Follow the sun

[Mark5177]

Hello all, without spending a fortune I'm trying to design a portable mount for my solar panels. I also I want them to be able to follow the Sun like a seesaw as the Sun passes over during the day. My panels are 250W. I want to build each panel where can stand-alone, or connect to the other three panels I have depending one the design. I was thinking to make the base like a sawhorse. On the board or piece of metal I have between the two saw horses, I would have a round pole holding up the solar panel. Attached to the panel U shaped bolts so the panel can tilt back and forth. This would make it sturdy, and allow the panel to rock like a seesaw. Does anyone have any other suggestions? I saw a perfect metal one on the China website, Alibaba, but they claim no longer carry them.

Thanks,
Mark

 

[John Frum]

Hello all, without spending a fortune I'm trying to design a portable mount for my solar panels. I also I want them to be able to follow the Sun like a seesaw as the Sun passes over during the day. My panels are 250W. I want to build each panel where can stand-alone, or connect to the other three panels I have depending one the design. I was thinking to make the base like a sawhorse. On the border between the two saw horses I would have a round pole holding up the solar panel. This would make it sturdy, but allow the panel to rock back and forth like a seesaw. Does anyone have any other suggestions? I saw a perfect metal one on the China website, Alibaba, but they claim no longer carry them.

Thanks,
Mark

Please post a picture of the Alibaba example.

 

[Jim Burrow]

You can get a Lumen monitor/meter from the play store for your smartphone. That is what I used when I first started testing my panels for the best angle on my roof to maximize panel performance. For me, I had to angle my panels 11 degrees relative to the level. - Or 22 degrees with respect to my roof as the roof was sloped at 11 degrees down.

Another way without spending a lot of money is to get one 2"x4" solar cell and connect it to a voltmeter. Then throughout the day, take measurements and log them. Now you have a reference to use. Note that the cell voltage will go down as it heats up. So you may have to take a voltage reading over several days to get the average reading throughout the day.

Of course, if you are looking for accurate measurements, you will probably have to spend some money. You can look to see what Amazon has. It's amazing the stuff they have.

Anyway, that is two ways I have measured the sun lumens in the past as a poor boy.

 

[Son_of_Scotland]

Go to youtube and search solar tracker. My favorite easy build is

This one tracks the sun no matter your location. Hope this helps.

 

[Mark5177]

I've been looking but can't find it. They may have taken it down. It was like a lawn chair frame without the seat or arms. The back extended almost touching the ground. At the bottom was slightly curved bar so it would hold the panel. The main difference is the center would allow the back to tilt. I'll keep looking and if I find a picture of it I will post it.

 

[Mark5177]

You can get a Lumen monitor/meter from the play store for your smartphone. That is what I used when I first started testing my panels for the best angle on my roof to maximize panel performance. For me, I had to angle my panels 11 degrees relative to the level. - Or 22 degrees with respect to my roof as the roof was sloped at 11 degrees down.

Another way without spending a lot of money is to get one 2"x4" solar cell and connect it to a voltmeter. Then throughout the day, take measurements and log them. Now you have a reference to use. Note that the cell voltage will go down as it heats up. So you may have to take a voltage reading over several days to get the average reading throughout the day.

Of course, if you are looking for accurate measurements, you will probably have to spend some money. You can look to see what Amazon has. It's amazing the stuff they have.

Anyway, that is two ways I have measured the sun lumens in the past as a poor boy.

Thanks for the reply, but right now I'm focusing on the best way to make a solar panel mount that tilts.

 

[Don B. Cilly]

With the current prices on good panels, much cheaper to buy more of them and tilt them a bit some this way and some that.
Good panels won't really care all that much about perfect angle - and you're never going to get anything like rated power even at that.
Personally, I would worry more about wind than angle.

 

[MichaelK]

A neighbor did something like that. The wind caught his array, flipped it over and smashed his panels into glass dust. Really, your panels need to be sunk in concrete. Like these below.

 

[wiseacre]

Tilt only?

creative use of hinges allows me to adjust the tilt
A bit overbuilt and heavy but I can still move it even with a bad back. Some big rocks on the base keep it fairly well anchored. Had wind gusts up to 50mph the other week and had no problem. (the set in the background, last pic)

I built it to find the best winter location for another set of strings. My original adjustable ground mount while perfect in summer gets shaded by the house in winter

 

[Mark5177]

Go to youtube and search solar tracker. My favorite easy build is

This one tracks the sun no matter your location. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the link. It will help after I build my stand.

 

[Mark5177]

With the current prices on good panels, much cheaper to buy more of them and tilt them a bit some this way and some that.
Good panels won't really care all that much about perfect angle - and you're never going to get anything like rated power even at that.
Personally, I would worry more about wind than angle.

That is an interesting idea. I saw a build of a bunch of 10w panels mounted on a pole where one panel tilted west and the next one tilted east. It was about 10 or 12 feet tall. This design allowed the panels to capture a lot of sunlight.

 

[Mark5177]

Go to youtube and search solar tracker. My favorite easy build is

This one tracks the sun no matter your location. Hope this helps.

Here is a simple drawing of the one I saw on Alibaba website

 

[Mark5177]

A neighbor did something like that. The wind caught his array, flipped it over and smashed his panels into glass dust. Really, your panels need to be sunk in concrete. Like these below.

IMO the design in the pictures that MichaelK posted has too much weight on the mounting. Even if the pole had been placed in concrete, if they have a really heavy rain, the ground will get soft and the entire array will fall over.

 

[MichaelK]

IMO the design in the pictures that MichaelK posted has too much weight on the mounting. Even if the pole had been placed in concrete, if they have a really heavy rain, the ground will get soft and the entire array will fall over.

The poles are 8' long and sunk 3' in concrete. They've been in place for 5 years and have survived storms that have knocked down 18" Oaks you can see in the background. The test of time is all I need to show.

 

[Mark5177]

The poles are 8' long and sunk 3' in concrete. They've been in place for 5 years and have survived storms that have knocked down 18" Oaks you can see in the background. The test of time is all I need to show.

Got it. No disrespect meant. I was just going by what I could see in the pictures.
Mark