I am building a new solar / camera mast test box this weekend; it looks like, with printing time, it’s going to take a couple of weekends to get it done. The mast base (below) took all day to print. After this build, I will have some more designs and code to share.
The design is based on the one I already have in the rover, but instead of printing out a large rover tub, I am printing out a 190x190mm tub for this test. It will contain six batteries, four for the compute and two for the servos. I think I can run four panels in parallel and let all the batteries use up all the juice, or I will run three in parallel for the compute and one for the servos. The servos will only run at the top of the hour to raise the mast, take photos and then lower the mast. There should be enough power to allow it to run during the day and recharge the batteries. We will see. That is why it’s called testing.
Part of this test is to learn how the servos will work and if they can make it outside for a month or longer. I needed to order another USB Webcam and an “Adafruit 9-DOF Absolute Orientation IMU Fusion Breakout – BNO055“
The goal is for the entire mast to rotate and the top tilt. This should allow me to take 360-degree photos, and with two cameras, I can make them 3D. The mast base has a large box for the 16-channel servo controller. The Rover will have two controllers, one for the mast and the other for the wheels. I did this to reduce the number of wires passed from the mast into the tub.
