4 ms·

As soon as you add moving parts to your setup costs and maintenance explode. It's usually better to just buy more panels instead.

lm28469 1y ago
Depending on where you live a system that allows to manually change the tilt of your pannels once per month could be nice. You get a free 5-15% boost, where I am in Europe the optimal yearly tilt is ~40 degrees, in peak winter the optimal tilt of ~70 degrees would shed snow much more easily. You're right on motorized trackers though, way too complex and expensive to make sense for most people
- masklinn 1y ago
  > Depending on where you live a system that allows to manually change the tilt of your pannels once per month could be nice. You get a free 5-15% boost, where I am in Europe the optimal yearly tilt is ~40 degrees, in peak winter the optimal tilt of ~70 degrees would shed snow much more easily. Yup, that's what I was referring to as a tilting mount in the original comment, a pivot and tracks to tilt the panels up/down to set them at whatever's optimal for your latitude and time period, or completely vertical if you're in a snow-heavy region. The necessary engineering might not be worth it anyway, given current panel prices, unless space is a bit of a premium.
potato3732842 1y ago
Moving parts? We're talking about something like a pipe that's a hotdog down hallway slip fit onto another pipe here. With zero maintenance that will still have a service life that exceeds several generations of panel.
- fho 1y ago
  Plus at least one motor plus sun tracking controller. All of that has to operate 24/7, all year. Depending on your local climate, that has to be sun and rain proof. (Most Nema 7 "3D printer" motors are not waterproof... Ask me now I know ) Nothing a quick hack job can't solve for you, but if you want to sell it (and make sure your customers will be satisfied for decades) it quickly adds up in price.
  - potato3732842 1y ago
    You don't need a motor. You need a recurring calendar reminder to send someone out there to spin them all 2x per year at whatever day you determine to be the ideal crossover point where you want to switch between NS and EW. The panels can be stayed in their correct positions by a trash tire or whatever buried in the ground with two chains poking out to clip to the panel corner. None of this is rocket science. This is all stuff that has been proven out over the past 200yr of fence and gate construction. Similar could be used for changing between tilted and vertical though you'd need more material.
    - deleted 1y ago
      [deleted]
- adrianN 1y ago
  Panels have warranties of 25 years.
  - potato3732842 1y ago
    A pipe on a pipe will last close to 100 if you don't screw up the details...

lm28469 1y ago

Depending on where you live a system that allows to manually change the tilt of your pannels once per month could be nice. You get a free 5-15% boost, where I am in Europe the optimal yearly tilt is ~40 degrees, in peak winter the optimal tilt of ~70 degrees would shed snow much more easily. You're right on motorized trackers though, way too complex and expensive to make sense for most people

masklinn 1y ago
> Depending on where you live a system that allows to manually change the tilt of your pannels once per month could be nice. You get a free 5-15% boost, where I am in Europe the optimal yearly tilt is ~40 degrees, in peak winter the optimal tilt of ~70 degrees would shed snow much more easily. Yup, that's what I was referring to as a tilting mount in the original comment, a pivot and tracks to tilt the panels up/down to set them at whatever's optimal for your latitude and time period, or completely vertical if you're in a snow-heavy region. The necessary engineering might not be worth it anyway, given current panel prices, unless space is a bit of a premium.

potato3732842 1y ago

Moving parts? We're talking about something like a pipe that's a hotdog down hallway slip fit onto another pipe here. With zero maintenance that will still have a service life that exceeds several generations of panel.

fho 1y ago
Plus at least one motor plus sun tracking controller. All of that has to operate 24/7, all year. Depending on your local climate, that has to be sun and rain proof. (Most Nema 7 "3D printer" motors are not waterproof... Ask me now I know ) Nothing a quick hack job can't solve for you, but if you want to sell it (and make sure your customers will be satisfied for decades) it quickly adds up in price.
- potato3732842 1y ago
  You don't need a motor. You need a recurring calendar reminder to send someone out there to spin them all 2x per year at whatever day you determine to be the ideal crossover point where you want to switch between NS and EW. The panels can be stayed in their correct positions by a trash tire or whatever buried in the ground with two chains poking out to clip to the panel corner. None of this is rocket science. This is all stuff that has been proven out over the past 200yr of fence and gate construction. Similar could be used for changing between tilted and vertical though you'd need more material.
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
adrianN 1y ago
Panels have warranties of 25 years.
- potato3732842 1y ago
  A pipe on a pipe will last close to 100 if you don't screw up the details...