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Solar Tracking - Using Time To Follow The Sun

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Solar Tracking - Making A Different Kind Of Solar Tracker

Using a different approach to solar tracking, we built a solar tracker that would extend the time we could use our solar evaporative cooler. Our tracker is programmed to position itself toward the sun at specific times of the day. We live in an all solar home. We heat, cool and power our home using solar energy. It is our desire to continually improve this site with new ideas about solar tracking. We have also created a website that not only tells how we do it, but shows you as well using videos.

You can also visit our website Living On Solar

Solar Tracking With Time - Why This Approach?

Is This Re-inventing The Wheel?

Commercial made solar trackers are a great addition to any solar panel array. They help increase the time that solar panels directly face the sun and allow them to produce their maximum power. Unfortunately they can be expensive to buy. We decided to make our own solar tracker to see if we could reduce the cost. We did not want to re-invent the wheel but wanted to make it more affordable. We started out small and came up with the idea of solar tracking using time instead of using a device that would sense where the sun is and move the panels toward it.

Does This Kind Of Solar Tracking Work?

The Proof Is In The Pudding

YEP! With an attached solar electric panel, our solar tracker has provided several additional hours of power to our evaporative cooler. The tracker is faced toward the sun at several selected times throughout the day and aims the panel right where the sun is. Even if the clouds block the sun for several hours, this solar tracking method knows where the sun will be and is waiting for it to come back out.

Solar Tracking - Our Video

Build Your Own Solar Tracker

We made a video and a set of plans for our solar tracker. The plans are FREE for download, but we encourage donations from those that use them. Please visit our website to learn more information about our tracker.

You can watch our solar tracking video to see how it works

Other Uses For Solar Energy - Solar Air Conditioning

Build Your Own Solar Air Conditioner

We use our solar tracker along with a solar evaporative cooler that we made to keep our home cool in the summer. You can use our solar cooler plans and do the same.

Watch our solar cooling video

Other Uses For Solar Energy - Solar Electricity

We generate our electricity using solar panels

You can watch our solar electricity video to see how it works.

Other Uses For Solar Energy - Passive Solar

We live in a passive solar home

You can watch our passive solar video to see how it works.

Great Places To Find Solar Products

Real Goods Is A great place to find solar panels and all kinds of solar products.

Real Goods Solar, Inc.

Solar Books

Here are some books we recommend.


Earth4Energy At Last! A complete plan to eliminate your power bill and pocket the savings for yourself!
Click Here for more information!


Home Made Energy Renewable energy for the rest of us. How Would You Like To UNPLUG Your House From Your Electrical Company, Knowing That You Are "100% Powered By Nature" With Renewable Energy?
Click Here for more information!

The Solar Power Design Manual will guide you smoothly through the complex process of designing, specifying and installing stand-alone solar power systems for all applications, anywhere in the world.
Click Here for more information!

Great Solar Products on Amazon

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Solar videos

Videos showing how we live on solar.

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Solar Tracking On The Living On Solar Blog

Visit Our Blog And Talk About Solar Tracking

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Ezine Articles By Jim Eddy AKA Livingonsolar

Read More From Livingonsolar About Using Solar Energy

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Solar Tracking News

OPEL and Aquarion complete solar tracker plant
OPEL Technologies Inc of Shelton, CT, USA, which makes high-concentration photovoltaic (HCPV) panels and solar tracker systems through its subsidiary OPEL Solar Inc, recently completed installation of a tracker-based solar system at the DW Loiselle ...
OPEL Technologies Inc.-Incentive Stock Option Grant
SHELTON, CONNECTICUT AND TORONTO, ONTARIO, Feb 16, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- OPEL Technologies Inc. (CVE:CA:OPL) and OPEL Solar Inc. (collectively "OPEL" or "the Company"), a leading global supplier of solar tracker systems and other solar ...
SunPower Posts Better-Than-Expected Results, Shares Rise
The company, of San Jose, Calif., is focusing on innovations like a tracking system that concentrates sunlight onto solar panels to boost the amount of electricity they produce, and on building large solar power plants. Werner said the tracking ...
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Links To Solar Sites We Like

Solar Air Conditioning
We found a way to cool our home using an existing cooler and a tracking solar panel. We want to show others how we did it.
Solar Electricity
We live in an all solar home. We are glad to share what we have learned over the last 20 years about solar electricity.
Passive Solar Home
We live in an all solar home. We would like to show you what it is like living in a passive solar home.
Solar Heating - Use Solar Energy To Heat Water
We heat our water with solar panels that are mounted on our roof.

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livingonsolar

We've lived in an all solar home for over 20 years. We like to share what we have learned with others. You can find us here and more »

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