Description
While solar panels perform best when pointed directly at the sun, tracking the sun across the sky raises two interesting questions. Does a tracking solar panel produce enough extra power compared to a stationary one to make a real-world difference, and why do we not see motorized tracking systems on every roof and solar farm? My name is Zach, and I am The Byte Sized Engineer. To answer these exact questions, I decided to build an automatic solar tracker, and I set a specific constraint for myself: I had to do it completely without using a microcontroller.
Building a maximum power point tracker (MPPT) - The Byte Sized Engineer | DigiKey
https://youtu.be/IItPdty3DKE?si=Bo_P6a3b9dxzwCYS
Parts:
1 - LM39: https://www.digikey.com/short/f1tv2j8w
1 - L9110: https://www.digikey.com/short/rj7cq2h4
2 - Photoresistors: https://www.digikey.com/short/ztr93jn0
1 - N20 DC motor: https://www.digikey.com/short/zh581cbm
2 - Momentary switches: https://www.digikey.com/short/8jwnhzb2
Related Link: https://www.digikey.com/en/maker/projects/solar-panel-tracking-without-a-microcontroller/e85b58e365ad454d9346d58453d04f43
Learn more:
Maker.io - https://www.digikey.com/en/maker
DigiKey’s Blog – TheCircuit https://www.digikey.com/en/blog
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And follow us on X https://x.com/digikey
https://www.youtube.com/@bytesizedengineering
00:00 Two interesting questions
00:45 What we’re doing in this video
01:32 The experiment
03:32 One that tracks and one that doesn’t
05:57 Not totally happy
06:49 This needs control logic, but not a microcontroller
07:47 Understanding a dual comparator
12:36 Testing and tuning
14:29 Power monitor side quest
15:13 Day 1 testing and data
16:54 Day 2 data
18:48 Day 3 and 4 testing
21:15 Answering the big questions