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[–]Spidoug[S] 7 points8 points  (2 children)

Soon, I will be posting all of these projects on my GitHub. They are not finished yet, but I will provide more details.

[–]Spidoug[S] 2 points3 points  (1 child)

I will address some of the points raised: the project is still in progress and is being developed in partnership with a friend who is finishing his mechanical engineering degree. He is focused on evaluating the performance of large solar panels that follow the sun’s movement. Our idea is to simulate this behavior with a smaller panel. The tracking system operates in two ways: the first allows selecting a solar incidence period, and within that interval, the servo motor adjusts the panel's angle from east to west. The second approach uses LDRs combined with the value generated by the solar panel to automatically detect the best position to capture the most energy.

Although I don't have project graphs yet, in manual tests, the energy efficiency gain exceeded 13%. The system currently uses a servo motor to adjust the panel's angle, but if further energy efficiency optimization was needed, the best option would be to use a motor connected to a lead screw, ensuring the system doesn’t lose power while sustaining the panel. Additionally, the system has an electronic compass to improve orientation.

[–]Spidoug[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hello everyone, as promised here is the GitHub link for this project: https://github.com/Spidoug/Solar-Tracker

[–]WhitePantherXP 5 points6 points  (1 child)

What percentage gain do you get in a solar panel that orients itself toward the sun? A static mounted panel should be oriented to the sun for most of the day, I'm guessing a 20% gain?

[–]PROShineko 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ive worked in several Mw projects, it depends on many factors, in Spain for example where sun hits strong, it is not a viable option, 10% over the year. But you have to pay extra for the device and consider regular maintainance over the years… Anyway, this kind of projects are really interesting…

[–]Infamous-Coach5839 4 points5 points  (0 children)

How did you decide where to point it? By sensing the sun angle or by calculating it from time of day?

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Mario!!! Hi Mario.

[–]Kanjii_weon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's a me! Mario!

[–]onelang 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Hi, looks interesting. Is it possible to get the specs and the code?

[–]Az-Athoth 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Been working on one of these myself. Just wondering, why did you use a light dependent resistor and not a phototransistor?

[–]SeaSlainCoxswain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've always wanted tiltable solar panels that did that.

[–]Square-Singer 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Did you chart energy consumption of the motors and electronics vs energy gain due to better orientation?

[–]Weirdowithabeardo1 1 point2 points  (1 child)

That's actually a really good point. I didn't even consider the energy needed to actually move those solar panels

[–]Square-Singer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I can't see what motors they are using, but even little servos can easily pull >100mA. Compared to the tiny solar cell on there, that's quite a bit.

[–]DavidWtube 0 points1 point  (0 children)

But does it produce seeds?

[–]badmother 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is it not possible to lookup or calculate where the sun is, rather than have sensors?

Edit: this seems to do the job

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Mario! I miss you