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Assembling the Arduino Sun Harvester
Electronics System

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This documentation is part of theOpen Sun Harvesting Project.

This page explains how to wire together the current Arduino Sun Harvester Electronics System.

Previous version of this system can be found hereif you need the documentation.
We will start by listingall of the different components that you willneed to build the circuit.

Note that this component list is meant formedium (about 1m^2 of collector surface area)sized sun
trackers and heliostats. Larger machines can be controlled by using more powerful driver boards,
stepper motors, and a larger power supply, but that is not covered here yet. (I eventually plan to
develop a board that allows you to easily connect larger driver boards to the existing system, but more
on that in the future.)

Component List
Note that the various Sun Harvester circuit boards required for this project are currently only
available throughThe Cerebral Meltdown Store. Click thelink to learn more about the item.

Sun Harvester Shield

Sun Harvester Shield to Driver Board Adapter (Optional, and only required when controlling one
machine)
Sun Harvester Shield Breakout Board(If you only want to control one machine, and dont plan on
adding more in the future, you dont need this item.)
Sun Harvester Driver Board (One for every sun tracker or heliostat)
Power Supply for Driver Boards
2Stepper Motorsper sun tracker or heliostat
2 Limit Switchesper sun tracker or heliostat
Potentiometer (Not required for sun tracking)
Wind Protection Mode Switch (Optional)
About / Contact
The following items are not currently available through The Cerebral Meltdown Store and must be
Privacy Policy
obtained through other suppliers. We will cover these items in more detail since theydont have store
Disclaimer
link descriptions like the above items.

Arduino Microcontroller (Arduino Mega 2560 is recommended)

This work is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution-
Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United
States License.
Power Supply for Arduino
Wires for Stepper Motors
Straight through Ethernet Cable
Power Cable for Driver Boards
Wire for Limit Switches

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Recent Posts Arduino Microcontroller

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Description of the Sun
I recommend the Arduino Mega 2560 for this system. Make sureyou getthe 2560 and not the older
Mega version. The Arduino Uno also works, but you might find the amount of available programming
space constricting. The Uno is also less accurate because it is unable to fit the bettersun position
calculations in its programming space
Other Arduinos can be made to work, but you might not find it worth the trouble. It is recommended
that you read the Sun Harvester ShieldArduino Compatibilities page if you are considering using a
different Arduino.
Make sure to purchase your board through a reputable site. Adafruit and Sparkfun are two good U.S.
suppliers. There are many knockoff boards available at lower prices, but their quality is often suspect.
Arduino Power Supply
You will need a 9V power supply to power the Arduino board. Take a look atthis onefrom
Adafruit.com as an example. The Arduino is also powered through the same USB cable that you use to
program it, so one can be usedfor temporary set ups.

Wires for Stepper Motors

Depending on your machines design, you maybe able to just connect your stepper motors directly to
the driver board. If the driver board is located some distancefrom the stepper motorsthough, you will
need to extend the length of their wires. In the past, I have purchased suitable stepper motor wire from
EBay. The stuff used for CNC machines works well. Ideally, you should choosewire that is capable of
withstanding the elements if exposed.

Straight through Ethernet Cable.

When purchasing your Ethernet cable, make sure you get a straight through Ethernet cable (as
opposed to a crossover cable). You can tell that its straight through by comparing both ends and seeing
if the color patterns on the small wires inside the connectors are in the same order.
Direct burial Ethernet cable is best as it is able to withstand the elements.

Power Cables for Driver Boards

Each driver board in the system will require a two wire cable to supply power from the power supply.

The cheapest, best option that I have been able to find is landscape wire, frequently used for outdoor
lighting. As the name implies, it is designed to be used outside and will thus hold up to the elements.

Wire for Limit Switches

Depending on your machines design, you may have to place your limit switches some distance away
from the main circuit boards. You will thus have to run a bit of wire to make the connections between
the two.

Since it is just a signal wire, it need not be a heavy gauge. It should ideally be something that will hold
up to the elements though. Either the Ethernet or landscape cable mentioned above could be made
towork for this, although the Ethernet cable contains thinner gauge wire which will plug easily into the
screw terminals on either the Sun Harvester Shield or Driver Board.

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Assembling the Circuit

Attaching the Shield to the Arduino
When attaching the shield to the Arduino, line up the header pin on the shield indicated in the picture
below so that plugs into pin 0 on the Arduino. If you are using the Arduino Uno two of the pins, A6,
A7, will hang over the end as they are only available on the Arduino Mega.

Connecting a Driver Boardfor Controlling a Single

Machine
To assemble the electronics for a single machine system, you will need to connect a Sun Harvester
Driver Board to the Sun Harvester Shield . There are two ways that you can do this. The first method is
to just hand solder the individual connections from the driver board to the shield. The second method is

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to use the Sun Harvester Shield to Driver Board Adapter. Both methods are described in the link below.
Connecting a Driver Board for Controlling a Single Machine

Connecting Driver Boards for Multiple Machines using

the Breakout Boards
You can control multiple machines by connectingmultiple driver boards to the circuit, one for each
machine. These boards areadded to the circuit by using breakout boards. The link below describes how
to do this.

Connecting Driver Boards for Multiple Machines using Breakout Boards

Wiring theLimit Switches

The limit switches (more accurately called homing switches in this application) are used to reset the
machines position. You will need two limit switches for every machine that you wish to control. One is
used for the altitude rotation and the other for the azimuth rotation.
Click the link below to view the wiringfor this step
Connecting the Limit Switches to the Sun Harvester Circuit

Wiring theTarget Changer Potentiometer and Wind

Protection Mode Switch to the Sun Harvester Shield
If you are building a sun tracker, then you dont need the target changer potentiometer. If you are
building one or more heliostats, then the potentiometer is required.

The wind protection mode switch is optional. Leaving it disconnected from the circuit will only prevent
you from putting the machine(s) into wind protection mode. Note that the wind protection mode
switch should not be the only fail safe you implementto prevent your machine from damage in high
winds.
Click the link below to view the wiringfor this step
Connecting theTarget Changer Potentiometer and Wind Protection Mode Switch to the Sun
HarvesterShield

Wiring theArduino Power Supply

Just to clear up any confusion, the power supply for the Arduino and the power supply for the driver
boards are not the same. The Arduino power supplyis typically a small 9V supply while the driver board
power supply is a bit more robust.

The wiring for the Arduinos power supply is pretty obvious. Just plug it into the Arduino. If you happen
to have a supply with no plug, you can also wire it directly to the Sun Harvester Shield by connecting
the wires to the screw terminal in the upper right hand corner of the shield. Positive goes to Vin, and
negative goes to Gnd.

Also note that the Arduino is powered through the USB cable as well, so remember to unplug both it
and the power supply when working on the circuit.

Wiring the Driver Board Power Supply

If you are only controlling a single machine, then you will wire the driver board power supply directly to

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the driver board. Positive goes to M+, and negative goes to GND on the driver board.
If you are controlling multiple machines, then you will wire the driver board power supply to the
breakout boards instead. You can technically use any of the terminals wired M+ or GND, but I usually
use the one located at the upper right hand corner of the breakout board. If using more than one
breakout board, I would then use the terminal on the left side of the first board to transfer power to
right side the second breakout board. (This is shown more clearly in the Connecting Driver Boards for
Multiple Machines using Breakout Boardssection.)

The positive wire of the supply goes to M+ and the negative wire goes to GND on the breakout boards.

Wiring theStepper Motors to the Driver Board

The wiring for the stepper motors sold in the store is as follows.

Red wire > A+

Yellow wire > A-
Green wire > B+
Grey wire > B-

This color scheme will most likely be different if using anotherstepper motor. Bipolar stepper motors
(4 wires) tend to be the easiest to wire to the driver board since they have fewer wires compared to
the unipolar variety of stepper motors. Unipolar stepper motors can be wired as bipolar stepper motors
if needed. Refer to the manufacturers datasheet for the correct wiring if possible. Otherwise, a quick
websearch will reveal several websites with greatinstructions on stepper motor wiring.
RelevantForum Link

If youre curious, the history of this circuit along with information on how it works is available at the
following page on this sites forum. Note that the topic drifts around a bit since it is just a forum
thread. Also, the more recent posts are more accurate than the earliest ones.
http://cerebralmeltdown.com/forum/index.php?topic=335.0

This documentation is part of theOpen Sun Harvesting Project.

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