Help making a Sun tracker with Stepper motors Base floor plan

Projects General Guidance
1

Before a start with my question i will let you now that i am new to the forum so please correct me if i am writing in the wrong spot or something else. So my question is i need the floor plan (ex.at bottom) but with stepper motors i have looked al over the internet and not found something that is what i am looking for :(. I think i have the code pit organised it is just this one bit the is stopping me continue on with the project.

Sun-tracking-Arduino-circuit.jpg
Sun-tracking-Arduino-circuit.jpg1024×752 88 KB

2

There are diagrams for Unipolar and Bipolar steppers here:

http://arduino.cc/en/reference/stepper

Do you know which kind you have?

3

Which are you using, steppers (the title) or servos (the fritz)?

4

I want to use Steppers but all the diagrams that i can find are for servos

5

Why not use servos, they are cheap and simple to use. There was another thread about this in the last few weeks. Someone wanted to make a very complex solar tracker. I made myself a crude servo based demo in about an hour using a couple of LDRs as direction sensors. The sun is VERY predictable which makes it easy to track.

...R

6

The reason that I what to use steppers is because I have two and I want the sun tracker to be on the larger side of things so the motor's will have to be stronger.

7

I have to agree with Just, steppers would be better because if you need more torque then first thought all you do is put a gear box on the end or change the ratio of what you have got, the sensors find direction.
As an academic project many years ago I used steppers and the versatility that they offer is well and truly makes them the better option.
The info that you have there Just should tell you if you have uni or bi polar.
Tom.
PS, start with just one stepper and get it working back and forth, then add a pair of sensors, get them to work together.
THEN work on the other axis.
One step at a time will ensure that the minimum of mistakes are made and the maximum amount of programming info is learnt. :slight_smile:

8

Robin2:
The sun is VERY predictable which makes it easy to track.

So predictable, in fact, you don't even need light sensors of any kind.

If you know your latitude, longitude, (and to a lesser extent your altitude), and if you know what time it is (RTC), you can calculate the position of the sun. There's already a TimeLord library that does this.