Sun Tracker or Irrigation Timer to drive motors

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Revision as of 09:07, 26 September 2016 by Definitionofis (talk | contribs)
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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.

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).

File:Irrigation Timer Sun Tracker motor driver.sch

File:Irrigation Timer Sun Tracker motor driver.kicad pcb

Irrigation Timer Sun Tracker motor driver.png

File:Sun Tracker Board Layout.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