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Today was the day to install the tracker on the big array. All the farmers around here can thank me for bringing the rain. What''s the rule? three daysof rain now?

Here''s the Redrok tracker, mounted in a peanut butter jar lid and screwed to the edge of the solar panel

Here she is, all weathertight.

Here''s a picture of the worm gear and limit switches. These are wonderful satellite dishes to use for this, very robust and they have an incredible range of travel

Parked at the West limit

Parked at the east limit with a dumb looking Volvofarmer standing alongside.

The sun came out just long enough for me to see that it worked, It then clouded up and is now raining again. The tracker now thinks it''s night and is trying to park in the east.

All finished. Thre''s a 5W amorphous panel on the fencepost in front and a small SLA battery sitting on the ground behind my concrete form. These power the tracker. I need to get some concrete delivered soon and fill up that form. This array looks like a scary big sail when it''s near the east or west limit.

Without the solar panels, I don''t think I even have $200 in this whole setup. If you''re looking to do this, keep an eye open for Birdview or Paraclipse H-to-H worm-drive mounts like this one. This thing has about 20 degrees more travel in both directions than my other tracker which uses a screwjack.

Reference:

http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/PV/RedRokTracker/RedRokTracker.htm

http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2006/7/8/20847/11730