01-02-2014, 03:02 PM
yea I ran the tracker for over a year, and the average power output was 2x what the fixed panels would crank out over the day. Its algorithm based. Hence the need for accelerometers to tell what direction the panels were pointing in the sky. only used LDR's to verify the math was correct they were pointing at the brightest part of the sky.
What we discovered is that during cloudy days the brightest spot in the sky was sometimes not the sun. I an thinking of building a simpler more cost effective LDR tracker and compare the outputs between the two. The LDR will also track the moon which will produce a little bit of power at night.
I manufactured a polar mount for AZ-EL. your size of panel array is going to need to have some huge motors on it to withstand 90+MPH survival. I figured smaller arrays would work better for wind/snow/ice survival.
Im sure you will have a blast using the mega controller IC, Its actually what I based my controller on. I might consider an eyeball to eyeball meeting with you later this month and perhaps share some of the code and design specs.
What we discovered is that during cloudy days the brightest spot in the sky was sometimes not the sun. I an thinking of building a simpler more cost effective LDR tracker and compare the outputs between the two. The LDR will also track the moon which will produce a little bit of power at night.
I manufactured a polar mount for AZ-EL. your size of panel array is going to need to have some huge motors on it to withstand 90+MPH survival. I figured smaller arrays would work better for wind/snow/ice survival.
Im sure you will have a blast using the mega controller IC, Its actually what I based my controller on. I might consider an eyeball to eyeball meeting with you later this month and perhaps share some of the code and design specs.