What else would you use old windshield wiper motors for?
A windshield wiper to do a goto? A novel approach. What label does it goto?
Large robots of all kinds.
Mark
Probably use the motor in a persistence of vision project. I'm not sure it spins fast enough though.
As for your idea of moving the solar panels based on time of the year why not get a little more fancy and use a light sensor and have the panels angle through the day and follow the sun for best performance through out the day?
To move your solar panel or panels I would suggest using a linear actuator with position feedback rather than an old wiper motor.
The wiper motor will be under powered and too fast and has no feedback to let you position it and the mechanical part would be a nightmare.
There was a discussion in the past few days here about positioning a solar array using know time and location, using 'Solar Path Algorithm' or SPA.
How about a simple roller furler sheet to cover your solar panle(s) during the evening?
Henry wrote in the future:
To wipe your solar panels, to ensure they're clean and working at full efficiency?
If you use them like you do on a vehicle windshield then you miss wiping most of the panel and they will not work to full efficiency.
Also, if the rubbers become perished you run the risk of scratching the glass on the panel.
Not my choice to clean panels.
I clean mine every now and again with a water and soft brush, just to get dust and the occasional bird poop off.
TrailerTrash:
What else would you use old windshield wiper motors for?
To wipe your solar panels, to ensure they're clean and working at full efficiency?
rockwallaby:
To move your solar panel or panels I would suggest using a linear actuator with position feedback rather than an old wiper motor.
The wiper motor will be under powered and too fast and has no feedback to let you position it and the mechanical part would be a nightmare.There was a discussion in the past few days here about positioning a solar array using know time and location, using 'Solar Path Algorithm' or SPA.
You really don't have to get that fancy. A simple motor, geared down enough, and a single axis tracker is about all you need, once you know the proper average angle needed for your latitude. Even if you need dual-axis positioning, just being able to set the angle once a month or less to account for winter/summer variation will likely get you within 2-3 percent of maximum efficiency.
Once you have that, your feedback system becomes the measurement of voltage output of the panels. Since for the most part, the panels will only move along the single axis in the same direction all day (except when the sun sets, then you move them back to the beginning, for the next day), just move them in that direction until you have maximum voltage output from the panel, then stop the motor. When the voltage falls below a certain absolute minimum (say below 1-2 volts?) move them back to the beginning, because it is likely evening.
You could do this with a microcontroller; you could also do it with simple circuitry (which would probably be more robust). In fact, you could do it with a solar-heated system if you were so inclined (kinda like a hydraulic system where the expansion of water from the sun's heat drives the system - at least, I've seen an experimental tracker design that supposedly does this).
I'm not sure why people like to over-complicate solar panel tracking systems, but they do (now, if we're talking something using mirrors for focusing or such for large scale power generation, that's a different story; even there, though, many systems have designs that have single-axis tracking or none at all - it's just more efficient, and less prone to breakdowns).
cr0sh:
just move them in that direction until you have maximum voltage output from the panel, then stop the motor
I imagine this could work well when the light level was relatively constant and predictable, but won't clouds and so on cause it to stop moving, or start moving, prematurely?
forget the fracking panels.
i wanna know what YOU would do with old windshield wiper motors?
cr0sh:
rockwallaby:
To move your solar panel or panels I would suggest using a linear actuator with position feedback rather than an old wiper motor.
The wiper motor will be under powered and too fast and has no feedback to let you position it and the mechanical part would be a nightmare.There was a discussion in the past few days here about positioning a solar array using know time and location, using 'Solar Path Algorithm' or SPA.
You really don't have to get that fancy. A simple motor, geared down enough, and a single axis tracker is about all you need, once you know the proper average angle needed for your latitude. Even if you need dual-axis positioning, just being able to set the angle once a month or less to account for winter/summer variation will likely get you within 2-3 percent of maximum efficiency.
Once you have that, your feedback system becomes the measurement of voltage output of the panels. Since for the most part, the panels will only move along the single axis in the same direction all day (except when the sun sets, then you move them back to the beginning, for the next day), just move them in that direction until you have maximum voltage output from the panel, then stop the motor. When the voltage falls below a certain absolute minimum (say below 1-2 volts?) move them back to the beginning, because it is likely evening.
You could do this with a microcontroller; you could also do it with simple circuitry (which would probably be more robust). In fact, you could do it with a solar-heated system if you were so inclined (kinda like a hydraulic system where the expansion of water from the sun's heat drives the system - at least, I've seen an experimental tracker design that supposedly does this).
I'm not sure why people like to over-complicate solar panel tracking systems, but they do (now, if we're talking something using mirrors for focusing or such for large scale power generation, that's a different story; even there, though, many systems have designs that have single-axis tracking or none at all - it's just more efficient, and less prone to breakdowns).
dude i already done that long time ago. i wanna know what you would do with the motors. this whole thread is fucked. im gonna erase it and staet over
How about something to lift a beer from a cooler to the height of a chair armrest?
TrailerTrash wrote:
dude i already done that long time ago. i wanna know what YOU would do with old windshield wiper motors?
Ya wanna know what I would do, I dunno, just toss em, me thinks, why, ya got a load to sell?
Not sure what 'old car windscreen wiper motors' have to do with Arduino and in Project Guidance section?
Paul
Rock tumbler motor
What else would you use old windshield wiper motors for?
What is the mechanical output, rotating or back and forth? I'd look at making a giant servo for heavy duty robotic setups.
I used them to power the tank tracks on my model Roman assault tower years ago...not that Roman assault towers had tank tracks, but I felt there was room for improvement on their design.
More recently a friend uses one to power the slideout on his motorhome.
Rob
Excuse me, can you program a way to tell that my / install arduino, wiring diagrams and components required, for wiper as in this vidio Windshield Wiper Control System using Arduino - YouTube me confused, please help,thanks sir