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Didn't make the cut... Oh well , Space is a vacuum and vacuums suck.

A project log for SAM - Solar Automation Machine.

Sun Tracking, Charging, Cooling , Monitoring, Relay control. for my small solar panel installation.

emericaEmerica 08/25/2014 at 21:180 Comments

Well, I've had SAM on the panels and connected to the web, off an on for the past couple days. Saturday I ran into reset problems. It seemed when the panel/battery voltage was brought over 13.5V the arduino and shield would reboot.

I got a regulator kit from our electronics shop lm317 I think? and it now sits in between the battery voltage and the arduino system, I have it set for 7V, but I might bump that to 9V ?

I'm having some problems now with the temperature sensors, so I bought new ones some replace the ones I mangled a bit. Temp sensing on the panels is broken at the moment, system temp is ok.


The charge controller is showing it's worth now.  What seems to be happening is when the charge controller gets the batteries up to the 14.4V it shorts out the panels.
I loose sensing on the voltage and amperage. Sun still shines bright giving me nothing.

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