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Old 08-03-13, 04:13 PM   #238
Robaroni
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Xringer View Post
The reason I wanted to convert my Radio Astronomy dish to solar tracking, (see plot of galactic core).
was mostly just because I had this nice polar TVRO mount.
Didn't want to scrap it. It's got a certain cool factor, if you are a Ham..

2-axis for solar tracking is pretty much a waste of money.
Since you need to inspect the mount every month or two anyways,
why not take an extra 35 seconds to tweak the elevation?
You don't have to take my word for it, just ask people who have been using trackers for a few years.

Since the price of PV is dropping nicely, there is really no need to track the sun.
Just add more PV for the same money/effort and get the same end result.
The best part is no moving parts. Chance of failure drops to near zero.
Not a lot of maintenance needed on a fixed mount PV array..
If it's on the roof, you might want to try pulling the snow off..
I did that when I had solar hotwater on the roof, many years ago.
Xringer,
Yes, I would say modules on a roof - not the best but since I got the system for free and had a time limitation to get it in, a roof mount system was the best solution for me. I've been up clearing snow. It takes about 20 minutes and gets me out in the winter which is important. The front modules just about clean themselves especially at the winter angles my modules sit at.

I think if I had 4 modules I would probably use a tracker but with 8 modules and over 100 sq/ft of area the logistics got very complex very fast.

Ditto on the dual tracking system, azimuth just isn't that important.

Rob
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