Akula Posted September 5, 2011 Report Share Posted September 5, 2011 I want to build a dual-axis solar tracking array and use open source hardware and software to drive it. I know jack about arduino so I wanted to bounce some ideas off of someone in the know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unfunnyryan Posted September 5, 2011 Report Share Posted September 5, 2011 simple photocells + servo motor + servo motor shield for an arduino uno and you're done. code should be super simple if you have any C or java experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akula Posted September 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2011 I need big servo motors, its going to be 9-12 solar panels. I probably want to run relays, rather than control the motors, then I could have several arrays. Which arduino processor should I go after? Uno? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rally Pat Posted September 5, 2011 Report Share Posted September 5, 2011 Side note, I was at Micro Center the other day and I asked about where their Arduino's were, and no one had any idea wtf I was talking about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akula Posted September 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2011 do they have arduinos? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rally Pat Posted September 5, 2011 Report Share Posted September 5, 2011 Ryan said they did... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Jones Posted September 5, 2011 Report Share Posted September 5, 2011 :dumb: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akula Posted September 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2011 I see they have some in stock. My mother in law works for Microcenter. I wonder if I can get the employee discount. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unfunnyryan Posted September 5, 2011 Report Share Posted September 5, 2011 Side note, I was at Micro Center the other day and I asked about where their Arduino's were, and no one had any idea wtf I was talking about. yes, they are all dumb, part of why i left. they are to the right of the returns counter do they have arduinos? yes Ryan said they did... yes I see they have some in stock. My mother in law works for Microcenter. I wonder if I can get the employee discount. friends and family discounts are coming up, so she would be able to do it for you if you came in. discounts are pretty drastic on arduino stuff, go for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tractor Posted September 6, 2011 Report Share Posted September 6, 2011 Help me to understand what your trying to do. You to want use a motor drive to keep some solar panels facing the sun for optimal power? The problem is much simpler than you are thinking right now. First theres no reason to have dual axis since the sun moves in one direction. You simply need a motor on a shaft angled at about 39-40 degrees north. One good source of motors would be a telescopes drive assembly. This would also give you the hardware interface to connect to a PC. Next you just build a very simple program to cause it to drive backwards in order to reset the system to east for when the sun rises the next day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paktinat Posted September 6, 2011 Report Share Posted September 6, 2011 Why arduino? That is over kill. plus you run the risk of your tracking setup consuming more power than your panel produces. You need a couple photo detectors some op-amps and a h-bridge: http://cdselectronics.com/Kits/SolarTracker.htm Also +1 on the sun only being on one axis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akula Posted September 6, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 6, 2011 (edited) Help me to understand what your trying to do. You to want use a motor drive to keep some solar panels facing the sun for optimal power? The problem is much simpler than you are thinking right now. First theres no reason to have dual axis since the sun moves in one direction. You simply need a motor on a shaft angled at about 39-40 degrees north. One good source of motors would be a telescopes drive assembly. This would also give you the hardware interface to connect to a PC. Next you just build a very simple program to cause it to drive backwards in order to reset the system to east for when the sun rises the next day. The sun doesn't track in one direction all year. From my back yard, the sun rises on the left side of my yard in the winter, and sets on the right side, tracking to the south of my house all day. In the summer it rises in the left, but sets in front of my house on the right. The angle the sun strikes the earth changes throughout the year, its how we get "seasons". At noon the sun is higher in the sky. so, I need to track left to right, and follow the sun into the sky and back down, 2 axis. Edited September 6, 2011 by Akula forgot to add noon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unfunnyryan Posted November 13, 2011 Report Share Posted November 13, 2011 bump. How did your project come along? I recently finished stage one of my project to control our hot tub with an Arduino. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justinwebb Posted November 13, 2011 Report Share Posted November 13, 2011 yay for arduino stuff, I designed a traffic light controller to control my 8 traffic lights lol almost 400 lines of code Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unfunnyryan Posted November 13, 2011 Report Share Posted November 13, 2011 yay for arduino stuff, I designed a traffic light controller to control my 8 traffic lights lol almost 400 lines of code Where did you get traffic lights? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justinwebb Posted November 13, 2011 Report Share Posted November 13, 2011 Where did you get traffic lights? I know some people that work for various cities in OH that after taking the old ones down they take them and sell them or give them away My garage looks like a traffic light blew up inside with all of them just sitting there lol. Its turned into a strange hobby of mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unfunnyryan Posted November 13, 2011 Report Share Posted November 13, 2011 Want to get rid of a few, and tell me what kind of relays you used? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justinwebb Posted November 13, 2011 Report Share Posted November 13, 2011 Want to get rid of a few, and tell me what kind of relays you used? haha I wont be selling mine most are hard to come by, but if my friend has any more left over the next time he takes some down i will grab some for ya. I used a TRIAC and an optoisolator on each one to drive the lights Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akula Posted November 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2011 I got some of the stuff I needed. My son began learning the programming. I have been too tied up with work to pay enough attention to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unfunnyryan Posted November 15, 2011 Report Share Posted November 15, 2011 just to gloat: my arduino project got featured on hackaday yesterday Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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