Anyone still use solar trackers?

[spendlove]

I've been told that solar has come down in price so much over the past 10 years that it makes more sense to just buy more panels instead of paying for a mounting post and sun tracker. Do you agree? But since we already have two solar trackers I might as well continue to use them. I just wish they were more accurate. Sometimes they are not even pointing at the sun. Should I replace my tracker module with a new one? If so, what unit would you recommend?

Thanks!

 

[SolarRat]

I agree, with the price of solar now it makes more sense to just add more panels and forget the trackers.

 

[svetz]

IMHO, It depends on what's wrong with them, how much it'll cost to fix and maintain. Might be good, might be bad.

 

[Bob B]

Also would depend on how much room you have to add more panels .... There's a lot to be said for using the KISS method.

 

[JeepHammer]

I'm squarely in the 'It Depends' camp...

Trying to track with rooftop panels will drive you insane.

Ground mount isn't too difficult.
A north/south row of posts,
A pipe through the posts,
Panels on the pipe,
Rotate the pipe and the panels track the sun east/west really easily.
The issue here is you need to space rows of panels apart so they don't shade each other.
The benefits are the posts can be as tall as you want, mow under them, livestock under them, etc.

Since panels were SO VERY expensive when I started,
I took a (junk) big truck axle and plugged one end into the ground,
Mounted my panel frame on the 'Up' side wheel bearings/axle flange,
And rotated the panels to face the low southern sun east/West to gain every last watt.

Then there is inclination adjustment,
The angled back flat rack of panels that don't rotate,
But a round pipe at the top (hinge) and a square pipe at the bottom (cam) allow you to incline/decline easily for high summer or low winter sun.
I used a square pipe at the bottom simply because square tubing let me add cams to bump the bottom of the panels out in summer making them face 'Up' more, and lower them in winter (more vertical) for low winter sun.
Change panel position by season, not even I'm that lazy I can't rotate a pipe a few degrees every 3 months.

"IT DEPENDS" on a lot of factors, space, mechanical ability, do you need that extra 15-30% production in winter?
I'm off grid, so every watt counts, and drilling holes in wooden posts for rotating flat mounts was easy,
And a screw jack on a timer, 3 stop switch positions was easy.
Position 1, eastern sun, position 2, noon day sun, position 3 western sun, timer resets the 4th time the panels reset to position 1.

 

[Barb]

I once saw a clever low-tech tracker that worked with a modest number of panels. The panels were mounted on a frame that rotated in a half-circle. On the eastern side of the frame the owner hung a full jug of water with a small hole in it. As the water dripped out and the jug's weight lightened, the panel frame gradually swung to the other side over the course of the day.

Obviously this wouldn't work in the winter in cold climates.

 

[JeepHammer]

I saw solar panels mounted on big wire spools sitting on the ground... Just roll the spool.
Nail a 2 x 4 across the spool where you want the roll to stop.

My first pipe mounted string was on a fence line between two pastures,
Tall posts to keep the livestock from rubbing on the panels, pipe up high, panels up high.
It was a test, so I manually rotated the pipe with a long handle when I went to lunch and again about dark back East for the morning sun.
Just two position change increased production about 10%, a motor and timer for 3 position changes increased production more than 15%, and I had to build the fence/set posts, build racks anyway...

My first solar rack was stacked,
Big heavy wooden thing plugged into the ground with cement.
Large rack, few panels, room for expansion.
Construction demanded it's removal, so I cut the posts off at ground level, and jacked the rack/panels up on a trailer so I could use them while building.

Since I ran out of power a couple times just before knocking off for the day,
I rotated the trailer east facing in the evening, west facing in the afternoon, back east at nightfall.

It took about a MONTH for it to dawn on me my next mount needed to rotate...
YUP! I'm a little thick headed!

You *CAN* rotate a trailer fairly easily, but a center pivot on bearings MUCH easier, even one handed.
Then I saw a horse work out gadget, someone had stood a car axle on end, hooked an electric motor to it,
The 'Up' side had a bug umbrella looking thing across it that walked horses in a circle...

I went home, plugged a big truck axle on end, parked the trailer on the 'Up' wheel bearing/axle flange,
One handed rotation on a bearing that's NEVER going to fail.
Easy center pivot from 'Junk' that's strong enough it's never going to blow away in a storm.

People will pay YOU to get rid of old house trailers (frame), junk big truck and trailer axles are everywhere and can be bought for steel scrap weight,
Gob grease in the bearings (instead of oil) and you are off to the races with concrete, saw, drill and some elbow grease.

I spaced the trailer axles out under mine and left the wheels on it,
I did that to spread load out when a big blow comes, the tires don't touch the ground normally, but during big storms it puts 'Landing Feet' further out towards the corners.

What I didn't know, with the ball hitch tongue and wheels still under it, I don't pay taxes on it or the panels.
My rack mounted to the ground was taxable, the MOBILE trailer isn't taxable (unless I try to put plates on it).

My first powered rotator was a powered screw jack off a big satellite dish (20+ years ago).
When that finally failed, I hooked a motor to the gear set in the axle, which demanded a little more grease but works fine. With gear reduction, a small motor moves it.

I'm betting the people that sold me the land with no power or water available, and had a pile of 'junk' on it were laughing pretty hard...
I'm a farm kid and a Marine, improvise, adapt, overcome, use the resources on the land when possible.
2 vandalized, rotted down office trailers became two flat deck trailers, the old big truck flat bed trailer became a bridge, the big truck axles became sun trackers, the old shipping containers became my 'Utilities' (power & water) buildings and root cellars...

Some of the other 'Junk' became my garden harrow, cultivator, gravel driveway drag, snow plow, etc.
(I bought an antique plow from a junk store and dragged it with an old Jeep the first three years, dragging it with a tractor now).

When I was searching for cheap batteries a guy sold me cheap batteries, but I had to remove the old golf cart, and I'm still driving it around the place,
Solar panels for a 'Sun Roof', transportation and job site power from batteries, and when it wasn't working, I powered the camp/shop with it, a plug in battery bank for the shop where the other panels were located.

It's all in how you see things, I saw materials instead of 'Junk',
The big containers were in rough condition, but they still made excellent concrete forms for root cellars!
8-1/2 feet wide, 40 feet long root cellars.
Who cares what they 'Look' like encased in concrete and underground?
Lots of cool storage that was dirt cheap per sq.ft.

 

[erik.calco]

@JeepHammer can we see picts? Sounds like you thought a lot through.

"rack mounted to the ground was taxable"

What kind of tax are you referring to?

 

[Bigbillsd]

Where the heck are the pictures of these trackers? We need to see pic's?

 

[JeepHammer]

Where the heck are the pictures of these trackers? We need to see pic's?

There is a ground mount thread that shows the ideas in principal, with details and examples of things I didn't do, many more ideas that I ever came up with,
And you know it's a good idea when you STEAL IT!

I don't take pictures of my junk, most people freak out because it's rusted and doesn't have that super finished 'Tacti-Cool' factor... ("Chrome don't get you home")
I used steel, like I said, mostly 'Junk', and most people can't see past that no matter how well it works (or doesn't)...

And I'm a little thin skinned about people that HAVEN'T done any of this criticizing anything that isn't mass produced or slick/polished/'Tacti-Cool'...
Call it a personality disorder, but I'm of the generation you SUGGEST things, not knock on people for what they already did because you don't know their circumstances...

In my day you got picked on/humiliated/bullied for wearing hand-me-downs, now people drill on your for not wearing TODAYS designer of choice...
When THEY grab a saw, drill, welder and do their best, add their ideas, THEN they can make statements about the work, since it's theirs...

Suggestions are fine, blanket statements are not, the only exception is safety.
When it's OBVIOUSLY unsafe, see something, say something, but do it respectfully!

 

[Bigbillsd]

@JeepHammer Bummer.. Pics are good, no matter what the contraption might look like. I've seen a lot of "artwork" made of what looks like scraps of things. Someone is buying it. The idea of making a tracker from an old truck axle seemed pretty cool. BTW, we have a very tall water tower a few miles away that was never painted, its just brown rust and the added silver clouds near the top. (I am guessing they are stainless) Here is a pic, you need to scroll down a bit. Rust Tower -Bill

 

[erik.calco]

There is a ground mount thread that shows the ideas in principal, with details and examples of things I didn't do, many more ideas that I ever came up with,
And you know it's a good idea when you STEAL IT!

I don't take pictures of my junk, most people freak out because it's rusted and doesn't have that super finished 'Tacti-Cool' factor... ("Chrome don't get you home")
I used steel, like I said, mostly 'Junk', and most people can't see past that no matter how well it works (or doesn't)...

And I'm a little thin skinned about people that HAVEN'T done any of this criticizing anything that isn't mass produced or slick/polished/'Tacti-Cool'...
Call it a personality disorder, but I'm of the generation you SUGGEST things, not knock on people for what they already did because you don't know their circumstances...

In my day you got picked on/humiliated/bullied for wearing hand-me-downs, now people drill on your for not wearing TODAYS designer of choice...
When THEY grab a saw, drill, welder and do their best, add their ideas, THEN they can make statements about the work, since it's theirs...

Suggestions are fine, blanket statements are not, the only exception is safety.
When it's OBVIOUSLY unsafe, see something, say something, but do it respectfully!

Feel free to PM me picts. I'll never judge just cuz old, rusty or creative.

 

[JeepHammer]

@JeepHammer Bummer.. Pics are good, no matter what the contraption might look like. I've seen a lot of "artwork" made of what looks like scraps of things. Someone is buying it. The idea of making a tracker from an old truck axle seemed pretty cool. BTW, we have a very tall water tower a few miles away that was never painted, its just brown rust and the added silver clouds near the top. (I am guessing they are stainless) Here is a pic, you need to scroll down a bit. Rust Tower -Bill

The concept isn't hard to follow,
The sun always passes to the south in the northern hemisphere.
Make your rack so panels face almost directly up, but can lower on one end (hinge) to face low winter sun directly.

Once that frame/rack is made, jack it up on a single post, bearing on top.
As sun passes TO THE SOUTH, east to west, the single bearing allows the panels to face the sun directly in the morning, noon, and evening,
The sun is no longer at off angles to the panels,
Fixed, the panels are only at right angle to panels at noon,
Now they are at more or less right angles all during daylight hours.

The hinge adjusts incline to face the sun in the sky,
The rotation makes panels face sun more or less directly for time of day as sun crosses sky.

The only more efficient way is to make panels move in an arc, which is difficult with a lot of panel/rack weight.
To do that, I would have had to build everything custom, and that elminated my 'Resources' (Junk) I had laying around.
We do have the issue with occasional high wind in storms, so the racks are heavy, which further complicates an arc, multi plane of movement joints would have to be built stupid strong.

Hinges on panels (pipes) and rotation (truck axle) made it fairly easy for inclination and rotation without a double articulated joint.

By using wheels/casters/rollers, or even flat feet that just skim the ground on the corners, when a wind gets strong enough to flex the mount/rack, the supports immediately hit the ground and stop/support the rack against flex. Normally they don't touch the ground, just skim along above it, so it's the last line of defense against my array being carried off.
I started with bare ground, but now it's an arc of nice, cheap $1 each foot square paver pads from the big box store.
Colors don't match but I don't care, they were $1 each on closeout, and for that price I don't care if they match or not.

 

[Deleted member 783]

As the saying goes, pics or it didn't happen! I haven't seen any non constructive criticism on this site.

 

[JeepHammer]

As the saying goes, pics or it didn't happen! I haven't seen any non constructive criticism on this site.

I have, but they didn't last long...

 

[J.Lewis]

I live on the west foothills of Mt. Rainier and have to chase down every watt I can get . . . Solar Tracker a must here! Pictures sure . . .

 

[WOLF 1]

I've been told that solar has come down in price so much over the past 10 years that it makes more sense to just buy more panels instead of paying for a mounting post and sun tracker. Do you agree? But since we already have two solar trackers I might as well continue to use them. I just wish they were more accurate. Sometimes they are not even pointing at the sun. Should I replace my tracker module with a new one? If so, what unit would you recommend?

Thanks!

I live at the 48 North longitude up here solar trackers would be a total waste because the sun only comes up over the mountain and drop straight back down in the winter when solar gain is of most importance. So for me added more panels is more prudent. But if you live near the equator then I might have a different opinion. Hope that helps

 

[MichaelK]

Here's a pic of my trackable system, from the back, so you can see the construction. I call it "Hillbilly solar tracking" because I walk out and rotate the panels left and right by hand. It works. I find I can increase my total power by about 50% over the course of the day. The frame holding the panels has door hinges welded to a horizontal unistrut welded on top of a 4" schedule 40 steel pipe. The 4"pipe sits on top of a 3.5" pipe sunk in concrete. the horizontal struts at the bottom allow me to make seasonal angle adjustments. My primary goal is running my wellpump, which requires about 2200W, and rotating the arrays allows me to pump from 8:30am to 4:30 pm instead of 10:30 till 2:30. In the early morning and the late afternoon, I fiddle with the panels so they won't shade each other, but after about 9:30 they only need to be moved 2 or three times.

 

[ChuckB]

Disney just put up a 270 acre solar farm. The panels track the sun east to west but stay horizontal to the ground. It's an awesome site to drive past. Google Disney’s New 270-Acre Solar Farm

 

[Denis]

Three solar array off the ground and tracking, one axis or two. Just some ideas, used trailer Axel on one unit, all metals framework from pallet racking.