Would love to see this test again having the eco down on battery percentage to see the amount of time difference between 0-100 percent using these setups.
Great Video as always Gavin. Best channel on UA-cam his viewers ask for a video/demonstration and Bam Gavin does it. If you still have it set up it would be interesting to put a couple of watt meters on and let them run for a full day.
I think a good comparison would be at the end of the day to see the difference in total power produced. Then you should add a 3rd fix panel the next day. Also would be more fair to have same panels. The panels on the tracker are SunPOwer and they are known to be the most efficient in the industry. The fix panels are old and very far to high efficiency. Not a very fair comparison in my opinion .. also at the end of day is when we can see in percentage how much better the tracker performed. Thanks for the video !
I agree, hook up a watt meter to each setup and see how many watts each setup delivers at the end of the day, and ideally use identical panels & controllers or a resistive load directly after watt meter, you only need a single panel on each setup to get a reasonable daily result on a wattmeter to prove your results.
@@evil17 Its pretty simple just to do the calculations yourself mate, of course the tracker is going to produce more power as its directional. What else do you need to know? The only issue with trackers; your limited by weight on the actuator and sub-assembly.
It would have been interesting if you recorded the Watt-hours during your experiment without focusing so much on the instantaneous power. If the difference between the two is only 5%, then you may question if adding another panel is cheaper. Cheers.
The tracker certainly is the better option... more time is key. I'm curious on the cost of the tracker unmounted like you have it and more importantly.. how many panels can you put on it ?? This video is great .
Due to the sharp drop in the price of solar modules, it is more efficient to simply buy more modules, but to install them separately in the S-O (for morning sun) and S-W direction separately. Each mechanism requires maintenance and has a shorter service life. Upright modules, on the other hand, are extremely low-maintenance and function almost maintenance-free for approx. 25 years.
I go out and move my twelve 100 watts panels manually for now. It does make more power to face them into the sun. I made square tubing frames for some of the panels, so that two of them are in a frame. When I bought panels, I would go to buy two more, and they would be out , so , I would buy another brand, so, I wound up with five different sizes, four different brands, ten are mono and two are poly. It's like when you go to the salvage yard and they have all kinds of cars. We have hail, storms and high winds sometimes here, so I kind of have to hide the panels on the East side of my room out here in the barn. So about 4 : 30 PM when I still should be getting sun on the panels, they start getting shaded by the barn, so I lose about 3 hours a day from that...if I move the panels farther away to get sun longer, they put out less amps from longer wires. I'm using two in each frame to get 24 volts...right now it's showing 30.2 volts coming in. Chance of rain tomorrow, 615 watts coming in at the moment. That's about what I will get today because of clouds. 800 watts of my panels are 40 feet from the controller. If they were all on 15 foot wires I would be getting 1000 watts. This winter I will hook the panels up with shorter wires to get more amps. The sun will only be out for a few hours anyways. I'm charging 20 marine batteries that I got at AutoZone...8 are the 90 amp and 12 are the 105 amp. I had to buy the smaller ones for awhile to afford my Aims Power inverter/charger. It is a 24 volt 2000 watts. It came out to 1000 amp hours of battery. I sure got tired of buying them. I would like to have some trackers, but the wind here in OK would probably just break a bunch of stuff...be glad you live where you can have that kind of stuff. The way the buildings are situated, I am in the worst possible spot on this property for having panels. They are either being shaded or too far away. Next door there is a pond with trees that shade my panels in the winter mornings. I get enough to get by on, but my system would put out more if I had a better exposure. If I put the panels where the sun hits them all day, they are so far away that I don't get enough voltage. I can't just do what ever I want to because it is my uncle's place, and I don't know about building something permanent and then having to leave it. He is an old man who likes to mow the yard. I keep it weedeated around my panels so that he doesn't have to try to get close to them and get wires in the mower blades. I don't want to be a nuisance to a gripy old man, lol. My solar isn't the biggest or the best, but I'm doing okay for a homeless guy. I'm figuring it out as I go. I don't have to can a bunch of food because my freezer is going to have power. I can run things for a couple of days if the sun doesn't come out. I'm looking at buying a generator for the Dark Winter, just in case I need a charge up. The one I'm thinking about getting is a 3300 watts Generac. It takes 800 watts to run the Aims charger. I need a generator to run the welder...it takes 2400 watts or a bit less. So it has to have a 20 amp plug in on it... I have been off the grid for about 17 months.
There's also the cost of the tracker, amount of power the tracker uses, maintenance of tracker, and the actual time the sun can be tracked due to trees etc. Yes with unobstructed views of west, south , east the tracker will be the best option. Scaling up things though changes the cost/benefit ratio significantly.
A lot of people only read other peoples opinion without doing a proper research on their own. The answer to your question is LOW cost, power consumption... Just do the research.
Thank you. I notice the tracked panel faced about 60 to 80 degrees off the fixed unit (and you large backyard unit). What would have been the difference if you had put the non tracked unit facing about 1/2 way into the path of the tracker? Yes, I know the tracker had a better azimuth, but I think the radial change would have lessened the difference. A T Burke
It'd be cool on the roof of you RV. Of course you wouldn't be able to drive under any bridges or trees. You'd have to stay out of any aircraft flight routes too. Seriously, I'm surprised the fixed panels didn't pick up anything. Possibly because they're in series? I have four 100 watt panels in parallel flat on my RV roof and will get something even at early light. I had tried them wired in series but found that getting even a little shade on one made all go dark. Anyway, that was a great demonstration on how much more efficient the tracker is versus the stationery.
Yes, trackers will bring in more power. But at what cost? Greatly increased complexity. Much more expensive. Questionable life span. Repair part availability when something does break. It would be cheaper to have 2 panels facing east, 2 facing south and 2 facing west. Solar panels are relatively cheap and no moving parts. The tracker would still produce more power but is it worth it?
Here comes the dumb questions Why can't you have fixed facing both directions to accommodate for what the tracker does, and when it's charged can you keep power you didn't use that day?
I have a idea that you might be interested in. Or you may know the answer. Is a double haul fiberglass insulation better than a aluminum frame with a gel coat outer, composite center core? I’m guessing the double haul fiberglass with composite core. The only problem is all composite is not made the same. All fiberglass is not made the same. What I feel is most important is aluminum vs fiberglass. Thickness matters. The problem still remains. All fiberglass is made different and so is aluminum. We know aluminum holds heat because of aluminum foil. Frigid Rigid is the only fiberglass cooler I have heard of. You never hear of it being in the top ten ice chest. Besides the health problem. I am only concerned about insulation value. Real world. Not R-Value.
Gavin you are right the system with solar tracker will produce more power but what most people are trying to run away from is the complexity of the system..the tracker itself has moving parts at any given time something will break..so fixed mount installation you just install and forget about the whole thing
- a broken tracking mount is still a positionable "fixed" array. Sure cost of installation and repair, vs needing more ( 2-3x more ) panels, that is the thing to weigh up in the equation - roofmounted ststems, and available "approved" systems is also a fctor - a DIY ground mount - do whatever you want.
It breaks, you fix! Question is how often would it break? If it’s breaking every single day, then it’s not worth it but if it’s breaking once a year or even longer than that? 🤷🏾♂️ I mean….I guess different people have different ways of how they make choices. We are not who we think we are, we are what we are not choosing. Just food for the thought
Thanks for sharing. Do you have the full day's generation figure comparison between tracker vs fixed please? What is the price difference between a tracker frame and static? Have you done a comparative ROI calc for both systems?
Now use the price of the tracker to buy more panels. How many can you buy for that money...... and then spread the panels in all directrion swhere the sun is coming from. Connect the panels in parallel and series to optimize........
It would be better, to do test differently. Start in the morning with a flat battery. Use only 1 panel which won't charge the battery to the full amount through the whole day(if needed shade the bottom half of the panel assuming you know what you're doing and know the schema of your concrete panel, but generally speaking half of the panel should work for most of the panels). At the sunset check the amount of energy collected in each battery to compare. if there were clouds during the day it is better to repeat the whole process just to understand about ideal scenario improvement. It is very interesting the total difference in ideal scenario with no clouds. At the same time for me it is crucial to get energy in the evening and in the morning. As result, either have a tracker or have 2 sets of panels. Todays price for panels is probably cheaper than buying a tracker. The only option is if you find or make some cheap tracker.
The problem is the cost of the trackers. Also they require additional structure if placed on the roof of a home and they are more susceptible to wind and weather. for the cost of that tracking system you could have added 2 maybe 3 more panels. The problem that needs to be solved is low cost trackers.
Hey Gavin great video! There are two views in comparing these (tracking vs static) systems. (On Grid & OFF Grid). On Grid you will sell more kwh. ($$$$$) and OFF Grid less, just ($$). Off the Grid where all you are looking for is to charge the battery bank and as you draw kwh you may or may not be able to keep the battery bank at full load due to usage thus requiring more panels to compensate for your usage. So any comments on this thought initial capital investment vs return by selling power to the grid?
yeah and u have to repair this shit every fucking 2 years, be carefull with storm etc etc, not worth it at all when you take into consideration cost, get one additional pannel and you arlready beat the tracker? I REALLY wan't to add a tracker to my solar farm but they are a pain in the ass to deal with
+28 years experience in wind turbines, solar, grid tied and back up systems and a degree in electronics and the owner of a generator store 😅 this is just a hobby to me just having fun.
I see you have the tracker mounted on a movable cart. Other videos I have seen they mount into the ground. Do you have any problems with it mounted like that? I like your idea better.
Be better to at least see this test where you setup the panels the right direction Face the sun in the morning, and adjust for the early afternoon and finally toward the west in the evening to help get sun. This seems more of a major handicap and bogus test here.
Trackers might be awesome and efficient. But theyre just way too expensive. For the price of a tracker I can buy 6+ additional 400W modules and point half of them west, half of them east. Thatll be more energy produced in the end, because the west and south string and the south and east string will both produce Power for some hours.
It's terrible that ALL online inquiries into the types of solar systems available from different countries end in a total lack of information. Instead of showing the types of products available, ALL these blasted companies start by asking you to enter your zip code for an instant quote! And then you need to answer more questions than the IRS requires at tax season! No thanks! I'd rather stick with municipal power suppliers.
What most people don't know is that solar panels work BEST when aimed perpendicular to the sunlight ! Any angle LESS than that and it only makes a percentage of the power ! A tracking unit is the ONLY WAY to get maximum power ALL DAY !
All this can be made much, much easier. The easiest way is how an Optical Telescope basically works according to the 'Equatorial' principle. The equatorial mount has a north-south "polar axis" that is tilted to be parallel to earth's polar axis, allowing the telescope to swing in an east-west arc, with a second axis perpendicular to it so that the telescope can swing in a north-south arc. By swiveling the polar axis of the mount or mechanically moving in the opposite direction of the Earth's rotation, the sunpanel can accurately track the movement of the sun all day, easy by one clock on 24 hours time line. See the link for this >> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equatorial_mount#German_equatorial_mount
For the most accurate comparison you should have waited for a cloudless day. By noon the sky most likely will be totally clear. The tracker numbers would be even better on a totally clear day.
you wont get full power even without clouds with a sun that low. the distance witch the light has to travel though the atmosphere is like 20 times longer. With a tracke you get like 4-6 Hours peak wattage from your panels over the day, witch will make the diverense but not the last and first hour of the day.
I just ordered an Eco Worthy tracker today. With it holding 4- 400w Trina panels.. if it works good.. I'll get a 2nd one and put my 6- 290w panels on it. I have a Delta 1300 as well.. and 400Ah of BB Lithiums on the RV.
Awesome. What model did you use in the video. I’m off the grid on 1200 watts of Solar I hardly ever see close to the full 1200 watts. Seems like after adding more panels, wire, and a controller one could purchase a tracking mount and be ahead
Well done demonstration sir! Definite proof of concept. FYI: I just suggested to a friend that she consider a tracking ground mount instead of a fixed roof mount. Low winter sun will have mature deciduous trees blocking a portion of sunlight, but the leaves will have fallen off earlier so it will be just intermittent partial shading. A tracker should maximize the light collected throughout the day and seasonally adjust for optimization as well. QUESTION: we have growing problem with hail storms here in the mountains. Is there a tracker that can go into a panel protection mode that will tilt the panels downward to protect them from hailstones, even if that cuts power production to zero for awhile.)
great vid , but i hear you saying i can put more panels on the tracker...the add a panel thing is not about getting the best efficiency per panel , we all know it is more efficent ... it is more like ...I have $1500 to spend on the solar side of my system, lets say $100 a panel to keep it simple , so 10 panels and a tracker ...or 15 panels without , same cost , what will put out the most power over the entire time of the day ...
The tracker will always win even doubling the panels. Tracker mounted 1000 watts of solar on a tracker 1000w x 8hrs = 8 kWh Roof mounted 2000 watts x 5 hrs sun 2000w x 5hrs = 10 kWh I guess it helps when I built the tracker myself the only cost I had were the controller and actuators, which I think I paid like $200.
@@GeneratorReviews nice , I was thinking 500 ish as thats what they sell for on amazon :) yours looks as profesionally made to me , I did see later in the comments you made it your self , nice job :)
You have missed the most important part of a tracker for off-grid and that's the time the system needs to use the batteries, with a lower depth of discharge and thus less battery degradation which is your highest cost.
I don't know about your tracker, but I've seen trackers for about $600 each. My guess is you could have use 4 fixed mount panels at the same price. That would have been a closer test.
I thought about trackers but it's not practical where I am because I don't get direct sun on the panels until about 11:00 a.m. and then after about 3:00 p.m. it's gone because of trees. So what I did is I overpanel the system and that has an advantage because when it's raining the system actually generates significant amount of power because they're just so many panels. So I tend to favor the over panel option because the sun isn't always shining especially lately with the hunger Tonga volcanic eruption there's so much moisture in the air 10% more overall moisture over the whole planet that we are constantly in a state of rain and clouds here.
A little off topic.......... Can you use the Eco Flows to power each leg of split phase 220VAC? In other words, if I used one like a generator and plugged it into my "Generator In" fixture and then created another "Generator In" fixture for the other leg of my house, would I get 220VAC for the appliance that need it or would it be out of phase? Are the Eco Flows pure sine wave? Thanks!
looks great, where can i buy one and how much does it cost? What i cant buy this because it is one you custom built? There are commercially available trackers but few get sold, why is this? First i havent seen a tracker for a roof mount(not fair i know) and i suspect the larger reason is that the appeal of solar is its simplicity and a tracker takes that out of the equation. Sure tinkerers can rig up something but for the rest of us a tracker is expensive and brings complexity. I have opted to add panels and keep my system simple, robust and able to meet my needs of energy capture.
It would be hard to put it on the roof, especially if you live in the HOA community. Most trackers are DIY projects they do have some smaller ones, but they just don’t work the same.
great inventions what’s the update on the shop 😅 you’re gonna break the whole solar tracker market up into a new boundaries. watching from Malaysia in South East Asia 🙌🏻 sorry for my bad English i’m non-native speakers
I didn’t forget about it because it is all separate from the actual solar panels. those small 5 W solar panels handles the entire operation of the tracker.
The electronic circuit and motor, in addition to maintenance, in the future, the result will be equal to zero with fixed solar panels, in addition to the cost.
if 20 mins is only the difference between the tracker and fix..... i think the fix is still the winner for charging still the batts, cost effective and low maintenance........ in my own opinion, the tracker is best if you have a huge battery banks like 50kw of storage
The other problem with your test that makes it unfair in addition to the different panels is the ecoflo. You have the ecoflo's at different percentages and the programming in those things will do wacky things with the input to maximize battery life. I would like to see the difference over a whole day with regular mppt charge controllers connected to batteries at the same state of charge and the same solar panels of the same age. One other thing I see is at 12:00 your fixed panels are over 30 degrees off from your tracker. This makes it seem like you have a stake in selling trackers. This is a pretty bad video. Absolutely no information here, just for entertainment purposes only.
I’ve been building tracking systems for the last 15 years I haven’t try to sell one. This is all my hobby. This is entertainment purposes only there is no comparison between a fixed system and a tracking system. Most fixed system are mounted at 30°. The tracking system is dual axis so it’s going to overcompensate. Don’t take this personal, but I’m just having fun. Please don’t ruin it for me.
You have built a super solartracker that everyone would like to have. Great job. Congratulate!⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Brilliant demo. I’m completely convinced that using trackers for solar panels is the only way to go. Thanks. 😊
Would love to see this test again having the eco down on battery percentage to see the amount of time difference between 0-100 percent using these setups.
Everybody already knows that a dual axis tracker generates 20% - 30% more kilowatt-hours annually.
@@MrSummitvilleI get 40 with a one axis tracker , 2nd axis is adjusted montly
@@NadeemAhmed-nv2br You are the only one in the world.
Great Video as always Gavin. Best channel on UA-cam his viewers ask for a video/demonstration and Bam Gavin does it. If you still have it set up it would be interesting to put a couple of watt meters on and let them run for a full day.
Yes!! I wish I had two in-line mc4 meters I only had one.
Even with the price, this is one thing I would love to have in my garage, ready to charge my Delta Max whenever I need it.
I think a good comparison would be at the end of the day to see the difference in total power produced. Then you should add a 3rd fix panel the next day. Also would be more fair to have same panels. The panels on the tracker are SunPOwer and they are known to be the most efficient in the industry. The fix panels are old and very far to high efficiency. Not a very fair comparison in my opinion .. also at the end of day is when we can see in percentage how much better the tracker performed. Thanks for the video !
The fixed panels actually create more power than the sun power
I agree, hook up a watt meter to each setup and see how many watts each setup delivers at the end of the day, and ideally use identical panels & controllers or a resistive load directly after watt meter, you only need a single panel on each setup to get a reasonable daily result on a wattmeter to prove your results.
@@evil17 Its pretty simple just to do the calculations yourself mate, of course the tracker is going to produce more power as its directional. What else do you need to know? The only issue with trackers; your limited by weight on the actuator and sub-assembly.
What I like best in this Solar Tracker is that it keeps the panels on that perfect 90-angle to the sun.
Thanks
You’re the first person to notice that 👍🏾👍🏾💯Cool
That is the definition of a "Solar Tracker".
It would have been interesting if you recorded the Watt-hours during your experiment without focusing so much on the instantaneous power. If the difference between the two is only 5%, then you may question if adding another panel is cheaper. Cheers.
A Dual Tracker can provide, on average, 20% - 30% more watt-hours annually.
The tracker certainly is the better option... more time is key. I'm curious on the cost of the tracker unmounted like you have it and more importantly.. how many panels can you put on it ?? This video is great .
Once mounted it can hold up to six panels
With a things said thks tracker will maximize solar charging even when I am not monitoring it.
Due to the sharp drop in the price of solar modules, it is more efficient to simply buy more modules, but to install them separately in the S-O (for morning sun) and
S-W direction separately.
Each mechanism requires maintenance and has a shorter service life.
Upright modules, on the other hand, are extremely low-maintenance and function almost maintenance-free for approx. 25 years.
Absolutely, a tracker only adds 30-40% so adding one panels to make 3 panels would already be generating more for less costs.
I go out and move my twelve 100 watts panels manually for now. It does make more power to face them into the sun. I made square tubing frames for some of the panels, so that two of them are in a frame. When I bought panels, I would go to buy two more, and they would be out , so , I would buy another brand, so, I wound up with five different sizes, four different brands, ten are mono and two are poly. It's like when you go to the salvage yard and they have all kinds of cars. We have hail, storms and high winds sometimes here, so I kind of have to hide the panels on the East side of my room out here in the barn. So about 4 : 30 PM when I still should be getting sun on the panels, they start getting shaded by the barn, so I lose about 3 hours a day from that...if I move the panels farther away to get sun longer, they put out less amps from longer wires. I'm using two in each frame to get 24 volts...right now it's showing 30.2 volts coming in. Chance of rain tomorrow, 615 watts coming in at the moment. That's about what I will get today because of clouds. 800 watts of my panels are 40 feet from the controller. If they were all on 15 foot wires I would be getting 1000 watts. This winter I will hook the panels up with shorter wires to get more amps. The sun will only be out for a few hours anyways. I'm charging 20 marine batteries that I got at AutoZone...8 are the 90 amp and 12 are the 105 amp. I had to buy the smaller ones for awhile to afford my Aims Power inverter/charger. It is a 24 volt 2000 watts. It came out to 1000 amp hours of battery. I sure got tired of buying them. I would like to have some trackers, but the wind here in OK would probably just break a bunch of stuff...be glad you live where you can have that kind of stuff. The way the buildings are situated, I am in the worst possible spot on this property for having panels. They are either being shaded or too far away. Next door there is a pond with trees that shade my panels in the winter mornings. I get enough to get by on, but my system would put out more if I had a better exposure. If I put the panels where the sun hits them all day, they are so far away that I don't get enough voltage. I can't just do what ever I want to because it is my uncle's place, and I don't know about building something permanent and then having to leave it. He is an old man who likes to mow the yard. I keep it weedeated around my panels so that he doesn't have to try to get close to them and get wires in the mower blades. I don't want to be a nuisance to a gripy old man, lol. My solar isn't the biggest or the best, but I'm doing okay for a homeless guy. I'm figuring it out as I go. I don't have to can a bunch of food because my freezer is going to have power. I can run things for a couple of days if the sun doesn't come out. I'm looking at buying a generator for the Dark Winter, just in case I need a charge up. The one I'm thinking about getting is a 3300 watts Generac. It takes 800 watts to run the Aims charger. I need a generator to run the welder...it takes 2400 watts or a bit less. So it has to have a 20 amp plug in on it... I have been off the grid for about 17 months.
Read the enture comment , loved reading it
I'm amazed at how big a difference a tracker actually makes! Thanks for the video.
Just buy a few more panels. It's cheaper and less headache.
Great video. I always wondered and now I know. And knowing is half the battle!! Good job👍
Thanks buddy 💯👍🏾👌🏾
There's also the cost of the tracker, amount of power the tracker uses, maintenance of tracker, and the actual time the sun can be tracked due to trees etc. Yes with unobstructed views of west, south , east the tracker will be the best option. Scaling up things though changes the cost/benefit ratio significantly.
Agreed 👍🏾
I love when people leave comments like this, these are the people I can sit down and talk to you for hours. Thanks Chris.👍🏾💯😎
A lot of people only read other peoples opinion without doing a proper research on their own.
The answer to your question is LOW cost, power consumption... Just do the research.
Thank you. I notice the tracked panel faced about 60 to 80 degrees off the fixed unit (and you large backyard unit). What would have been the difference if you had put the non tracked unit facing about 1/2 way into the path of the tracker? Yes, I know the tracker had a better azimuth, but I think the radial change would have lessened the difference.
A T Burke
No one would aim fixed mount like that. Cheesh!
How would you aim a fixed mount?
Good thing it is water and wind resistant, I can just leave it out all day long.
It'd be cool on the roof of you RV. Of course you wouldn't be able to drive under any bridges or trees. You'd have to stay out of any aircraft flight routes too. Seriously, I'm surprised the fixed panels didn't pick up anything. Possibly because they're in series? I have four 100 watt panels in parallel flat on my RV roof and will get something even at early light. I had tried them wired in series but found that getting even a little shade on one made all go dark. Anyway, that was a great demonstration on how much more efficient the tracker is versus the stationery.
Hey Tom I will put it on the roof but you gotta come help me get it up there. Lol
"It's not about how many guns you have, it's about how many guns you can bring to bear."
Very interesting! It would be good to know how much more power you got from the tracker percentage wise? ie 10 or 20% more?
Yes, trackers will bring in more power.
But at what cost?
Greatly increased complexity.
Much more expensive.
Questionable life span.
Repair part availability when something does break.
It would be cheaper to have 2 panels facing east, 2 facing south and 2 facing west.
Solar panels are relatively cheap and no moving parts.
The tracker would still produce more power but is it worth it?
I’m building panel carts on wheels. I can change the angle during the day.
Your tracker system is appealing
Hope you can give a parts list for your system.
Thanks
Hello thanks for sharing And can you share the brand of tracker or parts list???
Here comes the dumb questions
Why can't you have fixed facing both directions to accommodate for what the tracker does, and when it's charged can you keep power you didn't use that day?
I may have missed it... Do you have a video on the solar tracker build?
No I don’t but I will try and make one
@@GeneratorReviews If you do, it may be your first million play video. Thanks.
how is possible is that fix panel not get power even 8 o clock , i have 450 watt 4 panel fix they start make power around 7 o clock
Why did the fixed mount pass the battery charge percent ? It seems that the tracker should always stay ahead.
Why don’t you put fixed one either face sun in morning or afternoon position?
That would be a waste of power and money
Trackers are the only way to go. Thanks for the video.
Did you build the tracker yourself? I didn’t see a video on that or if you bought it where did it come from? Plus can it support more than 2 panels
I built it myself from scrap metal wasn’t something I wanted to record it would just take to long
How did you build your solar tracker, And where can I buy all the pieces
You can get the 12v actuators on eBay and the controller on eBay as well everything else was made from scrap metal
@@GeneratorReviews cool thanks
Gavin - Not sure if you mentioned the Brand of the Tracker? Also, where are you located?
Homemade tracker
You should have started them both at 20% and not had a load on them. Can’t really show with a live load.
I have a idea that you might be interested in. Or you may know the answer. Is a double haul fiberglass insulation better than a aluminum frame with a gel coat outer, composite center core? I’m guessing the double haul fiberglass with composite core. The only problem is all composite is not made the same. All fiberglass is not made the same. What I feel is most important is aluminum vs fiberglass. Thickness matters. The problem still remains. All fiberglass is made different and so is aluminum. We know aluminum holds heat because of aluminum foil. Frigid Rigid is the only fiberglass cooler I have heard of. You never hear of it being in the top ten ice chest. Besides the health problem. I am only concerned about insulation value. Real world. Not R-Value.
Insulation is the key you’re right
Gavin you are right the system with solar tracker will produce more power but what most people are trying to run away from is the complexity of the system..the tracker itself has moving parts at any given time something will break..so fixed mount installation you just install and forget about the whole thing
- a broken tracking mount is still a positionable "fixed" array. Sure cost of installation and repair, vs needing more ( 2-3x more ) panels, that is the thing to weigh up in the equation - roofmounted ststems, and available "approved" systems is also a fctor - a DIY ground mount - do whatever you want.
It breaks, you fix! Question is how often would it break? If it’s breaking every single day, then it’s not worth it but if it’s breaking once a year or even longer than that? 🤷🏾♂️ I mean….I guess different people have different ways of how they make choices. We are not who we think we are, we are what we are not choosing. Just food for the thought
@@tedndinyapanel last 2 to 3 decades . If the tracker clonks before 5 years min, then it's not worth it to me
Very interesting video. Thank you.
Thanks Tony
it would be helpful to know time of day at the reporting time so we see the power curve over time.
Thanks for sharing.
Do you have the full day's generation figure comparison between tracker vs fixed please?
What is the price difference between a tracker frame and static?
Have you done a comparative ROI calc for both systems?
I will work on that
Now use the price of the tracker to buy more panels. How many can you buy for that money...... and then spread the panels in all directrion swhere the sun is coming from. Connect the panels in parallel and series to optimize........
I built this tracker from scrap just for the fun of it
It would be better, to do test differently. Start in the morning with a flat battery. Use only 1 panel which won't charge the battery to the full amount through the whole day(if needed shade the bottom half of the panel assuming you know what you're doing and know the schema of your concrete panel, but generally speaking half of the panel should work for most of the panels). At the sunset check the amount of energy collected in each battery to compare. if there were clouds during the day it is better to repeat the whole process just to understand about ideal scenario improvement. It is very interesting the total difference in ideal scenario with no clouds. At the same time for me it is crucial to get energy in the evening and in the morning. As result, either have a tracker or have 2 sets of panels. Todays price for panels is probably cheaper than buying a tracker. The only option is if you find or make some cheap tracker.
I just built the tracker for fun
Hello from Germany. I am using a hand tracker system since 2 year’s. How can I get your solution? Do you build this by yourself? BR Ralf
Thanks for watching, yes I built it myself
The problem is the cost of the trackers. Also they require additional structure if placed on the roof of a home and they are more susceptible to wind and weather. for the cost of that tracking system you could have added 2 maybe 3 more panels. The problem that needs to be solved is low cost trackers.
Hey Gavin great video! There are two views in comparing these (tracking vs static) systems. (On Grid & OFF Grid). On Grid you will sell more kwh. ($$$$$) and OFF Grid less, just ($$). Off the Grid where all you are looking for is to charge the battery bank and as you draw kwh you may or may not be able to keep the battery bank at full load due to usage thus requiring more panels to compensate for your usage. So any comments on this thought initial capital investment vs return by selling power to the grid?
But if I add an extra panel, I should be able to optimize that 😁
yeah and u have to repair this shit every fucking 2 years, be carefull with storm etc etc, not worth it at all when you take into consideration cost, get one additional pannel and you arlready beat the tracker? I REALLY wan't to add a tracker to my solar farm but they are a pain in the ass to deal with
That the truth!! You will be chasing your tail with repairs but it’s a project.
Hi Gavin is your tracker custom made? I am looking at the ecoworthy but am having doubts about durability. Can you share a good tracker unit?
Yes, my tracker is custom-made. I haven’t really followed any other production Solar tracker.
He has 93 panels in the background. He knows what he is talking about.
+28 years experience in wind turbines, solar, grid tied and back up systems and a degree in electronics and the owner of a generator store 😅 this is just a hobby to me just having fun.
@@GeneratorReviews great video
@@claytonyoung1351so if someone installs 93 panels, that makes them a solar genius?
@@MrSummitville its sarcasm dummy.
@@MrSummitvilleyou need not to type always. Sometimes just learn to view and pass. You seem not to comprehend his comment.
I see you have the tracker mounted on a movable cart. Other videos I have seen they mount into the ground. Do you have any problems with it mounted like that? I like your idea better.
I actually built that because it was easier for me to build it inside my garage, but it will be ground mounted later.
What kinda solar tracker is this?
Could you give us the link for it? Seems perfect for me because the moveable.
I made this tracker from scratch. The only thing I used was the controller from eBay.
Be better to at least see this test where you setup the panels the right direction Face the sun in the morning, and adjust for the early afternoon and finally toward the west in the evening to help get sun. This seems more of a major handicap and bogus test here.
How did you come up with that assumption wow!!
Gavin... any recommendations for solar panels for a eco flow ultra set up?
I haven’t reviewed the Ecoflow ultras so I can’t really recommend the solar panels yet
Trackers might be awesome and efficient.
But theyre just way too expensive. For the price of a tracker I can buy 6+ additional 400W modules and point half of them west, half of them east.
Thatll be more energy produced in the end, because the west and south string and the south and east string will both produce Power for some hours.
It's terrible that ALL online inquiries into the types of solar systems available from different countries end in a total lack of information. Instead of showing the types of products available, ALL these blasted companies start by asking you to enter your zip code for an instant quote! And then you need to answer more questions than the IRS requires at tax season! No thanks! I'd rather stick with municipal power suppliers.
What most people don't know is that solar panels work BEST when aimed perpendicular to the sunlight ! Any angle LESS than that and it only makes a percentage of the power ! A tracking unit is the ONLY WAY to get maximum power ALL DAY !
Power that solar tracker from it's own solar panel power 😂
So useful!! Finally someone did the test. Thanks a lot
😊 thanks
Good info but poorly made video. No info on how to buy/build/make a solar tracker
Thanks for sharing 😊
All this can be made much, much easier.
The easiest way is how an Optical Telescope basically works according to the 'Equatorial' principle. The equatorial mount has a north-south "polar axis" that is tilted to be parallel to earth's polar axis, allowing the telescope to swing in an east-west arc, with a second axis perpendicular to it so that the telescope can swing in a north-south arc. By swiveling the polar axis of the mount or mechanically moving in the opposite direction of the Earth's rotation, the sunpanel can accurately track the movement of the sun all day, easy by one clock on 24 hours time line.
See the link for this >> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equatorial_mount#German_equatorial_mount
You find that your idea is very difficult to implement in the *REAL* world. Show us, 20 panels using your "idea".
For the most accurate comparison you should have waited for a cloudless day. By noon the sky most likely will be totally clear. The tracker numbers would be even better on a totally clear day.
you wont get full power even without clouds with a sun that low. the distance witch the light has to travel though the atmosphere is like 20 times longer.
With a tracke you get like 4-6 Hours peak wattage from your panels over the day, witch will make the diverense but not the last and first hour of the day.
Also they both dropped 5% .and the one with the tracker kept dropping the fixed went up 1
I don’t know what you mean
Why not make a cart with wheels? Maybe move it 3 times a day and you wouldn't have to worry about the electric motor or anyting tearing up.
I just ordered an Eco Worthy tracker today. With it holding 4- 400w Trina panels.. if it works good.. I'll get a 2nd one and put my 6- 290w panels on it. I have a Delta 1300 as well.. and 400Ah of BB Lithiums on the RV.
How much power does the tracker use. Does the tracker usage cancel out its power advantage?
The tracker has its own 20w panel that charges the battery it uses.
How much power does the tracker consume
The tracker has its own power supply two small 10w solar panel on the bottom it runs off of that
Great question by the way👍🏾👌🏾💯
Awesome. What model did you use in the video. I’m off the grid on 1200 watts of Solar I hardly ever see close to the full 1200 watts. Seems like after adding more panels, wire, and a controller one could purchase a tracking mount and be ahead
@@joesears584 The solar panels on the tracker was sunpower and the ones on the fixed were Suniva
Well done demonstration sir! Definite proof of concept.
FYI: I just suggested to a friend that she consider a tracking ground mount instead of a fixed roof mount. Low winter sun will have mature deciduous trees blocking a portion of sunlight, but the leaves will have fallen off earlier so it will be just intermittent partial shading. A tracker should maximize the light collected throughout the day and seasonally adjust for optimization as well.
QUESTION: we have growing problem with hail storms here in the mountains. Is there a tracker that can go into a panel protection mode that will tilt the panels downward to protect them from hailstones, even if that cuts power production to zero for awhile.)
Thanks for watching
I guess the panel would have to be programmed in a full up tilt if you want it to be in the best position for hail .
Hi, add a manual override system will be more accurate than an automatic system because the weather is so unpredictable
great vid , but i hear you saying i can put more panels on the tracker...the add a panel thing is not about getting the best efficiency per panel , we all know it is more efficent ... it is more like ...I have $1500 to spend on the solar side of my system, lets say $100 a panel to keep it simple , so 10 panels and a tracker ...or 15 panels without , same cost , what will put out the most power over the entire time of the day ...
The tracker will always win even doubling the panels.
Tracker mounted 1000 watts of solar on a tracker 1000w x 8hrs = 8 kWh
Roof mounted 2000 watts x 5 hrs sun
2000w x 5hrs = 10 kWh
I guess it helps when I built the tracker myself the only cost I had were the controller and actuators, which I think I paid like $200.
@@GeneratorReviews nice , I was thinking 500 ish as thats what they sell for on amazon :) yours looks as profesionally made to me , I did see later in the comments you made it your self , nice job :)
Thanks! looking into trackers and this video helped.
You’re welcome
You have missed the most important part of a tracker for off-grid and that's the time the system needs to use the batteries, with a lower depth of discharge and thus less battery degradation which is your highest cost.
Hi ! Is your Solar tracker quiet when moving with both actuators ?
Absolutely silent.
I don't know about your tracker, but I've seen trackers for about $600 each. My guess is you could have use 4 fixed mount panels at the same price. That would have been a closer test.
Yes that would have made a lot more sense to show the gains of the tracker 👍🏾
very helpful video. thanks
i wonder. i need roof top, sloped roofs, not able to do HUGE trackers. but would small ones make a difference? hmm
I thought about trackers but it's not practical where I am because I don't get direct sun on the panels until about 11:00 a.m. and then after about 3:00 p.m. it's gone because of trees. So what I did is I overpanel the system and that has an advantage because when it's raining the system actually generates significant amount of power because they're just so many panels. So I tend to favor the over panel option because the sun isn't always shining especially lately with the hunger Tonga volcanic eruption there's so much moisture in the air 10% more overall moisture over the whole planet that we are constantly in a state of rain and clouds here.
Well, you've haven't got the fixed mount turned toward the sun.
Why would I have the fixed mount turn towards the sun, it faces south that’s why it’s called a fixed mount.
Why not us mirrors. In the morn ing
This is excellent work, thank you for sharing the knowledge!
Thanks 🙏🏾 happy you enjoyed it
And how much power is used in moving the panels to track solar?
The tracker has two 5 W solar panel that charges a small battery and it doesn’t use any outside powerful
WOW! What is the cost to build one? Maybe you should sell them! 👍🏿👏🏾✊🏿
Thanks my cost was around 280
@@GeneratorReviews amazing work. Any chance you would be willing to create a parts list so I can make me one?
👍👍👍❤️❤️❤️🙏🙏🙏 thank you for taking the time to make all these wonderful videos
Thanks 😊 for watching 👍🏾
A little off topic.......... Can you use the Eco Flows to power each leg of split phase 220VAC? In other words, if I used one like a generator and plugged it into my "Generator In" fixture and then created another "Generator In" fixture for the other leg of my house, would I get 220VAC for the appliance that need it or would it be out of phase? Are the Eco Flows pure sine wave? Thanks!
You have to use the EcoFlow hub in order to access 240v like you explained
I see some AI shit can improve this setup
But the trackers are closer to the sun so of course will produce more power.
lol 😂
looks great, where can i buy one and how much does it cost? What i cant buy this because it is one you custom built? There are commercially available trackers but few get sold, why is this? First i havent seen a tracker for a roof mount(not fair i know) and i suspect the larger reason is that the appeal of solar is its simplicity and a tracker takes that out of the equation. Sure tinkerers can rig up something but for the rest of us a tracker is expensive and brings complexity. I have opted to add panels and keep my system simple, robust and able to meet my needs of energy capture.
It would be hard to put it on the roof, especially if you live in the HOA community.
Most trackers are DIY projects they do have some smaller ones, but they just don’t work the same.
Damn, now I want a tracker!
YOU SHOULD AT LEAST TURN THE PANEL TOWARDS THE SUN FIXED OR NOT!!!
Fixed panels face south and the don’t get moved that would defeat the purpose of this test
great inventions what’s the update on the shop 😅 you’re gonna break the whole solar tracker market up into a new boundaries. watching from Malaysia in South East Asia 🙌🏻 sorry for my bad English i’m non-native speakers
Thanks for watching the shop is doing great 👍🏾
I’m new to this and I’m wondering where you got the tracker for your setup? Is it one you assembled yourself or you purchased and your cost?
ua-cam.com/video/paU-qoEWRk4/v-deo.htmlsi=pwcpC2wsep0f-xYY
It seems that you forgot about the engine, how much it consumes during all this time
I didn’t forget about it because it is all separate from the actual solar panels. those small 5 W solar panels handles the entire operation of the tracker.
The electronic circuit and motor, in addition to maintenance, in the future, the result will be equal to zero with fixed solar panels, in addition to the cost.
is that fixation panels facing north to south ? .... it looks it ...
It’s facing south
And how much power does it cost to move around and track all the time??
The tracker has its own power supply that small solar panel
Thank you for the answer, but do you know the power consumption? Also for moving the panel around?
Your tracker is awesome 👏
Thanks
if 20 mins is only the difference between the tracker and fix..... i think the fix is still the winner for charging still the batts, cost effective and low maintenance........ in my own opinion, the tracker is best if you have a huge battery banks like 50kw of storage
It’s more like four hours
The other problem with your test that makes it unfair in addition to the different panels is the ecoflo. You have the ecoflo's at different percentages and the programming in those things will do wacky things with the input to maximize battery life. I would like to see the difference over a whole day with regular mppt charge controllers connected to batteries at the same state of charge and the same solar panels of the same age. One other thing I see is at 12:00 your fixed panels are over 30 degrees off from your tracker. This makes it seem like you have a stake in selling trackers. This is a pretty bad video. Absolutely no information here, just for entertainment purposes only.
I’ve been building tracking systems for the last 15 years
I haven’t try to sell one. This is all my hobby.
This is entertainment purposes only there is no comparison between a fixed system and a tracking system.
Most fixed system are mounted at 30°. The tracking system is dual axis so it’s going to overcompensate.
Don’t take this personal, but I’m just having fun. Please don’t ruin it for me.
why not just let them run for the day and give a report of how much power each created?
That’s a great idea Richard I will do that👍🏾😎
@@GeneratorReviews Awesome!
@@richardmarazzi1791everybody knows that dual axis trackers generate 20% - 30% more kilowatt-hours annually.
What tracker is it? Did you buy it or build it?
I built it
Do you have a video on the tracker build?
Not yet but I will work on it when I update my panels
Your solar tracker has extra panels at the bottom
I don’t play games with my projects but ok. 👍🏾