HARDWARE store products as well as AN MBED integrate assist SOLAR PANELS TRACK THE sun

If you have the space, as well as can develop a tracking rig cheaply you’ll be able to get a great deal much more out of your solar panels. That’s since they work finest when the sun’s rays are hitting them perpendicular to the surface as well as not at an angle. [Michael Davis] hit both of those stipulations with this mbed powered solar tracker.

At a garage sale he chosen up an antenna motor for just $15. The thing was extremely old, however still wrapped in the original plastic. It’s beefy sufficient to relocation his panels, however he very first needed a method to install everything. After inspecting his angles he developed a base out of wood as well as utilized galvanized water pipe as an axle. cable television clamps mate his aluminum angle bracket frame to the pipe. This frame holds the panels securely.

To track the sun he utilized two smaller cells which aren’t simple to pick out in this image. They are monitored by the mbed microcontroller which steps their output in purchase to point the assembly in the direction which has the most intense light. A couple of limit switches are included to stop the assembly when it reaches either side.

This method of utilizing little solar cells as the tracking sensors seems to work well. Here’s one more job that took that approach.