Mr RB
Well-Known Member
Hi Boncuk, I've seen people discuss blind solar tracking systems before but not seen a good working system like that yet. There are a couple of faults;
1. Your microcontroller clock, even good ones will lose or gain minutes. A good solution might be a GPS clock but the GPS module adds maybe $60 to the cost and requires the hassle of an antenna etc.
2. A problem that is not easily overcome, the highest insolation (solar brightness) quite often comes from an area of clear sky in situations where there is any cloud over the sun, so tracking the suns position like clockwork will give much less power output than a closed loop system that points the panel at the area of the sky with the most light.
So you may be building a system that is likely to be more expensive and require more high tech (things to go wrong), and will work worse at getting max power output.
1. Your microcontroller clock, even good ones will lose or gain minutes. A good solution might be a GPS clock but the GPS module adds maybe $60 to the cost and requires the hassle of an antenna etc.
2. A problem that is not easily overcome, the highest insolation (solar brightness) quite often comes from an area of clear sky in situations where there is any cloud over the sun, so tracking the suns position like clockwork will give much less power output than a closed loop system that points the panel at the area of the sky with the most light.
So you may be building a system that is likely to be more expensive and require more high tech (things to go wrong), and will work worse at getting max power output.