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Solar
Tracking - How We Made A Solar Tracker
Click here to
view the solar tracking video
A set of plans is now
available. They are in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format and can be viewed and
saved right from this site. Just click on the link below and hit the save
button. You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the plans.
We are making these plans
available to everyone without charge on one condition.
If you download the plans
and use them to make your own solar tracker, please make a donation for
our efforts. We would like to continue making this site available to
everyone. Your donation will help do so.
Click
here to view the PDF file
I have always thought about using solar
tracking for a solar panel. Commercial solar trackers are somewhat expensive but do extend
the time that a solar panel receives solar energy. I have not
purchased any yet but decided to make a small scale solar tracker that I use with
our solar cooler.
The solar tracker uses a TV antenna rotator attached to a
2 inch pipe and is mounted on the ground. A photovoltaic solar panel is also
attached to the 2 inch pipe. Since the rotator can be controlled by a
remote control, I found a programmable one that I use to
position the rotator to face the solar panel toward the sun at different times during the day.
Even though it can’t actually track on its own the way the commercial
versions do, I can easily program it to follow the sun’s path.
You can also visit the Living
On Solar Blog to talk about solar tracking.
The video runs for 3 minutes and 17 seconds
and shows how we use solar tracking.
We hope that you enjoy the video.
Please watch our other solar videos elsewhere on this site.
If you are using a dial up connection, it
will take a while to load and watch the video. With a
high speed connection the video starts almost immediately.
Click here to
view the solar tracking video |
