gallderhen Posted November 9, 2016 Share Posted November 9, 2016 I was roaming the local websites for solar equipment etc, and came across netshieldsa's website where they talk about a dual-axis solar-panel tracker (basically you attach all your panels to a platform that the tracker can rotate to follow the sun). My question is, for those in the know, how effective is such a tracking platform for capturing sunlight? And is it worth the money? -G- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 9, 2016 Share Posted November 9, 2016 Hi. If you don't have the space (for a lot of panels) and you are grid tied or have a big battery bank then a tracker is worth it. If you have space then just add more panels to get to the same result. If you don't have a big battery bank or grid tied inverter that you can do something with the power that is generated then don't bother. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 Dual axis are very effective as your panels will always face the sun at the correct angle, therefore optimizing the efficiency of your solar panels. I don't have a big battery bank, but I have a wife that knows how to get the fans running at high speed on my inverters. She gets up in the morning and switches on the aircon in the bedroom. Goes to the kitchen and switches on the kettle for coffee. Goes to the fridge to get the milk. Leaves the fridge door open until she puts the milk back. Take some left over food from the fridge and slaps it into the microwave to heat it up. Take out the washing from the washing machine and stuff it into the tumble drier and loads another wash in the washing machine. Put all the dishes in the dish washing machine and gets it going. Walks to the oven and turns the dial to 200 degrees saying, "I am going to bake a cake today." I stand there flabbergasted with my hands on my hips and she says "What?" On 11/9/2016 at 1:28 PM, gallderhen said: And is it worth the money? Probably not. It would take a few years to get a return on your money. As JDP said, if you have the space, add more panels to make up for the losses. That would probably be the cheaper option. I personally don't like to combat inefficient solar panels by adding more inefficient solar panels to make up for the losses. I bought 12 x 300w Solar panels, which my inverters can handle comfortably. To make up for the inefficiency and losses, I would have to add another 4 solar panels. (So Zuma is corrupt and inefficient. Therefore, to make up for it, we clone him and add another Zuma to the Presidency to make up for the inefficiency? That does not make sense to me.) With 16 panels I would be pushing the limits on my inverters and probably blow something. I made a decision to stick to the 12 solar panels and to install a Deger Energie dual axis solar tracker to get the maximum performance out of my solar panels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Hobson Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 5 minutes ago, Don said: (So Zuma is corrupt and inefficient. Therefore, to make up for it, we clone him and add another Zuma to the Presidency to make up for the inefficiency? That does not make sense to me.) At least you get something in return from your panels - Zuma is just a liability. So adding panels does work. Your inverters should handle more than are rated for. It is fairly common practice to over-size one's PV array by up to 60% in other parts of the world. This means that your SCC is working closer to its maximum capacity for a larger part of the day. This is fairly common place in Aussie and the States. So long as the voltage and current are not exceeded you should be fine. The SCC will back off to protect itself. There is a guy in Papua New Guinea who is on the Aussies AEVA site who regularly does this with Axperts. When my own system was originally mooted I was going to an Imeon 3.6 with 4.5 kW of panels. You are right in that your efficiency goes to pot. Read up about it. My next spend on solar will be to over-size the array but I am a long way off from that. The drought we are experiencing has wiped out our cashflow and the bank mangers usually friendly demeanour has disappeared (In fact the bank manager has disappeared to be replaced by one who is a lot less understanding. I think it is a strategy to replace bank managers in bad times in rural areas as the new bank manger listens to head office whilst one that has been there for a while is more sympathetic to the client's predicament). Les 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Hobson Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 On 09/11/2016 at 2:04 PM, JDP said: Hi. If you don't have the space (for a lot of panels) and you are grid tied or have a big battery bank then a tracker is worth it. If you have space then just add more panels to get to the same result. If you don't have a big battery bank or grid tied inverter that you can do something with the power that is generated then don't bother. Hi JDP what happened to that video of your mate's solar tracker? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 When I got banned all my posts went with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Hobson Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 Can you provide a link again? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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