I bought 3 of these. They have made them stronger using 8" schedule 80 pipes. The cost of the poles and actuators were higher than a ground mount system but I chose this system based on the following: 1. Cost of hauling dirt and leveling the ground (I live on a hill) to accommodate a ground mount would have cost a lot. This made the cost of the poles comparable with a ground mount. 2. I don't have a large backyard so I needed an efficient system to maximize my power production. My single axis system gives me an average of 30% more than a similar ground mounted system. 3. I had to strategically place the panels in different spots because my house is to the south of these poles. The wife didn't want them in the front yard😏. 4. Excellent customer support. Dennis was a great resource when I was setting them up. 5. The "cool factor". This is definitely a DIY project. It took me 2 months to finish because I did it in the middle of winter. Backhoe can't set up the poles till it got dry and carrying 50 lb panels on a 30 degree mud hill in 30 degree weather was a challenge. I have no regrets getting the system. I will most likely add another pole so I can be totally carbon neutral.
We use a solar tracker by sun and not time. We love the input we get from it. It only uses 4 wires also. Nice setup for a time tracking. I still prefer sun tracking. It only moves a little just as the time tracking does. Either way tracking the sun is the best way to get maximum solar input.
Awesome set up and design, love top of pole solar it’s movable and seasonal tilting, and has an attractive appearance Can’t wait till I set up three of them on my roof
My family in the UK have a 6kw dual axis tracker and an 8kw roof mount. I'm not sure if it is timed or tracks the suns light but I know the tracker produces significantly more power despite being smaller.
We have re-designed the solar time tracker Poles they are built more heavier with schedule 80 pipe. Go on RU-vid and look at Solar Time Tracker. Everyone that buys a solar time tracker cannot believe how heavy the poles are built.. and how well the tracker works. They make maximum power all day long.
This is clever. Up to this point I thought Solar tracker is the best. I have a question though: How the panels are protected against wind? Can a high speed wind turn them or even break them?
+7 TRUMPETS PREPPER The 12 panel tracker is the same one were installing at the store next week. Well were going to pour the concrete anyway. Bout 2 weeks after we will be putting it together. Molly and i need to get in the motor home and come on down and see you and Nicki.We will for sure be going to Georgia and Alabama to see my daughter then to Alabama to see Jeff of Renogy's solar setup. Love the work your doing Lucas.
+MissouriWindandSolar hey just give us a yell when your rolling through. I got one more solar install to finish up in VA next week for the season and then I'll be home for at least a month and then heading back to Florida to build an earth bag home for a while if all goes to plan.
Solar timer isn't any good because the earth also tilts, as well as rotates. So one would have to adjust manually for the Tilt. Also the Summer Sun is 12 hours per day and the Winter Sun is around 8 hours per day. So constant adjustment year round.
You missed the most important part. What is the efficiency gain, and with it, what is the estimated payback? I know a lot depends on your electric rate, but just give a ballpark number of years. Great product though!
+alan30189 I install solar...the ROI is between 8-12 years....depending on your electrical use and what kind of tax credits and the price of the system also depends on the size sometimes and whether your electric company will pay for the extra electric or just net meter mine has decided they wont pay for extra being put back in....so I can net meter and level out my bill....always will pay at least $19...thats what the lease on the meter is if you build a new home, add the cost of installing the solar into the mortgage, then when it comes time to sell , you can advertise as an energy efficient home, bringing in more money for the sell lots of variables to consider
I calculated my ROI to be 10 years based on the following assumptions: 1. Federal Tax Credit of 30% 2. Current rate of $0.1099/kWh. 3. Lattitude of 37 degrees with 4.9 average sun hours a day. So far, I'm tracking a specific annual yield of 1560 kWh/kWp (nominal power)
I love it. I have an array of 6 panels and no tracker and I think I'm leaving abut 40% of the power on the table . I like your Three Stooges poster on the wall! I have the same one in my barn. I am designing a tracking system with either 7 or 9 small solar panels to have the system react to and move the rack accordingly. I would like to track N to S and E to W. I have been tracking both angles several times a day for months and there are huge variations that I'm only receiving at a glancing angle on my panels. Your system looks real slick and I may have to go to that If I don't get the electronics worked out. Jim
Hey Jeff, thanks again for the video. A request: at some point could you give examples of how electrical utility companies credit or pay for energy--created by wind or solar--that is put back into the grid. Keep up the good work!
+Eric Willman Thanks Eric. Credits are just that, credits, no money paid to you.With my utility company you get credits, you must use up the credits by the end of the month or they go back to zero. If your utility company charges you say 10 cents per killowatt hour they pay you like 5 cents. That's just a rough idea how it works. If you have produced more electricity then you used in a one month period then your utility company will send you a check unless it's the credit system.
many studies on solar tracking system and at the days end you were better off with a stationery panels and less cost just to add a few more panels at the cost of moving your panels system.
+Daniel Baldwin I have a ground mount rack and from my experience i would rather have a tracker. To much loss from a stationary ground or roof mount even if you added some more panels a tracker would beat roof mounting. Off grid people need as much power as they can get from morning till night.
+MissouriWindandSolar, My opinion and not to knock the tracking system that looks to be well built and thought out, I would like see soon data and yes I agree ground is better then roof, I just don't agree with the tracking when the whole point of off grid or grid tie is saving money and a few more panels cost less plus less hassle then tracking but the poof is in the data.
+MissouriWindandSolar With a solar tracker you have to have less panels than you do with fixed panels. The cost offset for 6 more panels compared to a tracker is better spent on the tracker. I have lived off grid for 3 years and have had fixed panels for 3 years and a tracker for 6+ months and I have the data to prove the tracker system works 45% more efficient. I would have to buy 2500 more watts of solar and place them facing east/west and south-southwest to come close to what 1000 watts on a tracker can produce.
+Bill'Rosa Ouroffgridsolarcabin Well said Bill, you came to my rescue with some really smart stuff, lol. Your better suited to give an opinion on trackers then i am.
+Daniel Baldwin If you are talking about grid-tied and a fixed utility rate throughout the day, then cost is the only variable and simply adding more panels makes most sense. But if you want to even out the delivered power profile throughout the day, for one reason or another, then a tracker would help with that...
Jeff, have you heard of a new solar panel that is coming out in the future that can actually store up to 10,000 watts of power within the panel itself? No batteries ever needed, and off the power grid for good.
Great!! I'm moving to Philippines and i want to add solar and wind to my home. I would love to install this type on the ground. But what I also would like to is make them portable. Philippines do have Typhoons and i would like to be able to take the panels down and store once i get a warning that a possible typhoon will be hitting the island. Would that be possible? say maybe quick connectors ? thanks so much for the great videos i would have to install the time tracker as well..
what would the coast of this system be if a guy bought it in a kit? also could a guy buy a system just slightly bigger like 16 panels or so? I live in Alturas California and in Klamath Falls , OR some times so I was wondering the coast of shipping and an on off system like a charging storage system for maybe at night or at times when it does snow for a week and there is 5 feet of snow out there !
First of all nice tracking system. May I have some more information on the patent. It seems interesting and want to read a bit more on that, thanks in advance.
What is the increase in efficiency over a fixed roof mount system over a full day of charging batteries? What % (or $) extra cost to pole /frame mount as opposed to roof mount? This would be my preference over roof mount. In Louisiana, I am seeing roof mount arrays being installed on ~10 year old seal tab roofs. That CAN'T be good, right?
I was wondering if someone was going to say anything about the rotation. All daily trackers I have seen follow the path of the actual sun angle. I imagine you have lost something by not following the suns path thru the sky like all the others I have seen.
Here in Seymour we experienced straight-line winds that took the roof off of one of the large buildings. The tracker we have experienced zilch. These units are well suited for adverse weather. The one here at the store has been in place for about 8 years without incident.
Do you think I could install a tracker on a standing seam zinc roof? The direction of the slope of the roof is tilted slightly away from optimum position for panels so thought I'd research mounting panels to a frame (was thinking fabricated metal frame) preferably with ability to track the sun.
why cant you just use a clock drive like they do for telescopes? it doesnt require an "eye" so it will exactly track the sun even at night, making clouds a non-issue.
Dennis, as the inventor of this solar time tracker do you have units of this solar time tracker that are for sale? How much is your price for 1 unit, like for 5 solar panels set up?
efficiency of solar panels in relation to the sun are numbers you get from your solar panel supplier. the cost of tracking is off-set by the smaller foot print a moving array offers. as it follows the Sun, it would shade other panels so you cannot pack them like you see on solar farms.
We have a Amish wood shop here in Michigan. they converted everything to compressed air. even the ceiling fan. air is compressed from old wind mills. Awsome ideas!
not sure what he got the patent on, but there are free programs for the Arduino microcontroller that will track the sun based on the same sort of calculations that astronomers use for telescopes. you change your latitude for seasonal alterations. people have been doing computational sun tracking for decades. I will offer that this set-up looks beefy and well done. Typically, you go horizontal at night and in the storms to reduce the profile presented in the wind. based on Earth's relationship to the sun, it presented itself to the sunrise. dual axis one one $3 micro controller and then some beefy power drivers for the two axis.
+Roy Amberg that thing looks sturdier than mine ( I built my own )...mine will handleat least 40 to 50 MPH winds....tested the other day when it stormed real bad
How can this be economical with the "normal" panel's your having ? If your panel produce 50% than your pannels still must be more expensive than the mounting to be effective. I only believe in this when your have special consentrating panels. Just buy cheap and a lot of panels, more economical and practical. Just put it under a angle so that snow, dirt and leaves will fall of or wash away with the rain.
Solar time tracker? I'm very surprised you managed to get a patent on it, as it is an obvious method of following the sun but far less elegant than sun trackers -which will be the most efficient! I expect your panels move in steps and turn every five minutes, or what? Thanks for showing it anyway.
They move every hour. Trackers that anticipate the sun's position are much more effective. Think about it - it is much more efficient to make minor adjustments every hour than to all of the sudden try to jump, say 30 degrees to 60 degrees because the clouds finally opened up. If you are making minor adjustments throughout the day, the panels are positioned to receive full sunlight if the clouds open up for 2 minutes or 20 minutes rather than trying to jump to find the sunlight.
I want to put a patent on hot steamed water too... Nice job i didn't even see your video... What about a nice cloudy day where the light don't come directly from the sun? ... are you going to make an angle that will allow 90% of the light to reflect away when it touches the glass? The time trackers are a jump in the past before people thought that follow the light was more efficient... not a new invention I need to set a patent on hot steamed water...
The back of theirs is around 50 ft or less from their building, so they don't get much wind from the back, which is what I would be worried about (uplift).
These things are noisy and ugly. I and many others will be stuck in a 1500 acre plus solar project around Grand Mound , Iowa. Sam Okeefe from Ranger power of Chicago and Clinton county’s 3 supervisors bulldozed our zoning departments say on not putting these thing on expensive farm ground now my property will depreciate and I will have a hard time selling my homestead. Please don’t let this happen to you!!
No, they are not noisy - they are nearly silent and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I have 3 of these on my 20 acres right next to my house and I love to look at them. They look awesome. Anyone who comes to the property is intrigued by them and always has tons of questions.
You have three I and 2 dozen other acreage owners will have 1500 acres of them in row after row for miles with in 250 ft of all sides of our houses think About it ? no profit to any of us who did not qualify to have the industrial size units on our small acreage’s I and many more will have lawsuits against it !!
I'm thinking you just want to be angry about this. I power my whole household with these three - we live totally off-grid. The space these three take up is probably less than 1500sf. The rest of my 20 acres is a beautiful natural area full of interesting plants and wildlife. I'm not sure what you mean by "did not qualify" nor do I understand how there will be a lawsuit against how and what I put on my private property. I think the bottom line here is that you truly have no idea what you are talking about and whatever you have seen on RU-vid is your total understanding of a tracker. Your complaints will have a lot more impact if you actually have a fact in them rather than unfounded claims.
The whole turning system cost more than triple set of panels, and you don't have that mess of mechanics and electronics to worry about. That's why most of the systems are fixed = trouble free.
Why make it so complicated??? 4 sensores, when pointed at the sun, all sensors is in the shadow, if 1 is in the sun, move the panel. Very simple, ne need for controllers, internet connection, times and sh***
Grid-Tie. Yuck. Power goes out and you are screwed. Must have some energy storage and ability to run without grid. What is the point of having all this without emergency service?