The goal of the Open Sun Harvesting Project is to make advanced DIY sun tracking and heliostat projects more accessible to the general public. Overall, it has been a great success. The programs, electronics, and designs found on this page have successfully been used in both hobbyist and commercial installations located around the world.
This site is authored by me, Gabriel Miller (In case you are wondering who the ” I ” is). I started this particular project in 2008 both because I wanted to learn computer programming and also because I have always had an interest in solar energy. It has grown wildly from there. Suffice it to say that I now know how to program computers.
Note that there is quite a bit of information scattered around this site. The process of building either a sun tracker or a heliostat is a rather extensive one after all. If your goal is to build one of your own, make sure you read through as much as possible. Don’t forget to also visit the forums and the blog for most up to date information.
While reading through the topics on this page, you will no doubt notice that the information is largely biased towards heliostats. This is because my own personal interest is in heliostats, not sun trackers. Of course, heliostats and sun trackers are similar enough in their design that by developing a heliostat control system I also had a sun tracking system too. So if your own interest is to build a sun tracker, you should find that much of this information is still quite relevant.
The Arduino Sun Tracking / Heliostat Program is a program for the Arduino that is able to control multiple types of sun tracking machines and heliostats. It is able to control not just one machine but several, each with its own set of design parameters. It has a myriad of other features as well such as manual control, stepper motor acceleration, and wind protection mode just to start.
To download and learn more about this program, please visit the following links.
Arduino Sun Tracking / Heliostat Program Download Page