlenox]

Bill,

no the stator is 48v, the 17' turbine is fashioned after the Dan's 17' here on otherpower, but mechanically I overbuilt - more like their 20'er.

Dan

[dlenox]

ULR,

Ok modified the image, mirrored it and re-uploaded so it should not resemble any symbols.

I will remember this when I actually go to mount the panels onto the solar tracker!!!

It would have been awful if they actually were mounted onto the tracker as shown in the original image and I did not notice till after the fact...

Dan

[wdyasq]

I would regret if someone took that as a bad symbol. I regret the collective has become so easily offended and hyper sensitivite.

I also regret folks are now 'banning' classic works like "Huckleberry Finn" because Mark Twain used words then commonly on the American vernacular. I'm not suggesting the use of the words now but, I see nothing wrong with a historical writing or quote.

Life is too short to put harsh punishment on a deed long past. The number of living people responsible for German National Socialist Party is indeed small at this time. We should remember it so as not to repeat that line of reasoning.

I do wish governments would study history instead of poling data.

Ron

[Ungrounded Lightning Rod]

I'm not offended in the slightest.

I just wanted to point it out before you built it because there ARE people who would be offended.  You probably don't want the fallout from unintentionally tweaking your neighbors and random passers-by.

If you want to see a major accidental swastika, look up "Denver International Airport" on Google Maps.  (It REALLY pops out at you if you fly in during the winter, when everything except the {dark} buildings, runways, and taxiways is covered with snow.)

[Ungrounded Lightning Rod]

One of the uses I'm familiar with:  Rudyard Kipling had adopted it as his personal mark well before the rise of the Nazis.  (I have a prewar hardbound copy of a book of his poems with the swastika on the title page, cover, and {if I recall correctly} spine.)

A couple of my friends used to refer to him (jokingly) as "That Old Nazi Kipling" because of this.  That's especially funny when you compare his actual political views - which are visible in his works - to those of the Nazis.  It's hard to find anyone more opposed.

(By the way:  As long as we're on Kipling, the folksinger Leslie Fish has set a lot of Kipling's works to excellent music and published it with the permission of the National Trust.  I highly recommend it.)

[ghurd]

Wondering.  Would a gap between the panels make the wind stress situation better or worse?

I recall reading it was somehow counter intuitive.

That's a bunch of PV!  Tracking was certainly worth the effort.

Nice!

G-

[Chuck]

I have a Zomeworks tracker that I put up about 5 years ago. Due to my paranoia about the high winds we get out here I never did put the last two panels on it. The barn behind the tracker houses the batteries and blocks the prevailing winds from hitting the tracker too hard. So far I haven't been tempted to install the last panels on it. I would guess there might be some turbulence issues with a gap like this, but I'm not sure it would be more of a problem than the extra force of the wind on a larger solid surface.





There are 840 watts on the tracker and another 840 on the roof which weren't installed when the picture was taken. They are mounted high on the roof and the shadow of the tracker doesn't touch them even in mid winter. The extra power in the morning and late afternoon that the tracker provides is very noticeable.

Good luck getting it up and running.

[dlenox]

Chuck,

Thanks for the photo - looks great.

I contacted a Zomeworks distributor, but due to the high winds and cold winters they said that they didn't recommend it here.

Wattsun does not make the smaller tracker anymore, only the larger version ($2500) so I knew that I could build one, so far I only have about $700 into mine.

Dan

[dlenox]

All,

Here is an update on my current solar project: (reposted with proper picture sizes)

I realized that getting the framework up onto the post (by myself) was going to be quite a chore. So I decided to put my floor engine hoist into my wife's pickup bed, I used some nylon ratchet straps to hold it into place, used some nylon webbing to pick up the framework, and backed the truck up to the post.

It actually worked out pretty well and after a bit of maneuvering the truck position I finally got it put on! It was almost too easy...

Here is some pictures:<p? At present PV panels are up and temporarily wired. I am still waiting on the combiner box/breakers, as well as sensor/controller from RedRok.com, but with temp wiring I do have the PV array producing power.<p> Unforunately I did not get the chance this weekend to take some pictures with the pv panels installed, but will will get some shots once the weather clears here.

Dan Lenox

[DanG]

dlenox! Nicer tracker project you have, I for one am envious & taking notes & look forward to the populated tracker frame photos!

[dlenox]

DanG,

Here are some quick pictures of the PV panels mounted onto the solar tracker.

By virtue that the panels had the positive and negative connections at opposite ends made for a nice neat wiring installation. I just made sure that the panel was oriented properly for the shortest run to the next panel.

As the actuator extends the angle between it and the framework becomes shallow, thus allowing for some movement of the array. If no movement is desired you need to mount the actuator more at a 90 degree angle. As it is the movement is not excessive and would rather have more walking clearance under the array.

And here is one showing the underside of the panels - the orange electrical chord has been replaced with a more suitable water-proof cable.

Project almost completed,

Dan Lenox