[RE-wrenches] FW: Tracker manual needed

Thu Jul 23 13:24:10 EDT 2020

Kyle's dad Jeff is a wealth of knowledge also. The Wattsun HZLA tracker
is the easiest way to install 5KW without a ladder. Gives you a dawn to
dusk source of power with a 25% gain over fixed. If you need that for
cooling or long days of pumping water, it is a good value over virtual
tracking. 

So it was a TR. RIP pointing south  

Dave Angelini Offgrid
Solar
"we go where powerlines don't"
http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/
[1]
e-mail offgridsolar at sti.net [2]
text 209 813 0060

On Thu, 23 Jul 2020
09:14:50 -0700, William Miller  wrote:   

Friends: 

Kyle was very quick
to help with information on this intriguing but ultimately inconsequential
issue. Below is his response. 

William 

FROM: Kyle Greulich
[mailto:kyle at wattsun.com [3]] 
SENT: Thursday, July 23, 2020 6:54 AM
TO:
william at millersolar.com [4]; 'RE-wrenches'
SUBJECT: RE: [RE-wrenches]
Tracker manual needed   

Hi William and others, 

I think this is some
sort of modified TR55 (tilt and roll) Wattsun tracker, but the way it's
modified doesn't really make sense to me. Without that tilt adjustment it
isn't really oriented in a productive way, especially with the way the
controllers are designed to work. To me, the only messing with it worth
doing would be to get the tilt oriented in a southerly direction, without
that it just isn't going to work well. Add to the fact that the panels
can't be doing too much, so unless you are going all in, it doesn't make
sense to really dive into the tracker.  

I attached the old guide for the
TR55 tracker. If you guys have any other tracker questions always feel free
to send them my way. It seems as though many of you have some negative
feelings toward trackers, and I certainly understand that especially when
it comes to early tracker tech. But, if you ever want to discuss any of our
current tech I would love to have the conversation. 

Thank you 

Kyle

KYLE GREULICH - Wattsun Solar Trackers 

T +1.973.647.7751 E
kyle at wattsun.com [5] 

FROM: William Miller [mailto:william at millersolar.com
[6]] 
SENT: Wednesday, July 22, 2020 9:15 PM
TO: RE-wrenches 
SUBJECT: RE:
[RE-wrenches] Tracker manual needed   

Ray and other Wrenches: 

I agree
on all counts: 

1. This is a field mod. 

2. Not worth any effort (the
arrays are temporary until a barn is built to hold the real solar). 

3.
Manually point it south-ish and forget it. 

4. Tracking arrays should be
replaced with fixed arrays. 

I was mostly just curious... and wanting to
make sure I had not yet lost my mind out in the sun. 

Thanks everyone.

William 

FROM: RE-wrenches
[mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org [8]] ON BEHALF OF
Ray
SENT: Wednesday, July 22, 2020 5:06 PM
TO:
re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org [9]
SUBJECT: Re: [RE-wrenches] Tracker
manual needed   

I just took a look at your pics, its definitely a really
old, modified Wattsun. You can see the primer paint where they welded the
main square tube directly to the cap. You can also see the empty holes in
the bracket on the right side of the tube, where the tilt adjuster would
have mounted. It originally should have had a simple fixed N-S tilt
adjustment, that was something like a DP margin-bottom: 5.0pt;"> 

Friends:

So far it looks like I have stumped all of you on identifying these
trackers.  

These trackers are trying to work. The electronics and motors
are operable. Unlike the diagram below, these trackers do not have an
inclined axis to allow the tracking to sweep from east to west with the
panels inclined to compensate for latitude and season.  

The trackers spun
around their mounting poles and I simply want to know how to orient the
axis so I can put them back to work: 

A. If I orient the axis N-S the
tracker would track east to west with no tilt towards the south.  

B. If I
orient the axis E-W the tracker would alter tilt angle as the day
progressed, but never facing other than due south. 

This all seems
strange, but maybe I just don't have my mind wrapped around the concept as
applies to these units. Maybe these mounts were modified in the ancient
past when they were installed. The original installer is no longer on this
planet so he can't be asked. 

I created a web site to post all of the
photos so anyone who is curious can look at full sized images. The web site
is here [10]. 

Thanks everyone for trying to help. This is a real head
scratcher. 

William 

805-438-5600 

FROM: RE-wrenches
[mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org [11]] ON BEHALF OF
larry at starlightsolar.com [12]
SENT: Wednesday, July 22, 2020 9:53 AM
TO:
RE-wrenches
SUBJECT: Re: [RE-wrenches] Tracker manual needed   

William, 

This type of mount is a polar axis type and should be aligned with the
pivot N-S. The actuator can then swing the array E-W. The attached photo is
an example of how the mount was used in the C-band antenna days. (1980's
for the young folks)   

It's hard to tell but it looks like the elevation
bolt is missing that connects the azimuth bar to the pole mount cap. Can
you supply a better photo of the mount?    

Set the elevation angle to
latitude for best all year performance. Elevation can also be seasonally
adjusted for more gain.    

There are 3 types of sensors most commonly
used in this style of linear actuator. Hall effect, reed switch or a 10
turn potentiometer.         

Larry Crutcher
Starlight Solar Power Systems 

On Jul 22, 2020, at 8:33 AM, William Miller  wrote:  

Dave:  

The
trackers appear to work. I am not clear on what direction to orient them.
Do you know?  

William Miller   

www.millersolar.com [14]    

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