Difference between revisions of "Sun Tracker or Irrigation Timer to drive motors"

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(added a simple power supply)
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ALL MY PROJECTS ARE HERE: http://www.opencircuits.com/User:Definitionofis
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This is using two LEDs to sense the sun and send +- or -+ logic signals to a full bridge motor driver like L298 or http://www.redrok.com/led3xassm.htm LED3X schematic. I bought his. I recommend it.  
 
This is using two LEDs to sense the sun and send +- or -+ logic signals to a full bridge motor driver like L298 or http://www.redrok.com/led3xassm.htm LED3X schematic. I bought his. I recommend it.  
  
I changed the front end logic to 4060 and 4011 ICs here, for fun. You could use this circuit to turn on an irrigation motor for a very short time every several hours (just omit the sun sensor and select appropriate timing pins and much lower oscillation frequency for the 4060).
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I changed the front end logic to 4060 and 4011 ICs here, because I want to put the sun sensor separate from the controller board so it does not weather and die again, after 8 years of use. The circuit turns on a motor for 3 seconds once every 47 seconds to move the solar panels. You could use this circuit to turn on an irrigation motor for a very short time every several hours (just omit the sun sensor and select appropriate timing pins and much lower oscillation frequency for the 4060, since 3 seconds every 47 seconds is not long enough for irrigation).
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[Update: Aug 31, 2017. This has been in use for a year and it is reliable. I had another car battery go weak after five years, so I returned the ten year-old battery and kept the "new" dead car battery. It parks the solar rotator back to sunrise position reliably every night. I do not use wall adapter power for a year now. In this era, a microcontroller could be used instead of two ICs, but then you have to program the microcontroller (and commercially product test for radio wave output for a commercial product; somebody told me so).]
  
 
[[File:Irrigation_Timer_Sun_Tracker_motor_driver.sch]]
 
[[File:Irrigation_Timer_Sun_Tracker_motor_driver.sch]]
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[[File:Irrigation_Timer_Sun_Tracker_motor_driver.png]]
 
[[File:Irrigation_Timer_Sun_Tracker_motor_driver.png]]
  
I made a simple trickle charger and voltage-reduction circuit
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[[File:solarTrackerBoard.png]]
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I also made a simple trickle charger (below) and voltage-reduction circuit
 
to power my motors and above circuit directly from the solar panels
 
to power my motors and above circuit directly from the solar panels
instead of plugging them into a wall outlet DC power supply:
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instead of plugging them into a wall outlet DC power supply. I am using an
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almost dead car battery.
  
 
[[File:DC_Solar_to_15vdc+trickle_charge.png]]
 
[[File:DC_Solar_to_15vdc+trickle_charge.png]]

Revision as of 18:13, 31 August 2017

ALL MY PROJECTS ARE HERE: http://www.opencircuits.com/User:Definitionofis

This is using two LEDs to sense the sun and send +- or -+ logic signals to a full bridge motor driver like L298 or http://www.redrok.com/led3xassm.htm LED3X schematic. I bought his. I recommend it.

I changed the front end logic to 4060 and 4011 ICs here, because I want to put the sun sensor separate from the controller board so it does not weather and die again, after 8 years of use. The circuit turns on a motor for 3 seconds once every 47 seconds to move the solar panels. You could use this circuit to turn on an irrigation motor for a very short time every several hours (just omit the sun sensor and select appropriate timing pins and much lower oscillation frequency for the 4060, since 3 seconds every 47 seconds is not long enough for irrigation). [Update: Aug 31, 2017. This has been in use for a year and it is reliable. I had another car battery go weak after five years, so I returned the ten year-old battery and kept the "new" dead car battery. It parks the solar rotator back to sunrise position reliably every night. I do not use wall adapter power for a year now. In this era, a microcontroller could be used instead of two ICs, but then you have to program the microcontroller (and commercially product test for radio wave output for a commercial product; somebody told me so).]

File:Irrigation Timer Sun Tracker motor driver.sch

File:Irrigation Timer Sun Tracker motor driver.kicad pcb

Irrigation Timer Sun Tracker motor driver.png

SolarTrackerBoard.png

I also made a simple trickle charger (below) and voltage-reduction circuit to power my motors and above circuit directly from the solar panels instead of plugging them into a wall outlet DC power supply. I am using an almost dead car battery.

DC Solar to 15vdc+trickle charge.png

File:DC Solar to 15vdc+trickle charge.kicad pcb File:DC Solar to 15vdc+trickle charge.sch