Solar Tracking - How We Made A Solar Tracker OUR SOLAR HOME IS FOR SALE After 31 years of living in our home in Northern California, we are moving to a new location. We love living here and wish we could take our home with us, but we can't. If you are interested in living in an off grid home please click on the picture or click HERE to see how you might become the next owner. Click here to view the solar tracking video or Watch it on YouTube A set of plans is available. They are in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format and can be viewed and saved right from this site. Just click on the link below and hit the save button. You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the plans. We are making these plans available to everyone without charge on one condition. If you download the plans and use them to make your own solar tracker, please make a donation for our efforts. We would like to continue making this site available to everyone. Your donation will help do so. Click here to view the PDF file I have always thought about using solar tracking for a solar panel. Commercial solar trackers are somewhat expensive but do extend the time that a solar panel receives solar energy. I have not purchased any yet but decided to make a small scale solar tracker that I use with our solar cooler. The solar tracker uses a TV antenna rotator attached to a 2 inch pipe that is mounted on the ground. A photovoltaic solar panel is also attached to the 2 inch pipe. Since the rotator can be controlled by a remote control, I found a programmable one that I use to position the rotator to face the solar panel toward the sun at different times during the day. Even though it can’t actually track on its own the way the commercial versions do, I can easily program it to follow the sun’s path. Please visit the Living On Solar Blog to talk about or ask questions about solar tracking. The video runs for 3 minutes and 17 seconds and shows how we use solar tracking . We hope that you enjoy the video. Please watch our other solar videos elsewhere on this site. Click here to view the solar tracking video or Watch it on YouTube Solar Tracking Links This section is for specific links to sites that have information about solar tracking. If you know of any good sites, please let us know. We will check it out and post a link. RED ROCK ENERGY This is a great site full of info about heliostats and solar tracking. They make and sell electronic solar trackers. SIA Electric - A group of enthusiasts from Romania with some products including an inexpensive solar tracker. You might need to click on the wind/solar link and use a language translator. An interesting idea from The Netherlands: www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_ETEL2L9Ag Help Support This Site Through My Photography