Doomsday preppers, hoarders, take note… Electrical power can go down at any time due to natural disasters, overwhelmed power stations and, of course, various apocalypses. Still, in those times, some of the more thrifty individuals turn to gas powered generators to keep their frozen burritos cool and their favorite shows […]
Instructables user deba168 is an electrical engineer based in India. He posted a tutorial to solve a common problem in his country:
In India most of the people are living in rural area where national grid transmission line is not reached till now.The existing electric grids are not capable of supplying the electricity need to those poor people. So renewable energy sources (photo voltaic panels and wind-generators) are the best option I think. I know better about the pain of village life as I am also from that area. So I designed this DIY solar charge controller to help others as well as for my home.You can’t believe, my home made solar lighting system helps a lot during the recent Cyclone Phailin.
He then made a charge controller running on the Arduino Uno and with an important task: to protect the rechargeable battery of photovoltaic systems. It regulates the voltage and current coming from the solar panels and it’s placed between a solar panel and its battery . It is used to maintain the proper charging voltage on the batteries so as the input voltage from the solar panel rises, the charge controller regulates it, preventing any over charging. It works on the principle of PWM which improves efficiency of the solar PV systems.
You can follow all the steps on his page but first take a look at the video:
This data could aid in knowing where best to plant a garden, or simply to understand changes of light intensity throughout the seasons in your micro-climate.
And while this project is readymade for recording levels of sunlight, the Arduino has a total of six analog inputs (labeled A0 – A5) and could easily record other variables. For example temperature, motion, or barometric pressure. Makers looking for a mid-level Arduino build, or knowledgeable coders looking to solder together their first homemade shield, the Sun Logger is a great project to build!
The build is part of a high school class and they packed in some really nice features. The first is the parabolic mirror which focuses the sun’s rays on the chamber of the engine. The heat is what makes it go, and the video after the breaks shows it doing just that.
But the concept behind the mirror makes for an interesting challenge. The light energy is focused at a narrow point. When the sun moves in the sky that point will no longer be at an efficient position to power the engine. This issue is solved by a pair of stepper motors which can reposition the dish. It’s done automatically by an Arduino Uno which makes readings from four LDR (photoresistors) in that cardboard tube mounted at the top of the dish. If the light intensity is the same for all four, then the tube is pointed at the sun. If not, the motors are tweaked to get the best angle possible.
Via:[Hackaday]
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