[mcdirty]

I'll just leave this here...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL9PcGu_xrA&t=174s

[ncmncm]

Nowadays panels are cheap enough that if you want more power than you get with them fixed in place, you just add more panels.

[kumarvvr]

Exactly. Any mechanism that moves the panel to follow the sun, must be sturdy enough to also withstand high winds, which is inevitably costlier than proof of concept ideas.

Better to add more panels.

A better way to ensure more power output is to have a set of panels with a small battery back to automate cooling of the panels and cleaning of the panels.

[duckmysick]

Something to consider is when adding more panels brings your total installation power over the limit of your net metering agreement.

[barney54]

Not necessarily. Yes, they are cheap, but most current solar installations use single axis trackers. They are simple and increase yield.

[psyguy]

Are panels cheaper than the servo motor & Arduino used in this tool? Not to mention that at mass produced scales chip costs are usually 1/5 the price of an Arduino. What if every panel used these tools, we could increase the amount of power we gather from solar.

[1970-01-01]

Reminds me of "the Russians used a pencil"

[ancarda]

Right sentiment (look for a simple solution), but sadly that story isn't true. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Pen#Uses_in_the_U.S._and...

[pilingual]

SunSaluter:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ueWgctIEX1s

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/women-in-science-the-low_b_87...

[recuter]

I raise you a wax motor:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiADday0mDA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wax_motor

tl;dr - sun rises, temperature rises, wax material expands, motor actuates, solar panel tracks the sky as if it was a sun flower. Maybe the gloop is sentient or something.

[freemint]

Variation in temperature between days (summer vs winter) is larger then variation between morning and afternoon.

[YossarianFrPrez]

Great, simple solution, especially if the axes of motion are un-restricted.

[ww520]

This sun tracker is very simple and works well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj1E7o7J3qc

[Mandatum]

Simple Solution is often the best. Although I wonder what this adds to overall build costs?

[blenderdt]

But this only works in direct sunlight.

And the next day your panels are staring in the wrong direction.

[MaurizioPz]

the solution it's explained in the video