Here is PEET 2 with two panels kzfaq.info/get/bejne/na6KdrdzqNrJh2Q.html Affiliate Links: Linear Actuator amzn.to/3ycpU

Love the simplicity of this design. Great video!

Man this is so awesome. Simple and yet very effective. Thank you so much for making this video.I will definitely be doing this also!

Simplicity is key to reliability. Your demo build can be easily morphed into a larger array, even dual axis if desired. Good video to explain to DIY builders!

That is such a simple design. it just proves you dont need loads of electronics to solve a problem. Thanks. Just what i'm looking for.

That is absolutely ingenious!!!! You should put blocking diodes on the solar panels so that one panel doesn't discharge into the other when it doesn't have any light on it, it may make it a bit more efficient and able to power a larger array of panels, since the solar panel not getting any sunlight won't discharge the other panel. Not sure that it will work, though, you should try it and let us know how it works!!!

Dude❤ simple, clever, efficient, and ingenious. Your gonna save me so much money. Thank you!

WOW, so simple but yet effective, thank you for sharing this and your experience as well.

Great job !! Simple with no additional electronics.

Amazing simple solution - love it!

Great video! The wheels are turning…Thanks for sharing!

WOW! Great simplicity! 😮😊

This simplicity of this is brilliant.

Great solution! I will build one soon. thank you for sharing... 👍

Nice and very simple doable design, I would put the actuator in the middle with extra sticks to hold the actuator to the panel and the base to better balance it's load. Nice to see the kid in the background at 8:27 watching the explanation. 😀

Yes yes and yes.. nothing else to say. Great job Brad!

This is such a clever and effective concept. Well done man!

Nice video. I have 3 ground mounts just like your 1 panel. Each set has 4-400w panels. Each set is on 4 vertical poles (your A frame) mid panel and a horizontal pole the length of the 4 panels. Heavy duty gate hinges tie the horizontal pole to the vertical poles (4 hinges). 1 actuator each set in the middle under the panels (barely gets wet). Long stroke,, 1000lb actuator ($120ea). My actuator motor is at the bottom. All the panels are tied together with 1/2inch aluminum U channel.. Well grounded.. Been in operation 5 years. In high winds I have a parking spot panels are horizontal. Survived 60mph hurricane Hillary So. Cal. Thanks for your video.

Love you his simple system. I do have a 100 watt panel in each end without an actuator. It’s not really a waste. But now I might put smaller end panels like yours.

So awesome! Thank you for sharing!

GENIOUS!!! This is fantastic. I hope you keep working on improving this because this is an absolute game changer. Thank you!!

Man this is the second time i saw this video pop up and it still kinda amazes me that it works like it does.

I like it. Nice simple design.

Not much to discuss really, simply brilliant!

Newbie to renewable energy. Surprise you not getting more like. This is a great concept. I have 2 x 100 watt panels and ecoflow for my sump pump backup power. Even I know you need to track a moving sun to get the best out of your panels. This great very cheap idea vs a $400+ tracker. Thank you!

Slick! Thais is the kind of thinking that we need to solve some of the problems ahead. And yes, a spherical mount with two linear motors could be made to work.

I see the power of human brain. Great job, perfectly simple. 👍✌️

I like this design. I only have few panels but I'm trying to maximize what I get out of them. Spend too much and I might as well just buy more panels and leave them fixed. So such designs as this are useful. I likely will implement some variation. Thank you

Great video.

Great video!

This is a very simple but very cool design.

Great background music!

I like your idea I thought about using a old garage door opener.

I general I like the simplicity of this approach. In reality, most everywhere a solar mounting system must be prepared for high wind.

BRILLIANT 👏

Dang!!!!! Outstanding!!

Perfect for people who live in the Equator where the sun moves from East to West very well.

Looks good.

I dont have solar panels but Im thinking about that and I was thinking one needs to have them move with the Sun. Good job.

Absolute Genius!!! Patent It!!! Again, Absolute Genius!!!

nice and simple wow

I like It!!

Super easy and functional ...thanks

Zero programming for seasonal difference or time changes! Love it!

I would use this design as a controller to move a bigger and more powerful motor and solar panel rack(s). Two of these could control the tilt N-S and E-W.

cute kit... got my like! 😃

Awesomw work!

That's pretty clever

cool simple and easy

Great idea having the solar panels oppose one another. The problems I see are... The only thing holding the solar panel in place is the actuator. The larger the surface area of the panel the more stress on it due to wind. Moving parts fail over time. Will the extra parts pay for themselves over time before they fail? Another solution would be mounting two panels (with blocking diodes) in slightly different directions (east and west) In the morning the east panel provides most of the power. In the evening the west panel provides most of the power. During the middle of the day, they both contribute. Solar panels are cheap and don't have moving parts. This is why most large solar arrays don't use trackers. It is more cost effective and reliable to just add more panels. Your tracker idea was quite creative though. If I were to grade it... It would get an A+.

Place the actuator in the center of the panel to prevent it getting rained on.

Gut 😃👍 habe auch so eine Anlage mit 2 Platten 😊

Great an Simple

THANK YOU, SIR!!! AWESOME PROJECT!! FANTASTIC IDEA!!

When i first published this 1986, i used what was on hand a 5w panel cost $100's and they where liquid crystal, over the years i have seen some crazy variations. Keep it simple stupid is the motto :) You don't need those 20w, unless your goal is to be battery less, If however you will use a battery, this is what i do 36 years in the future. Little 5v cell wired to a Logic Level mosfet, or an arduino mosfet module for each axis east & west running from battery to mosfet to actuator, when the cell is flat to the side only one side will ever see the sun, 2 more and you have azimuth. The cheapest and easiest setup are panels balanced on a pole and U clamped for east west. The end of the pole is raised or lowered for azimuth. I hope this helps :)

Very cool

Nice concept, I like it.

Item of possible interest: the linear actuator you're using requires 2 volts at 0.5amp to begin to move in either direction. No surprise that some of the movements are jerky - it gets just enough power to move and as it moves the available power increases so it moves faster until the other solar panel produces enough power to slow/stop movement. The specs say 0.4 amp minimum but testing with a 12.6 volt regulated supply finds that extension or retraction with no load takes about 0.7 amp to start motion and it varies from 0.55 to 0.7 amp. The actuator is rated for a maximum of 225lbs so do be careful of where you put your fingers when running the actuator from a 12 volt source. That could probably move a fairly substantial solar array but they do NOT list the actuator's static holding capability. That's something you'll find on commercial and military specs: moving load: 20lbs; static load: 700lbs. Be nice to know if you're moving something that might be a big wind load.

Great ideal 😊

Excellent concept I'm thinking if you add a small 12v battery you can even have it reset to face East once the sun sets. Maybe with a time clock to have it reset back to East at night. This is really cool getting pretty much Max power from start to end of the day from this setup.

Pretty ingenious! Congrats! You could use smaller panels driving some relays that activate the actuators running of a 12v battery setup, instead of driving the actuators directly off the panels. Obviously, you would have to supply a way of recharging the battery but that's easy once you have PV energy. I just love the fact that it uses no electronic boards or sensors. Cheers from Puerto Rico

I will build one , Thanks!

Ived made a thesis project out of this way back in 2015. It has dual axis, can be plug and play..

good idea

👌👍❤️🇨🇦, sweet and simple

Seems to me this would work great if you live near the equator and there was never any wind. Given this it is a great setup😊

A site called redrock solar has circuits that use the fact that green leds act like pv cells and produce electricity when exposed to light to make trackers. Simple little H bridge like circuits that use very little energy to move the array. At least they did about twenty years ago. You could also use two tanks connected with pipe (creatively shaded) with one tank worth of propane between the two. The tank exposed to more sun vaporizes the propane in that tank and it condenses in the other more shaded cooler tank making the see-saw move with no moving parts except the hinge.

This is absolutely amazing so much so I just built one myself. It works perfectly until I wire both panels together and it just stops? What could be causing this please? Do I need a blocking dioad on the one panel? Thanks

noice, inspiring, thanks much

I might post a second saw horse in parallel. Mount an east and west facing non moving panels. Have that second set powering all actuators along a parallel system of 2 4 6 and so on.

Brilliant

Awesome

Very cool setup, I was thinking about doing something very similar but with 8x panels along the top of a fence that runs north/south so the panels would track east/west.

Would this work on a horizontal pivot as well? I was thinking of mounting a panel assembly on a swivel from a stool.

Super clever, super simple, super well explained and recorded. Sure thing the actuator needs to be weather protected or it will not last, perhaps you can mount it in the middle under the panel so rain will not reach it. A rubber cover over the motor will also help. The two sensor panels could be mounted together in the center of the pivot axis to release the lever action of the panel lenght and lower the mass/weight the actuator has to move ( it is balanced but mass/inertia is still there ). I am thinking the actuator motor will always be receiving a small voltage until the voltage-sums become enough for it to move, so maybe, this small constant voltage on the motor might shorten its life due to brush/coil heat and its ability to dissipate that heat, maybe an electrical relays(s) could releive that energy to a much smaller amount, I will brainstorm on that. I simply love your design, is just very smart thinking, congrats 1000 times.

Pretty good

Nice concept 👍

Thank you for sharing. Can you please provide more detail about the two smaller solar panels? You stated 20w but what are their measurements. Do you have a link for them?

Nice dimensions, basics are fine. You might consider making a frame (like aluminium window blinds) that rotate smaller segment adjacent to each other in the same direction in parallel. That way you could make it larger without to worry about the balance. Basically the outer frame would be horizontal and could be mounted on a roof or vertically on a stand in a garden. Smaller footprint and you would be able to do the second axis by rotating the solar blind on its stand. You will have to make the blinds with solar cells yourself. Maybe i did not explain adequately.

Awesome.

So did you do a comparison of a stationary solar panel compared to the tracking solar panel and see how many watts each one Drew in I'm interested I want to know

Why did you pivot on the width of the panel and not on the length? Appreciate your comments and thoughts about this.

What would happen to this in the winter when there's snow on the ground reflecting light into one of the panels?

You know this guy lives in paradise when the animal sounds in the background sounds like an added soundtrack.

Marvelously executed. How well did the actuator motor hold up?

Elegant solution. Just wondering what you need to do to keep wind from interfering? It's very sunny here year round, but frequently very windy as well.

How did you figure out the angle of the panels on each end?

If both panel are energized , 36 volts maximum directly short circuited 2 panels at high noon, what might happen to the panels?

i was wondering if you even need the 2nd panel, since it resets every morning

Nice Music.

smart!

What about the angle of the 20W side panels?

stronger panel steering won't destroy engine actuator motor ?

Such a great idea ! Ecoflow sells a complicated electronic sun tracker for 3000€ 😂🤣

Do you think 10w panels would be enough to "actuate?"

i like yer door hinges concept . the technology gets better . may i use this . thanks

How much power do you make with this system compared to just lying it flat on the ground?

I have a couple of these actuators on my chicken coop. The one inside the coop has been in place for almost 4 years now. Still going stong. The one outside on the run door....eh....two years maybe....and it did freeze thisbpast winter. However...it isnt under a set of panels. I think they would be fine. Need more power? Run higher output panels for the actuator.

Good job, nice & simple. Maybe you could actually ground mount the 2 panels & still get the same effect. I think diodes to stop back feed of panels would also help, but this is really great to see something so simple that works. Cheers

Any data on the fixed vs tracked panel power output in a day?