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Old 03-07-10, 05:12 PM   #19
Xringer
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Default Sun Tracker is tracking with new battery.

Today was a good day. I installed a 20 turn pot and replaced the bad IC (LM339).
The outputs of two of the comparators were stuck at 5V. Should have been
zero or 12V, to drive the relay coils. The new chip (RadioShack) did the trick.

The mount is tracking the sun very nicely. The return-to-east even works.
(I put a black cover over the sensor pod).

So, tonight when the sun goes down, it will go back towards the East until it hits the end limit
(built into the actuator), so it will be already to go at sun rise.
(Note: It just got dark and the Tracker went to the East Home posistion)!

I'm pretty sure the East relay is going to be on all night.
Draining my battery and overheating the LM339?
I guess we will find out in a few days, if it can keep functioning.

Instead of an old SUV battery, I was wondering if a smaller battery
could be used for the actuator motor.?. So, would a small 12V at 7.2AH work?

This afternoon, I watched the charger LEDs and when the mount was moving normally,
the green 'Charged' LED would light, but after I did some test runs of the motor,
the yellow 'Charging' LED would come on for about 10-20 minutes and before it was back to 'Charged' again.

This is the nice little battery I found. It was marked for change in 2008,
but was taken out of service in late 2009.
It may have been over-charged by a wall-wart. It had been disconnected
for about 4 months and still had 13 volts showing..
Hope it has to kahunas to move an array reliable, because it fits inside the waterproof box, very nicely.

It's a valve regulated lead acid battery, and here's my question,
is it okay to run this battery on it's side? (Standing on one end actually).



On top of the battery is the 3A fuse and main cut-off switch, wired to the red (+) battery clip.
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