Solar Tracker Project
 

I have a 10.5 foot Sat TV dish that I plan to strip down and convert into a solar tracking mount for a PV array.
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...dwinterday.jpg
Dec 21 is the day of the longest shadows. As you can see, the back peak of
the house isn't going to block noon time sun, even when it's at it's lowest point of the year.
Winter Solstice - Winter Begins December 21 in the Northern Hemisphere



I've started the project by ordering some bits and pieces.

One small PV panel to charge the battery-power supply for the tracker PCB/motor.
New UL approved 5 watt(10 watt max) Solar panel - eBay (item 160394724942 end time Feb-03-10 04:33:04 PST)

Looks like this:
http://www.batterystuff.com/images/p..._back_1_lg.jpg


One Tracker PCB kit.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...Solar/r034.jpg
Solar Tracker Circuit Kit

One sensor case: (An outdoor lamp housing from Lowes).
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...Solar/r029.jpg

And a water proof box for the tracker PCB (also from Lowes)
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...Solar/r031.jpg


Here's the dish..
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...r/nj1aelev.jpg
It's been hacked. It's set up for elevation only.

The jobs:
1. The dish has to be returned to it's original config. And, all the mesh and those long dish arms will be removed.

2. A steel rack will be installed, as the foundation of the PV rack.
(I sawed up a brand new king sized bed frame. It was free).

3. Assemble the tracker PCB.

4. Build a light sensor board and install it inside the water proof lamp unit.

5. Plan, build and install water resistant limit switches on the mount, at the point of rotation.

6. Select and install a Charge-Regulator-Controller between an old 12V car battery and the new PV panel.

Found it for $21.10 on Ebay. RAMSOND SUNSHIELD



7. Put it all together and get it tracking the sun.

If proves to be reliable, then select, purchase and install some PV.. :)

A couple of days ago, I made a "Best Offer" of $20 on a Ramsond unit and the gave me
the $20 price this morning.. Now, I'll be getting two of them.. :)
(I've got two 12V batteries).

http://www.ramsond.com/solarpanel/ra...rollerpic2.jpg

Their specs are pretty good. So, if you are looking for a 12V battery charger,
don't bid, but just make a low-ball "Best Offer" on a Buy it Now and see if you can get one for 10 or 15 bucks! :rolleyes:

Edit: They decided to ship both units in one box, and I may be getting 3, due to a mistake.?.

990 Available!

Feb 12 note:
One of the Ramsond units came in today. It's smaller that I expected. Very compact.


Feb 11 note:
The PV panel came in today. Appears to be good quality. I should have ordered more.
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...lar/r034-1.jpg

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...lar/r031-1.jpg

A quick test with a 12V tail light showed 10.8V at 0.55A. The OCV was 20.8V. So, I think it's going to work.

Feb 11 note:
Assembled tracker PCB. Still working on optical unit.

Feb 12 note:
Disassembled dish and started reconfiguring the mount for sun tracking.
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...r/dishdown.jpg
It was about 40 today, so I stripped the antenna off the mount.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...r/eastside.jpg
This is the east side of the mount with the elevation screw.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...r/westside.jpg
This is the west side of the mount, with the actuator jack screw/motor and actuator arm.

Right now, the mount is looking west, I'll need to loosen the 5 large bolts
and twist the mount to the south.

I'm not seeing an easy way to install the limit switches.. :(


Note 2/13/2010

Tested the new charger and it seems to be working so far..
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...testingSBC.jpg

Finished Tracker PCB
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...Solar/r055.jpg


Optical Sensor Before pic
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...Solar/r031.jpg


Optical Sensor (Divider wall in center).
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...Solar/r054.jpg

Top view of optical senor.
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...Solar/r053.jpg


Currently debugging the PCB. It only wants to go east.
(But both light sensors seem to be working fine).:confused:

I've found the reference voltage of the tracker PCB is set so high,
the sensors need to see direct bright sunlight. If it's a little hazy, the tracker motor just stops.
I'll have to install everything on the mount and run it a few days before deciding about making a mod to the reference voltage.
(Adding a pot).

I've studied the limit-switch problem for a week and I've decided that whatever I add on to the mount is going to be subject to failure, due to sun exposure and/or winter icing.

I think the best solution is to buy an actuator with built-in adjustable limit switches. Faster and easier too.

http://www.sadoun.com/Sat/Products/S/HV.jpg

QARL-2418 HV-18 18" Stroke 24V Motech Heavy Duty Actuators

This one has a lot of power and should be able to do the job.
Found it for $109(shipped) on ebay.. Is there a similar unit around for less?

Edit:
Feb 22, pulled the trigger on this item. Ebay is going to ruin my retirement account!! ;)

Edit:
Feb 23.. The Actuator is in the mail (UPS).

Edit:
March 4, replacement Actuator came today. With a little tweaking, the end-limit switches operate correctly, this one is a keeper.
It came with a UPS label to return the bad one. It's ready to go.

~~
I've been looking at racking for my Solar Tracker Project and I can see that
the width (~41") of the more powerful panels is going to be a problem.
So, I might try to start off with some lower power panels and use enough
to fill the racking foot print. Which I think is going to be about 8x10 feet.

Due to the short post, the center of mass is only about 6' off the ground.

I'm looking forward to following your progress. I've been thinking about building something similar for a solar hot water project large enough to provide heat for my house.

Welcome to the site Jeff!

Would you care to share your project with us? We'd love to hear about it. :)

Thanks, Daox! I'm still in the planning and parts-gathering stage. Once I get to building it I'll definitely post it up here.

Hi Jeff and welcome.
Today, I'm waiting for another actuator to show up. The first one has some limit switch issues.

I have located a 120w panel that might be good for a 12V back-up type system.
The min-order is 2, so I would have a little over-kill with 240 watts..
Most of the better panels at this site have min-orders of 20 or 100.. :(

120w solar panel, solar module 120w
Total cost with shipping looks to be about $707 which is less than anything I've seen lately.

This panel was about $200 more back in the summer of 2007.
120w mono-crystalline solar panel for only $475


These smaller footprint panels should be a good size for my mount.

Now, I'm thinking about what to use for a 'Dump Load' when the batteries
are fully charged. Maybe something like this.. http://ecorenovator.org/forum/solar-...-inverter.html

Also, how did I miss this thread?!? This is a great project so far. Love to see what comes next. :)

Xringer: The first iteration of my project will be grid powered. I'm also thinking that single-axis tracking will be sufficient - I'll just set the tilt to match the winter sun angle.

Thanks for the link to the 120w panel. I eventually want about 2500kW of solar panels, 1500w-ish wind generator, and gridtie inverter. We bought a house on a cleared acre just before this last Thanksgiving. I also have plans to build a two-story 24x30 detached shop/garage this summer.

On the subject of dump loads, I've always thought it would cool to have a programmable dump load controller that could route the power to a number of different things - vehicle engine block heaters, a domestic hot water heater, hot tub heater, etc. This way that surplus electricity could be put to some really good use. I don't know that such a thing exists, but maybe some quality time spent with an Arduino would do the trick.

I would love to have 2.5 KW of PV (don't have the room for 2500 KW).. :eek:

I've also been looking at the idea of a ground mounted array of cheaper PV
for driving plain old resistive heating coils in my heating boiler.
See: http://ecorenovator.org/forum/solar-...eat-water.html

I think a few of these Kaneka Thin Film Solar Panel 110w
big fat Heavy boys might be in my price range.
(I could get 3 shipped for less than $700 and get 90 more watts).
330 watts is about 1126 BTU.. Not too shabby. Might save me some oil.

So far, I have not been able to locate the voltage specs on these new panels..

The PV is something I would do in increments. Bite the bullet and get the gridtie inverter I want, start with 2-4 PV panels, and a relatively small battery bank. Add panels as the budget permits. I'm thinking eventually two dual-axis trackers with ten panels each. At some point replace the battery bank with something larger and sell the first set of batteries to someone else who wants to build a small PV system. It'll take several years to complete, I'm sure.

Back to the solar water project: We currently have an ancient propane furnace in the house. The house is pretty well insulated, but some drafty windows need to be address. It's downright scary how much propane we've gone through this winter. As in, $10/day during a particularly cold week. My goal is to have the propane company take their tank away by the end of the year.

Not to get too off topic, but I've been following the The Homemade Heat Pump Manifesto thread started by AC_Hacker. (I can't link to it because I only have three posts so far - heh.) This is also something I want to try, tying one or two smallish AC units into a ground source heat loop for supplemental heat. If it works well I'd do a couple more for my detached shop.

Too. Many. Projects. ;)

Peak Power and Average Power...
 

Don't forget that the 330 watts is absolute maximum output, in peak sunshine. Most solar designers count on six hours of sun on a good day.


As you progress with the project, might want to see if you can scare up some real life performance examples.

Regards,

-AC_Hacker

Are you kidding me? This winter has sure shown me how unreliable the sun can be!
There is no way I'm counting on getting every watt that 'could' come my way. :(

My solar deck lamp has been giving me a very good indication of how unreliable PV would have been this winter..

However, if my boiler can be cheaply PV heated enough to over come it's heat loss,
I would be a very happy camper during the summer time..
(Well, maybe if it's not a repeat of last summer. Which was way too short). :mad:


The government thinks it can be done at $2 per watt PV prices..
BFRL: Solar Photovoltaic Hot Water System

I know what you mean by too many..

Anyhow, if you are going to be doing the slow incremental PV thing,
those panels that I'm looking at 120w solar panel, solar module 120w
have Vmp: 17.6V and are more suited to the type of 12V chargers that I already have.
And not so suitable for something like an EnPhase grid-tie inverter.

IMHO, the EnPhase units seem like the very best way for someone
to start off with a small system and built it up incrementally.

If you have not looked at Enphase, you should. They rock for small and large systems.
They are useful in the smallest (1 panel) to very large scale arrays.

Solar charger is working!
 

I didn't have very good luck with getting the mount to track today.
After replacing the old Actuator with the new one, installing the
little PV panel and the Tracker sensor, some high thin wispy clouds rolled in! :mad:

I manually pointed the mount at the sun and connected the power to the Tracker PCB.
The clouds cleared for a minute an the tracker locked on! It followed the sun!
After 10 seconds, the motor shut down.. A minute later, the clouds came back!

The hazy sun was charging the battery and keeping me toasty warm,
but the tracker didn't like the clouds!! It stayed like that all day!!

I think it's time to start hacking.. :thumbup:

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...rTestStand.jpg

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...r/SolarBox.jpg

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...arControls.jpg

Wooo, very nice. :thumbup:

What is the next step?

There is a 9.1k resistor in series with a 100K that forms the reference voltage for the
East and West comparators. The ref voltage is about 1.18v when using 13.7Vcc.

The manual says that 9.1k can be replaced with a 10k pot (10 turn).
I don't have a 10 turn, but I did find a 13k trim pot that I will install tomorrow.

During bench testing, the only way I could get the test motor
to switch rotational direction, was to aim the sensor unit at the VERY bright sunlight.
I was actually it holding outside the window (on a cold day) just to get it working right.


One thing that's worrisome right now, it's pitch black out there and the tracker is just sitting dead.
It didn't return to the home posistion (max east).
During testing today, I put a black cover over the sensors and it just sat.
So, I think maybe something else might be wrong.
Last month, Blocking all light worked okay on the bench. The test motor took off for east.

The reference voltage might be the key, since today both the E & W
relays were energized (by the E & W comparators).
A close look at the circuit, shows when both relays are on, there is no juice to the motor..

If it's not the ref voltage, it can only be the IC (LM399)..

~~~

Anyways, when I get this thing tracking like it should, I plan to purchase some real PV for it.
Maybe a couple of 120 watt panels! :D

Sun Tracker is tracking with new battery.
 

Today was a good day. I installed a 20 turn pot and replaced the bad IC (LM339).
The outputs of two of the comparators were stuck at 5V. Should have been
zero or 12V, to drive the relay coils. The new chip (RadioShack) did the trick.

The mount is tracking the sun very nicely. The return-to-east even works.
(I put a black cover over the sensor pod).

So, tonight when the sun goes down, it will go back towards the East until it hits the end limit
(built into the actuator), so it will be already to go at sun rise.
(Note: It just got dark and the Tracker went to the East Home posistion)!

I'm pretty sure the East relay is going to be on all night.
Draining my battery and overheating the LM339?
I guess we will find out in a few days, if it can keep functioning.

Instead of an old SUV battery, I was wondering if a smaller battery
could be used for the actuator motor.?. So, would a small 12V at 7.2AH work?

This afternoon, I watched the charger LEDs and when the mount was moving normally,
the green 'Charged' LED would light, but after I did some test runs of the motor,
the yellow 'Charging' LED would come on for about 10-20 minutes and before it was back to 'Charged' again.

This is the nice little battery I found. It was marked for change in 2008,
but was taken out of service in late 2009.
It may have been over-charged by a wall-wart. It had been disconnected
for about 4 months and still had 13 volts showing..
Hope it has to kahunas to move an array reliable, because it fits inside the waterproof box, very nicely.

It's a valve regulated lead acid battery, and here's my question,
is it okay to run this battery on it's side? (Standing on one end actually).

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...kerbattery.jpg

On top of the battery is the 3A fuse and main cut-off switch, wired to the red (+) battery clip.

Accurate tracking!
 

I could not use the sensor pod shadow to gauge how well the tracker was working this morning,
it wasn't manufactured symmetrically, it's off-set up and to the right of it's base.

So I installed an 11" threaded 1/4" rod in the center, so I could see the shadow it cast.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...hadowStick.jpg

As you can see, it's shadow is about 0.25" long. So far, that's as long as it ever gets.
The mount seems to be moving about every 80 seconds.
The motor hums for about 1 second and stops.


http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...hortshadow.jpg


Hey! 86,400 seconds per day / 360 degs =240 seconds passing during each degree of rotation?
240 / 80 sec = 3.. Does that mean I'm seeing 1/3 of a degree accuracy ?

That can't be right! :eek:
I hope that isn't going to be too hard on the West relay!

The Charger is keeping the new battery right up there.
That little 5-10 watt panel is working very well.
I'm thinking of hooking another charger (I have 2 spares) on to those PV
lines, to keep the old SUV battery up to par..

Accountant members here learn more than they contribute. Allow me to point out one gotcha in the 30% US federal tax credit for solar energy systems: Credit is not allowed for equipment used to heat swimming pools or hot tubs. So you may want to think about the hot tub heater.

Anyway, I was wondering, is it easier to track the sun with a light sensor, or is it easier to just do a timer that takes it east to west during the day and resets after dark? Just seems that a timer would eliminate the hazy/cloudy day problems with light sensing.

Oil prices going up or down?
 

LOL! I'm not a rich hot-tub guy.. (I would like one out on the deck)!

My dream is to heat the hot water in my oil burning boiler.
This boiler heats my house (forced hotwater baseboards) and has a loop inside for domestic hot water.
(I also have a Sanyo heat pump for heating, but it's not working right now).
http://ecorenovator.org/forum/projec...l-project.html


The infernal boiler burns oil all year round. So, If I could hook about 440 watts
of PV power to a heating element in the boiler, that would put 1500 BTHh
of heat into the water (when the sun was bright)..

I'm sure it will save me some oil and perhaps even pay for itself in 1 to 3 years..
Saving a gallon a day is about $960 a year.. (Heck 2 quarts would be nice).

I may be able to get 4 of these big clunky panels for about $930...
Kaneka Thin Film Solar Panel 110w

Anyways, I worry that Iran is going to be problem some day and oil prices will skyrocket..
My wife calls me a worry wart, but I'm just an old DIYer.. :p

~~~
Tracking the sun with optical electronics can be a problem.
I just turned down the sensitivity of my tracker because some shadows were making it seek back-and-forth a little too much.
But, they are cheap ($40 to $140), whereas a timer will involve
some CPU type hardware and may need it's own AC supply etc.

Plus, you can buy optical tracker kits, already to solder & Plug-n-Play..

Cheers,
Rich

5-10 watt panel has juice to spare?
 

I call this hack, Share-a-PV.. ;)

I have a nice big Coax cable running from the Solar tracker, into my basement ham radio station.

So, I made two of these little N-connector-to-DC pigtails..

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...lar/DCcoax.jpg

And now, I can charge up the old back-ups down in the basement.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...rPVcharger.jpg

I still have a spare charger module, but I fear the little panel won't support 3 chargers..

I really have to give you a hat tip, experimenting like this. Also a thank you since I'll be referring back to this thread to copy some of your work. :)

To answer your earlier question about the battery mounting, you should be fine mounting it on its end. The battery does say "Nonspillable," so it should be safe even upside down.

I saw that Nonspillable, but only after I posted.. :)


I'm not breaking any new ground with the HWPV idea. The gov has been testing the hardware for years.
And, it seems to be very reliable and low maintenance.
BFRL: Solar Photovoltaic Hot Water System

Their findings state it can be done (in homes) economically, if PV prices drop drastically..
And, that time is just about here. PV is getting cheaper very slowly..

Here's a blurb about HWPV from down Australia way..
http://ecorenovator.org/forum/solar-....html#post5374

~~~

Anyways, I had that used BUD (Big Ugly Dish) in the backyard for about 20 years it seems,
and my wife has never really liked it. :eek:

So, when I decided to take it down. I was wondering if it would make a good Solar tracker mount.

It's tracking ok right now, so I'm encouraged to get some real PV wattage up there.
Due to blockages both east and west, the direct sun light on the tracker
is limited to about 6 hours right now. I have some trees to remove,
but I don't see gaining very many more watt-hours.

I think Sun Tracking is the only way to make the best of a bad location.
Of course, it all else fails, the garage roof might become available..


Now, I'm considering wind loading and the extra weight of the 110 watt Kaneka Thin Film PV panel.
Kaneka Thin Film Solar Panel 110w

At 40 pounds, times 4.. 160 pounds of panel. That's a lot of weight,
considering the old dish antenna was only about 50 pounds.

However, a freak storm once filled it with about 500 pounds of wet snow. (It was in Bird-bath posistion).
The only damage was to the mesh. The mount was fine. The mechanism is very solid.

I think the wind-loading might be the main danger to the panels.
The post is not mounted into a block of concrete. It's bolted to a deck.
The deck has five 4x4 legs planted about 3 feet into the ground.
It would be hard to flip over, but it's possible with a strong enough wind.
So, some changes might be needed to the post..
Or, I could try to step up to a brand new post (in concrete) and do it right.
The main problem with a new post is the digging.. We have a very high water table. :(

DIYing is a pretty good way to spend your retirement days.. :thumbup:

Cheers,
Rich

The PV is in the mail.. :)
 

Well guys, I've placed an order for (4) Kaneka Hybrid PV Modules U-SA110.
They are brand new panels and the real specs haven't shown up yet..
http://ecorenovator.org/forum/solar-...nel-specs.html

I think the European specs should be a close match to the American model 110 model. (I hope)!
The shipping cost isn't bad at all, so I suspect they might be in error.. I hope not.

So, now I'm trying to picture about 52 sq feet of panels on my little dish mount.
Mounted, flush to each other, they would be about 6.6 feet wide and 7.9 feet tall.

Here's one idea:
The steel angle iron that's currently on the round base-plate would be replaced by two 28" angle irons.

On the ends of those 28" angle irons, two 75" vertical angle irons will be attached,
Forming a tall 'H', with two cross-bars instead of one.

Note:
Bed frame steel is Strong hardened stuff. Solar panel proven.

Attached to the big 'H' would be (4) horizontal PVC pipes. (86" long).
The spacing between the PVC pipes would be 21.6" for the middle two,
and 26" up for the top and 26" down for the bottom pipe.
This lines up the pipes with mounting holes in the bottom of the panels.

To cap off the open ends of the pipes, I'll install a vertical 73.6" pipe
on both ends of the (4) horizontal PVC pipes, using (4) 90deg PVC elbows and (4) PVC Tees.

The PVC now a sideways rectangle with two horizontal pipes in the middle, and a bed for the PV..
Mounted with 1/4:20 SS hardware (x16).


Is that crazy or what? I'm not sure PVC will work, but I'm already wondering if
I should buy 1-1/4" or 2" pipes? (I can get all the parts in 2" for $40.60).. :D

Comments please..

Cheers,
Rich

I'm confused. I followed you up to the point where you started adding PVC (which I believe gets brittle in sunlight over time).

The PVC frame would be dimensioned to match the holes on the backside of the panels. And bolted to (2) long vertical steel angle iron rails.

Since the PVC is going to be in the shade of the panels, I'm not worried that it's going to start breaking down during my lifetime. :)

I will have the PVC Tees and 90deg elbows sticking out on each side, to provide some bump protection.
Maybe I can paint the exposed parts to sun-screen them.?.

Perhaps later on, I can use the PVC frame to experiment with other types of trackers.

http://future-energy-technologies.co...dWindcrop2.jpg

Picture this Leaning Rotator mount with 4 panels..

Hi All;

As far as I can tell the efficiency ranges from
about 4.5% to 6%.

This seem very low compared to poly or mono crystalline
silicon at 15% to 18%.

I suppose they are nice if you have a large area to
place them.

However I would not recommend them for a solar tracking
system as they would require a needlessly large
tracking mount.

If I would use my location, Minnesota, they are more
expensive than good mono crystalline panels in a
tracking system.

Let's compare Tracked crystalline vs fixed Kaneka:
Mono Crystalline = 150W/m^2
Kaneka = 60W/m^2
Tracking factor for me = 170%
Mono Crystalline cost = $3/W
Kaneka cost = $1.20/W

(150W/m^2)/ (60W/m^2) * 170% = 425% greater energy/year
($3/W / 425%) / ($1.20/W / 100%) = 59% energy/cost advantage
of crystalline over
Kaneka.

This shows that tracked mono crystalline panels have a good
advantage over Kaneka panels even at this low of a cost.

Not to mention the added cost of mounting hardware for
panels that are 4.5 times more area for the same
energy per year.

In the big picture these seem quite expensive to me.

Duane
Red Rock Energy

I think the new Kaneka 110w panels are about 20% larger than regular old 110w panels.
http://ecorenovator.org/forum/solar-....html#post5967

And the extra 14 pounds does worry me some.

I would love to get a couple of these 220W panels for this projext
220w solar panel, solar module 220w

But, ** Minimum Order Quantity: 40 ? That's not gonna be possible..


I'm just a hacker and really don't see why 440w of tracking panels will
be that much worse than 440w of tracking panels that are 20% larger.?.

Plan 'B' is to install the Kaneka panels on the Garage, if the old dish mount wasn't up to the job.

Anyways, the bad news today is, there will be an 8 week delay getting the new Kaneka 110w panels in stock..

And then the rains came...
 

With barely any sunlight falling on my tiny solar panel this morning,
I'm wondering if it will even try to track the sun as it moves behind the rain clouds.

So, I figured this would be a good day to test the remaining charge controller
to see if these things help? Or hurt the SOC on a cloudy day and at night..

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...lar/2batts.jpg

I've started a log to see what happens to the voltage during these next few rainy days.
Right now, the LEDs are indicating the LAs are charging, but the panel juice is very very low..
Only when the sun peeks out a little does the PV voltage move towards the 14 to 21 volt range.

I would be very surprised (and pleased) if my little 5-10 watt panel can
keep the tracker LA charged, while keeping my two big car LAs in the
ham shack topped off..
When the clear weather comes back, we shall find out! :)

Cheers,
Rich

Edit: 3-21-10
After 4 or 5 cloudy days (and about 7" of rain), all of the batteries still had a good SOC.
Now that it's been sunny for a few days, all three LA batteries are charging normally.
It's hazy out now and old CRV batt (Panasonic) is charging at 14.11v and the Toyota batt is at 14.16v.
The spec says they chargers will shut down at 14.2v.. One more sunny day? :cool:
http://www.ramsond.com/solarpanel/ra...specs2.jpg.jpg

Oooh, quite interesting.

I too have had a couple of cloudy/rainy days. Its totally putting a cramp in my solar hot water testing!

End of the second sunless day. Not one ray of sunshine all day long! :(
However, even when it's very overcast, the two LEDs light up. (Red & Orange, it thinks it's really charging)!

The two car batteries don't seem to have discharged much (if any).


I've done a related post here,
http://ecorenovator.org/forum/applia...ad-heater.html
after finding a cheap way to run some tests that will allow me to see just
how well a Solar-assist Oil burner will work..

If it does work, I'll have the first Hybrid Oil-PV hot water source on the block. :cool:

I went ahead and ordered the 250 watt Boiler heater and will install it sometimes next week.

In the meantime, I need to figure how to log the run-time of my burner..

Haha! Just found my timer. I can stick an AC outlet on my burner, that is parallel with the blower/oil pump motor,
and plug in my Kilo-a-Watt. It's got a 100 hour timer built in..

Edit Friday 20:07
I looked at the job and it seemed like too much work. Plus, I needed a double wide box.
Then, I realized that my power monitor wasn't being used!

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...r/NCL/F160.jpg

I just popped open the breaker panel, moved the probe over to the Burner relay,
changed the voltage setting in the display unit to 120 and I've got instant logging!

In Standby, the burner is using 10 watts. When the upstairs circulator pump is on, 80 watts.
When it's burning oil 290 watts, burning oil & circulating, 350 watts are used..

So, All I have to do is keep the same kind of log I had for the heatpump,
and I'll have a kWh number that equates to the amount of oil burned per-day..

It stayed East-parked all day
 

Had my first failure with the tracker today..
It was heavily overcast all morning, and by the time we got some good sun,
the earth had already rotated so much, that no sunlight could reach down
deep inside the sensor array to steer the mount over towards the West..

So, I missed out on about 2.5 hours of afternoon charge time.
Maybe enclosing the photo-cells inside a clear case is a better idea.?.

I guess that's why you see so many of those Red Rock Trackers
inside Peanut Butter jars!

Maybe if I install a small mirror just under the glass on the east side
of the tracker, so it will reflect the any afternoon sun down inside.?.
That might make it track close enough to get a 'lock' on old Sol.
Like an early version AIM9 Sidewinder.. :p

Perhaps you can just move the circuit board up closer to the glass surface in its enclosure? Or won't that be enough?

I could move the sensors closer to the glass, but the divider (light block) between
the two photo-cells needs to be fairly tall, or else the pointing accuracy will be low.
When I was building the module, I was thinking about gluing the divider outside the glass..
That would work a bit better, but would be less weather & whack proof..

I think that I've figured out a way to get manual control. Just add some
NO push-buttons across both of the photo-cells. Pressing the West side button
will make the mount move west.

A simple solution and it also will get me out of the house on sunny afternoons.. :)

Well, it's sunny today and again, I am surprised at quickly the sun is getting higher in the sky..
I've been making seasonal adjustments to the elevation screw every few days, it seems.

Today, the shadow under the Stick was about 1/2" long at noon.
I moved the adjustment nut down about 1/2" to raise the elevation so the panel was pointing dead-on at the sun..

I can see how a tracker with both Azimuth & Elevation could be an advantage to people who aren't retired.. :D

Do you have any idea how much 1/2" translates to in degrees? I think I recall something like you don't loose a ton of power until you start getting beyond 10-15 degrees...

I know it's not much. The difference in power from a 5-10W panel has to be less than a few miliwatts.
It's just interesting (to me) that I can easily see the change in just a few rotations.

No solar here today, we are starting another 20 year flood this morning..
NWS Enhanced Radar Mosaic: Northeast Sector Loop

Cheers,
Rich

My two indoor car batteries are sitting on a damp rug, but since it's been mostly sunny as of late,
the two 'Charged' LEDs were on today. :)

The tracker is working very well, but our budget is being crushed by flood damage repairs..
I might have to scale back any PV purchase I make this summer.. :(

Just in case, I've been taking care of some shading problems..

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...lar/cyndee.jpg


Cheers,
Rich