Quote:
Originally Posted by Daox
I'm sure its possible. What exactly were you thinking about doing with it? Wouldn't it be easier to use a solar collector that passes air through it? That way you don't have to bounce light around and worry about tracking the sun's movement.
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I've had some experience with a solar (domestic) hotwater system,
and I have a little understanding of what can be done with flat panel collectors.
IMHO, in order to get around 20,000 BTUs of space heating, using air or water as the transfer medium,
Panels are going to cost more and will have to be roof mounted.
(My wife isn't interested in putting big panels back on our roof).
Passive solar is the best way to go. Least amount of moving parts.
And, reflecting solar into a window is almost as cheap.
(when compared to systems with pumps or fans etc).
The cost of the system is low, the payback would be quick.
I wish that I had 20,000 BTUs flowing in the back sliding door right now!
I did some closer reading on the topic and found out that the vertical aiming
problem is a bit more complex than I figured on..
If I used my old dish and added a extra actuator jack, I would need to use
a more sophisticated control system. Most likely a little computer with a string of three sensors around the target.
That would add another $50 to $100 in hardware cost..
Here's the old 10.5' dish..
Not doing much these days.. Right now, the existing actuator jack is configured for vertical motion. I would need to rotate the dish back to it's standard setup and add something like you see in the pic..
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This is just brainstorming right now. I'm also thinking about restoring the
dish back to polar tracking and use it to track the sun dead-on.
Maybe I could mount a rack of four 175 watt PV panels.
I need to study what can be done after the leaves come back and the shadows fall.
The dish may not get the sun long enough to be worth the effort.
At first glance, it doesn't look too bad.