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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 ส.ค. 2024
- See how to make your own home-made solar tracker. It's easy and effective. No special electronics or programming needed. Great for use with a solar panel system or a maintenance-free solar oven.
Here is a link for the wiring diagram for the solar cells and 12VDC motor: • Solar Tracker Wiring D...
Here is a link to a kit that includes the motor, solar cells and turntable: www.ebay.com/it...
Here is a link to just the motor: www.ebay.com/it...
Here is a link to just the solar cells used in this tracker: www.ebay.com/it...
![[UNCUT] “ช่อ พรรณิการ์” ปะทะเดือด “มัลลิกา” ชี้หน้า สั่งหยุด! I คนดังนั่งเคลียร์ I 22 ส.ค. 67](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/cJ_z_bHnvIE/mqdefault.jpg)
This panel can put out close to 100 watts th-cam.com/users/postUgkxOqI2yqX0XVrhR2BMJciTWrHJpG8FhJyg when positioned in the appropriate southernly direction, tilted to the optimal angle for your latitude/date, and connected to a higher capacity device than a 500. The built in kickstand angle is a fixed at 50 degrees. Up to 20% more power can be output by selecting the actual date and latitude optimal angle.The 500 will only input 3.5A maximum at 18 volts for 63 watts. Some of the excess power from the panel can be fed into a USB battery bank, charged directly from the panel while also charging a 500. This will allow you to harvest as much as 63 + 15 = 78 watts.If this panel is used to charge a larger device, such as the power station, then its full output potential can be realized.
This exact setup would work great to turn any size application. I am an inventor/auto mechanic and I see relays that use 3.3v current to control 12v 100 amp circuits all day long. the same concept could be applied in a motor control circuit for even utility scale solar panels. Well done! GREAT proof of concept!
No batteries to die. No electronics to fry. Just one simple servo and 4 small solar panels to power the servo. It's freakin genius. A very elegant solution.
Very simple and elegant. I'm an M.E.and I love the simplicity of your design. Thank you!
Excellent work!
If the axis of rotation of the device is parallel to the Earth's axis, you have an equatorial mount. You can get it by giving the axis a amount of tilt equal to the latitude angle, and aiming the top end toward the nearest pole. That is, I am at the South Pole, therefore I must aim the South Pole. That is easy to do with a compass toy. An equatorial mount allows you to point directly at the sun with more precision. If you want to narrow your focus, you can consider the season. That is, in winter you aim a little lower than in summer. BUT DON'T VARY THE TILT OF THE AXIS.
Any resource/link to study this?
I had always thought about how I could make a simple tracking system. This beats any thing that I had come up with. Thanks for a great idea.
Saeid
Best tracker I've ever seen uses freon in a closed system. All done using balance. No moving parts.
great job, I built one like this a few years ago, but I didn't think of the two extra panels to direct it in the morning. needless to say I had to reset my panels every morning. you got this down, I will use this to fix my old unit and I can now use it again, Thank you !
Had my doubts but made one with the same type panels and motor , it worked. Modified it to mount a solar electric livestock fencer on it, 5 years later it's still tracking 24/7/ 365
Excellent simple idea for solar tracking.
This can be scaled up by using the wires going instead of to the motor but to a set of relays that could trigger a worm drive motor. A gate opener using worm drive would work in connection to a parallel axis mount for the solar panels.
This simple genius requiring no computer logistics.
Thank you.
Freakin BRILLIANT!! If you mass marketed this for a Sun Oven, I would definitely be a customer!!
I saw this same setup a few years ago, but yours is way better. It is hard to believe those little panels can move a motor with enough torque to move the motors. The simplicity is way makes this so cheap and easy. It is a perfect design, and that is rare. But I wonder if this would put any extra wear and tear on any of the components, like the cells or the motor. ...which are the ONLY components now that I think about it. My feeling would be that it would not hurt the cells or the motor. Who knows, it might even preserve the solar cells. Thanks for this wonderful video.
FYI everyone. I purchased a used printer on Craigslist for $8.00, and an 'all-in-one' printer from Goodwill. I was able to remove seven motors of various sizes from the two. Each had a similar 'large' motor that will be excellent for this project. These motors may be small, but I can personally attest to the fact they are STRONG! I tested them all the way up to 3a at 18v DC - no heat buildup - impressive! I was unable to stop their rotation by pinching the rotating shaft. Note, I was also unable to find anything similar on the web, other than one offer for motors but must be purchased in lots of 25 to 100 at a time. No thanks.
Probably been mentioned before seeing the age of the video but a worm drive would be perfect for stopping the wind from moving it all about
I know it has been a month, but I will answer anyway. If you put the leads of your multimeter on a solar panel in direct sun, it will read, lets say, 15 volts. If you reverse the leads on your multimeter it will read -15 volts. If you wire the pos of one panel to the neg of the other and do the same with the other two leads and then test, you will get 0 volts. If you cover one panel slowly you will see the voltage slowly rise one direction or the other. Simple hack. Brilliant.
Your video really helped me figure out a DIY tracking system. Sooo simple. Thanks for taking the time to make the video.I loved the frame from the satellite dish. Someone always complains about something- ignore them. Who cares if a magazine published something-You made a video for us visual people. Thank You !
Okay, I have really drilled into this and ran it to ground. FYI everyone. Here's what he didn't say, but is how it works. First, try to use a motor from a printer (old, broken, used, whatever). Why a printer motor? Because it moves in two directions based on "Polarity." On one side of the solar cells he shows ('left' for example), attach the positive wire to the positive side of the motor, and the negative wire to the negative side of the motor. On the other side ('right' for example), reverse this...attaching the positive wire to the negative side of the motor, and the negative wire to the positive side. So, when the sunlight on the 'left' is stronger, for example, the motor turns to the left, moving the turntable to the left. When more sunlight hits the right side, then it overpowers the left and turns to the right...when the sunlight is equal between them, the motor stops...and you'll note a 'zero' output on the cells if you have a voltammeter attached to read the voltage. This is my understanding of his system, and I'm gathering the parts now for my own system. Here's what he says about the solar cells and parts he's using:
"For parts, it is mostly just random items we had around the shop. We only had to purchase the mono-crystalline mini solar cells. Here is a basic parts list: 12 mini solar cells (each is 2V, 150mA) a used satellite dish, a large wooded pulley that was taken from home-made pulley system, a mini pulley (available at any hardware store) a fan belt, a 2 rpm DC motor, a lazy-susan pivot purchased from Home Depot, some random plastic and hot glue to mount the solar cells."
Make me one
Great concept, I think scaling this up using relays and linear actuators could move any size solar panel array, thanks for the video
Motor: Any 12V motor.
Pull apart any computer printer to get them.
Connect 2 small PV's to the motor - wires crossed. Whichever PV wins the voltage (Pressure) battle... makes the motor move. Balance is achieved when both PV's a balanced
+Brad Mantle So, what model printer has a 12v dc motor with a pulley on it??
Thank you for your well done video on the use of the differential solar panels to power the motor. It appears to work well. However you should be aware that although your device works reasonably well at capturing the sun throughout the day at your apparent latitude, you are rotating about the vertical axis relative to the earth while you should be rotating about the panel's horizontal to best capture the sun. Set one horizontal solar panel angle to your geographic degrees latitude, then rotate the panel about the other horizontal axis to capture the sun as it moves east to west.
Your device would work perfectly in Alaska and perform worse as you move toward the equator where it would have no effect.
Your engineering model is excellent. I just wanted to point out the distinction between rotation on the different axes.
thanks for the great video. I had almost the exact same image in my head as you created here. Nice idea on the solar panel angles.
I also envision a design where the motor is underneath the base and works like a lazy Susan so no belt drive, more compact, and the weight of the motor helping to hold it in place.
Your system is completely linear and analog - simplicity is it's selling point. As the error in angle goes to zero, so does the power to the motor. You can make it a lot more power efficient and quicker to slew by adding a window comparator + H bridge made of 2 PMOS and 2 NMOS devices. That way, the motor can get full power until the error is within a small window around zero error. All hardware - no programming needed!
I think this was a proof of concept more than a prototype
Would you post a diagram? Simple pencil sketch will suffice.
Thank you
Would be grateful for a diagram
Robert T: Can you make a diagram for us please?
Thanks!
Robert please make a diagram!
Some the the most complicated actions are done by the simplest machines! Cheers man!
I'm working on something similar and just came across your video. It gives me more confidence in making mine work. I'm using a geared motor which actually can run on 1.5v. Thanks for posting.
its a good idea but you have to be careful when both sides are generating electricity, the panels will short circuit a little bit, you could add some diodes to avoid this
How would you wire this system with diodes?
Take your time, its not a trick question. :P
use the quiz master circuit just 2 relais who disconnect the others connection
This guy needs to win the Occam's Razor award!
Yes, using this for a solar oven would be GREAT application for this concept.
IW...EXCELLENT VIDEO MY FRIEND... AT SUCH YOUNG AGE AND YOU WERE ALREADY SO VERY SMART INDEED...WOW!!! BEAUTIFUL JOB AND DEMONSTRATION BUDDY!!! VERY USEFUL, VERY SIMPLE...AND PRETTY POWERFUL MECHANISM FOR ITS SIZE!!! GOTTA BUILD THAT FOR MYSELF!!! THANKS FOR SHARING...GOD BLESS!!!
Nice job dude, nice solution to the morning reorientation. Elegantly simple
I like it, its simple, easy to maintain and great design. Thank you for the great idea.
Great idea. Concept is similar to a semiconductor circuitry approach: differential signals, implemented with solar power sources, and a DC motor. Very good discussion. One more point: Solar cell outputs would have to be matched, left to right. Bravo!
Man - You're awesome - it's fantastic. A brilliant basis to inspire our own ideas! Thanks for sharing.
When the wind blows, then you can consider the system as a wind turbine, LOL
Thx for the vid... it is cool that it doesn't require external power, no electronic components.... to solve the lack of power, you can add 2 relays and feed a dc motor directly from the bigger pv panels... gonna try that here... thx again for the idea...
mine has worked all summer thanks for this simple system. it runs the pond pumps
Thanks for posting! I've been thinking about developing a simple method for doing this, and here you've got it already. Excellent!
For parts, it is mostly just random items we had around the shop. We only had to purchase the mono-crystalline mini solar cells.
Here is a basic parts list:
12 mini solar cells (each is 2V, 150mA)
A used satellite dish
A large wooded pulley that was taken from home-made pulley system
A mini pulley (available at any hardware store)
A fan belt
A 2 rpm DC motor
A lazy susan pivot purchased from Home Depot
Some random plastic and hot glue to mount the solar cells
This is good stuff. You made a heliostat without using a single transistor, as opposed to the 'easy way out' of using a microcontroller which has millions of transistors. Basically 0 energy wasted! This idea would be useful for a parabolic trough too. You can also use a rectifier diode to protect each solar panel from having current forced through them backwards, and then you'd have to add a few wires to complete the two circuits that only share the motor.
I like this as well, it's brilliant. Reginald, you seem to understand what this setup needs for it to work over a longer period of time (i.e not sending current back to the lower output solar panel). Are you able to sketch out the schematic for this?
Rolf Knudsen
I'll have to be honest. I tried to draw a diagram for a few minutes and I realized that it's hard without using a couple transistors. you'd have to make it so that when one solar panel has enough energy, it disconnects the other, and vice versa, and if they both have enough energy, they both get disconnected, as that situation wouldn't make sense.
I will use it with my solar oven, no need to check it every twenty minutes. Thanks
Extremely nice post - I have seen a few like this - but I am still unclear about how this was actually done . Are you considering proving any details about how you wired the cells together - and to the motor ?
Awesome job, designing something similar with the angled solar cells but using an arduino as the brain. Love your s implicit design, fewer things that can go wrong. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks dude.
you really made it easy without using any pv cells or by mean of any sensors.
This is excellent. A major problem solver for me. Definitely using this idea!
one of the best simple way to do a great thing... bravo!!!!
very creative! excellent idea, i will be implementing it for my solar panels. thank you very much for making my life
alot easier!
How did it work?
very genius. I was thinking about how to make a sun tracker and you just solve my problem :)
So simple and intelligent at the same time, love it.
Good job! you could also add another axis that goes up and down for the sun vertical position depending on the year station
I love the idea, but cant stop wondering what would happen when the wind hits it. Ofcourse If you know a storm is coming there should be a way to lock it or take it down.
Maybe make a rotation lock that opens only when the sun hits the side panel(s).
Or a wind sensor that locks the whole thing down when it hits a spesific wind speed.
I guess i ve got an idea to help you for bigger size one. Keep the same "detection system" based on balancing current power depending exposure. Once perpendicular to sun generated current are equals and stop the orientation module.The idea is brillant so why dont you keep it but instead of using the energy of the small cells, use part of the energy of the big cell to rotate shaft. Actual system would be then only here to serve as an interuptor. Best regards
The 4 cells he uses are for tracking and relocating the solar array. You would mount your main array on the from of this and the system shown here would keep the main array pointed at the sun 100% of the time. He states this at the very beginning of the video. Like stated the cells in the video are for tracking only, not used to collect solar energy.
Dashed clever device. I hope you've patented it and stand to make a fortune from it's manufacture/sales.
One word. Genius.
If a bird pooped on a sensor panel, the tracker would just misalign slightly until one half of the sensor array collected the same power as the opposite half. The tracker would not continuously search as some have said. Panel arrays are expensive so make certain the solar panel frame has enough extended movement in the event an entire sensor wing breaks off. Or, better yet, use two lanyard kill switches between the motor wiring and the tracking solar panel frame similar to how a Jetski lanyard kills the motor when the rider falls off.
I LOVE the simplicity of this arrangement, and I'll be giving some thought to how it could be built in a more "flat" design, where the panel is positioned parallel to a tilted roof, and the motor simply rocks the panel left and right to track instead of rotating it. The wind moving around a large panel seems to be a critical issue, not merely a design concern. We often get 60+ MPH winds where I live from thunder storms, and I'm afraid that a large surface area standing up on a pivot would end up in a nearby county the first storm that came by. I think perhaps some sort of hinge in the middle of the panel laying down, and a chain connecting the two sides that a motor could pull on would work. I don't think you'd need more than 20 or 30 degrees of pivot, so the center of the panels may not need to be elevated more than a foot. This low profile design could help overcome the wind issue, though there would be problems with panels shadowing each other in compact arrays.
+Warren Garabrandt I have 40 X 250 W panels on a single post. Anemometer signals control to lay system flat at 11 metres/sec. I do have a problem with delayed early morning alignment with sun, about 30 minutes after sunrise to become fully aligned even with 2kW of solar energy striking panels. Any ideas on a slution would be appreciated.
@@richardbarber4444lo tech solution shine a beam on the ONE sensor for 30 minutes* before dawn thus tricking the system to reset to the east position.(timer)
also lotech.Have the array reset at predawn by running the motor from a seperate circuit again,to a more favourable start position(battery,and time switch)
(hi tech solutions are a pain,simple are easy to maintain)
Nice 👍, you can try ,attaching really to the out put of panel with diodes ,and after that you can attached larger moving motor with other voltage source
Brilliant ! simplicity is the ultimate invention
I like the fact that your design would cope with cloud
That's a clever design! Simple and effective!
Very good and you can use more cells for a heavier load. I'll have a go at making one of these. Thanks!
Great video. Just a concept, but could this be used somehow to direct a reflector onto an outside garden area that never sees a lot o sunlight? I know some people with small backyards with neighbors trees blocking all the light. What if this could track the sun and also control a reflector to put light into a garden area that normally does not get enough light. Any ideas out there??? Thanks
I think it is called a heliostat. Search for heliostat design.
Cool K.I.S.S. method, use the solar panels as a switch lol. I was thinking along the same lines, just need one relay. The relay would prevent the back feed and you could still use the active panels to generate power when not in use.
Well Done it gave me a little tingle in my stomach.
Great work on a low cost simple design.
On another note: "The shadow of the sun moving" The sun doesnt have a shadow, except as it may block the light of a star that passes behind it. Instead, we see the mounting bracket shadow moving.
This is pretty cool, thanks for sharing it.... Now we need to make it full scale....
I have some very very very expensive maxon servos and SAIA geared steppers that you can have if you build me one if these.
This is really a good idea! No logic involved is so nice. very nice!
Great for use with a solar panel system or a maintenance-free solar oven. awesome video thanks for sharing...
Would a motor and arm from a car window do a better job and be more stable?
Could be used Horizontal or vertical if well connected.
My question betrays my lack of general solar cell knowledge, if you did this with any other electrical generating device there would be damage due to basically having both generating devices being connected in series when the array is neutral since both sides are still in "some" lite they are generating some power which constitutes a dead short between the cells. Will this damage or shorten the life of the dedicated tracking cells in any way over time?
Brilliant! So simple too, did you think of this? To reduce the size of the sensing array you could use around 1cm² cells in a dome (like a snow globe) and use electronics to amplify the tracker (and use a larger motor for a larger array).
Arduino could definitely do it using analog inputs, reading voltage drop of a loading resistor if the cell voltages are too stable open circuit.
Thanks for the idea!
you could mount the smaller cells to the outer track of a system and have it focus that way to remove the divider he has in place but good job will take this in to consideration thanks for posting
You can add the same system for a vertical tracking option too !
Don't forget if an array is balanced on one horizontal pole, the array would ba balanced, so it wouldn't take a large motor to move a balanced sytem. If the motor is on a gearbox, it should be able to withstand slight wind, but if it blows the panels away from where they should be, the motor would clean that up again, or, simply apply a brake clap to the array beam, that also switches off/disconnects the motor if the weather is bad, and the array is prevented from moving, or manually moved.
Hay Dude i was amazed at the simplicity of the project.. hats off..
maybe next challenge would be to try and track the sun in 3 D. so what i am suggesting is do the same sort of tracking on the other vertical axis. this not be too big a challenge since the suns Lat values doesn't change too much.
But if it was precise enough i could incorporate concentration solar power system easily onto it...
my 2 pence...
great work though..!!
Incubatorwarehouse: I have a few questions regarding the materials you used in this video, if you don't mind.
1) What brand and model did you use for your solar panels and LDRs? Also where did you get them from?
2) What kind of wires did you need to connect your solar panels/LDRs to the motors?
We're in a mechanical engineering senior design group @ Rutgers University and a solar tracking system like this would really help our efficiency.
Thank you so much!!
Very simple and effective concept. Like another poster asked, weight load of main array? I see the gearbox on the motor and see the larger main pulley but courious on how it would handle having an array attached and if that small motor (and small amount of current produced by those cells) would have the torque to rotate it.
Nice. I would still use electronics though, a bit of intelligence in the controls makes things like morning orientation much better. There are situations that your simple system would get confused while a microcontroller would not. If you use a microcontroller with a real time clock you don't need any sun sensors at all - you simply calculate where the sun should be at any time. Microcontrollers only cost a couple of bucks - probably less than your sensor panels.
Thank you for this video,great work. I have been working on a similar projekt, but i would like to use the solar power for other things when not driving the motor. It will need a simle motor control. I like it so simple as posibly.
you could use a dc geared actuator for tilt for season changes and split your directional cells 4 ways with the dividing shield / the unit would have to be mounted to the solar panel and panel hinged at bottom
Very impressive! What happens if the PV modules were turned to the west in the evening and the next morning is cloudy. Is there enough electricity to move the motor when it is cloudy?
Very informative, nice video. I'm getting ready to put some solar up on the roof one way or the other; and I like the design work of that device.
How would you mount a big solar panel. Would you need to add more little ones to change big solar panel e.g. morning, midday,night. One group of little panels is rotating around in circle other one might be needed to get the angle correct, so to speak. Good effort. Keep the ideas flowing.
Great, especially reorienting the panel to the east in the morning
Thanks for the info. mine runs great. 4 6 volt to the motor and two larger 12 that run my pond pumps
Very elegant : Re the morning sun challenge : A slightly more complex setup but ..You could make them charge a little battery to act as a store for energy .Then the solar panels can simply switch very basic electronics using differential amplifiers to switch the motor + or - direction.
How was the solar cell configuration made , won't they damage each other when in balance mode ? ( eg like connecting two batteries in opposite together )
The purpose of those panels is not for energy production. Think of them more as light sensors which have the secondary effect of powering the small motor to turn the array. One side gets more light and the way he has it wired moves the array to that side. This is just proof of concept he is showing for solar tracking. There is no PV array on this to actually produce power although one could easily be added to a build like this or scaled up like he explains.
Nice job, follows the KISS principle well!
VERY smart and simple idea!
Freaking genious. Well done!
A complex for tracking the sun based on the calculation of the data received from the GPS receiver. This system consists of a basic module SOLARSAN-GPS that can work independently and SOLARSAN-SLAVE working only as an executive device. Using SOLARSAN-GPS, you can target solar concentrators, collectors or panels at right angles to sunlight. Control is carried out with the help of actuators or rotary actuators in two planes and has an accuracy of one degree. The module has an input to connect an "anemometer" to protect against strong wind, the input of the "hail and snow sensor" and the input of the "photo sensor" for the sleep mode with low solar activity. Built-in WiFi module allows you to configure the tracker through the WEB page over a local network or through an access point. The built-in MQTT broker allows you to manage and receive data via the Internet network around the world. Power supply from 12V to 30V (and version HV with power from 12V to 55V). Protection by current. Short circuit protection. Built-in radio modem 433.92 (315.00) MHz with a capacity of 100 mW for data transmission in a radius of up to 100 meters to the SOLARSAN-SLAVE modules. Works both in one and two axes. The IP66 enclosure allows you to install a solar tracker under the open sky.
AWESOME! Didn't want to delve into arduino to get tracking. This is just the ticket! Maybe post vid of timelapse of this tracking thru a day!? Also post schematics? Would help. Also maybe parts list, where you sourced, and costs? Thnx for posting!
this is a good idea, though to power a bigger system you need a bigger motor so bigger solar panels. you need 4 solar panels.
or use small solar panels to power a battery that would have the power to activate a bigger motor at short intervals
agreed with the other commenters. can you explain more how the motor and the wiring works? ie : if it's directly facing the sun, does it mean that since both sides of the solar panels are providing equal amount of energy to the motor which is why it locks into place? does this mean that the motor is always ON as long as the panels are equally pointed at the sun?
Smart idea, very well made... one point thought: I would make a stationairy base, then a swivel (which can be set to the travel angle of the sun and then the rotating bit on which the energy or electricity collector would be mounted... Does that make sense ?
So instead of rotating with the panel in a fixed angle, you can set an angle of travel for the rotation...
+sandertel I believe this is just a proof of concept device. I would imagine that a final design would include a stationary base. Otherwise things like wind, animals, etc. could knock the thing out of alignment.
Brilliant indeed, very much simple.
From what I see once the solar panels are mounted you would have to move the small panels to the front of the large panels if not they would be in the shade of the larger ones and now when in front they will put shade on the large panels. All this would have to be worked out but all in all that is a good starting point. I just wonder if an old 12vdc drill motor would work
or slightly above.
how do you connect the solar cell to the motor? left panel is negative and right panels is positive on the motor? it seems you have only one cable coming from both sides... also any slow motor will work?
simple and great idea!
thanks
If the white pannel/seperator were double sided mirror it could assist realighment faster by reflecting more light to the pannels on either the left or the right. The longer it is, the more it shades the side farhter from the sun.
Yes, it relies of the difference between the two sides. But when there is no shadow created by the piece of paper (like with diffused light), there is no difference. It will stand still until a difference is created.
but a wonderfully easy solar tracker so thank you for the video, exactly what I have been looking for.