Solar follower – a break through?

Yes I know, still no “funnies” this month. I have instead been spending on a less funny but equally pointless endeavour: to build a machine that will rotate to follow the sun.

As I pointed out in my last entry, I have been working on this one on and off for a while, with no success. Now, I hope, I have come up with a solution:


It’s not ideal (it still uses an op-amp), but it does at least work on paper (or at least simulator, which can be found here: http://www.falstad.com/circuit/ ).

So this little chip, containing an op-amp, may be the solution to my problems:




It actually contains 4 op-amps. But at 70p, I’m not that fussed. The main issue will be if it is able to run with very little power to it. After all, it all needs to run on just the power generated by the solar panels. Hopefully I’ll know by tonight.