Greenwatts

The Canuckle

Our first solar tracker design provides single vertical axis solartracking controlled by a computer. It uses a small 12 volt 2 watt solar panel that would be good for trickle charging a 12 or 6 volt battery. This design does not use our LM339 solartracking circuit but instead uses a stepper motor connected to a parallel port. The circuit uses a L6221A stepper motor control chip to drive the stepper motor. There are several programs available on the internet that can be used to drive the digital inputs required for the L6221A. You can see a video of this solar tracker in action on my youtube channel solar tracker cost $12.

Building this simple solar tracker design requires only a few basic tools and easily obtainable parts. First you need to locate a scrap printer. Inkjets are the most common but an old lazer printer will also have the required parts. The ABS fittings can be purchased at any hardware store. You will also need a small PCB hobby board which can be purchased at any electronics outlet. See the parts and tool list for details..

The first step is to disassemble the printer. You will be using the stepper motor, the stepper motor drive IC and a few capacitors, resistors and connectors, the power supply and the paper feed spur gear. The paper feed spur gear is pressed onto a shaft and can be removed using a socket and hammer. The IC, caps and resistors can be removed by carefully heating the solder side of the circuit board with a propane torch until the solder melts then tap the board on a hard surface and the parts will simply fall off.