Compact DIY heliostat for home lighting with remote control and night lantern The schematic is super complex because I didn't know what was the best method to self calibrate now I would make it simpler and better music: Dreamland Denim
Thanks for the comment. I think the problem is that there is almost nothing decent and compact available for purchase. Sooner or later someone will sell a good one and it will be a success (hope so)
This is great. But you are 100% correct it is sooooooo complicated. I'm trying to make one with Arduino and servos. hahah. Thank you for making this vid. You have encouraged the rest of us.
Many of us do care, and anybody who learns about heliostats SHOULD love the idea. I think if you did the circuitry wires/motors, people could buy their own glass/mirror/pole - I'd pay $500 right now if knew it would hold up for years. The used motors out of old cars that control the windows are VERY reliable and robust (think about how hard they work for so many years). Keep up the good work!
Thanks, about the motors i tried picking up the rain wipers, super strong, but no encoder or any precise position feedback. This is the problem. Best option could be a geared stepper motor, but there could be some backlash
@@MakerFabio yeah - but ultimately simplicity and robustness should be more important than precision. It's cheaper to make a bigger mirror than very precise movement.
@@d.i.vonbriesen8464 unlukily precision is needed, at least for what i have in mind Consider if you have 10 meter from window to mirror, and you make 5 degree error, you have 1 m error in the position, you can totally miss the window Then even thinking better, with a motor without encoder or any calibrated movement i would not even know how to realize a specific amount of rotation
@@MakerFabio i agree- sadly i was originally just thinking about solar tracking panels- mirrors get more complicated because it's not just the sun, but also the target to track. I'm very excited about these things, but agree with you that the circuits are very complicated - i'm not an engineer or very skilled at these things but i do have a lot of passion. Is there any way I can help? I REALLY want to see a viable commercial kit for this- i think that the motors for car seats can be very precise - and are readily available in junk yards or at part stores and very robust. However, perhaps other stepper motors are better. I think they key needs to be elegant simplicity - but i don't know enough about the math to make this happen. I know that we can find cheap mirrors, and cheap hardware to put the mirrors together- but the mechanism and motors - that needs to be rock-solid and easy to use, or else it won't work. That could fit into a small box, and everything else purchased locally.
ive had the idea to create this for over 10 years, and I do have a simpler approach, but I don’t have mechanical or electrical knowledge to actually make them. if you live in a dark room, I can tell you that natural light is a beautiful thing, like a ceiling with reflections from a pool. I used to have a lot of static mirrors but yea, you should definitely make and sell this
Thanks. It took to me years before i decided to really build it. And i found a part time job to find the time The ceiling withe reflection of a pool (sea) is also my favorite lighting
Hey there! Nice work! I would be very interested in some DIY step-by-step manual on how to build it, especially one that runs automatically and is able to still track the sun in partially cloudy sky.
Sure This is calculating the sun position from a clock, so even if cloudy it works. If i collect some interest, i will make a second video with more details
This is the best build I've ever seen. I'm not good at mechanical builds, but decent with electronics, programming and physics. Years looking for something mechanically simple and the best by far. Thank you for sharing.
Vecio bellissima cosa che hai fatto. Concordo con te che è una tecnologia sottovalutata. Ma so che in Valsugana ne parlano da anni per un paese che è sempre al buio. Complimenti, intanto!!
Fabio...brilliant. A second 'how-to' video please. I am interested in how this could be used to make hot water with a series of targeting reflectors. Fingers crossed that you feel so motivated. :-)
I love this. It would be great to sell the circuit board with outputs suitable for slightly bigger motors. I want to make a greenhouse that is heated by this for using in the sub-arctic region I live in.
*I* care tremendously about heliostats! I've been trying to figure out a way to buy or build one for my home for years... please publish more info about how you made this!!
@@sermadreda399 thanks, just received a m5stack, lets see if i m able to do the porting of the project in open soirce. Otherwise i ll simply share my project details, thabks for asking
This is exactly what I have been looking for. I've had this same Idea for ages but I don't have the knowledge to build something like this. Please make a tutorial!! 🙏🏼
Hi Nathan, thanks for writing, if i collect some interested guys i’ll make a specialized video explaining the core parts and challenged and i could also share the code
Hey Maker Fabio, I care about heliostats! I’m looking to make my own. Would love to get some additional details on your schematic and design. It looks to be working great! Have you ever thought to mount a crystal on the wall to target? It would make it glow and look cool 😊
Ehehe Good idea sometimes i m shooting to a small caboche lamp made of cristals (plastic ones) and it really look fantastic I will publish sooner or later another video with the details, and also uploadthe codekn github
You brought a point I always say to my students. If you guys are into tech, you'll have relatively economic access to technology that maybe will be available on the market in 10 years, expensive, and will not be as good as what you have developed.
Very sophisticated. I am building a 32 sq ft (3 square meters) solar furnace and will redirect a similar sized mirror onto it in January February. My solutions are much simpler and less efficient. It will face due south but you cannot swivel the solar furnace to follow the sun. Hence the need for a heliostat. Good luck with your project. BARRY at 45 degrees latitude.
I've often wondered why small heliostats for the home are not available off-the-shelf unlike other solar products (eg. solar powered garden lights). I am working on a prototype roughly the same size as yours but with a Raspberry Pi & Python doing the calculations (overkill I know). Hopefully I will get it working this summer.
Exactly, don t know either why no one produces them . Good idea for the rasbperry, i believe prototype has to be even little more expensive, as long as it is the best method we have to reach the target. Cost optimization will be implemented later
This could solve some big energyproblems. But not pointing in a house. Firehazard for sure. But point at self made solar air heater that gets air from in the house. Heats it with black surface pointed to the sun. And boost with as many heliostats as you want extra.
Hey Fabio, no one cares about heliostat? That's not true, here is another one who does! What you built comes quite close to what I am looking for - so I would really appreciate if you would share more of your experiences and your knowledge! Great Job, thanks for sharing!
Many thanks. You are right , i should have said Very few care I will hold on for a little (some more requests) then i will probably make a nerdy video with several details. Or will try to port my job on an open source platform
@@MakerFabio I do wonder, how much would care if they ever had thought about how much difference natural sunlight can make and that such little gadget can bring it in? Can't wait to see you perform really nerdy ;-)
The movement is really taking little energy, only 100 deg per day i would say, and if you male convex would be easier the pointing, but you would waste light out of the target (window)
Beautiful build! Subscribed and looking forward to the next video in the series. I have been learning arduino and heliostat is my first project. Could you please share how you built the brackets for the servos? I am using a cheap pan/tilt kit I found online but it’s not quite right. Anyway, thank you for the inspiration! I’ve watched so many vids and this is my favorite
Hi sorry for the late reply The mechanism is a laser cut +bent 3mm aluminum i got for a good price (i think 200 euro for 6 kits including bases and sticks) I think i still have the mechanical drawings
I like to use multiple heliostats to simulate the Summer Sun during winter I would focused on one point. probably with UV filter to not roast myself. i gues this would make a great place for a winter garden coffe but noone hase the idea. some Details would be great😁 i see so many aplications. speciali when you have a Shady Garden it could realy help growing vegetables during the winter
I care about the heliostat. A GPS is pretty cheap. Software to locate the sun based on time and coordinates is free. I have been thinking about dead reckoning solution. Or possibly using a cheap camera with a filter. I put the gimbal as the difficult part.
I already have the sw knowng the sun position , no need for gps, you can hardcode the coordinates . The most difficolt parts are sturdy and precise gimballs as you spotted, but even more an accurate position and calibration of the servos (knowing exactly where is the south and any tilt of the system) conpass and accelerometer are not that accurate, and you have also magnetic deviations in the regions
Did you improve on the prototype? Any info on how long the components last (especially being exposed to the sun)? Do you have some DiY info on the construction?
Hi, no, i didn t work on it again, yet. The component lasted many years, now i removed it from the terrace (i prefer to have at least 1 working prototype). The pcb is never exposed at the sun, because it is behind the mirror(which is always facing the sun)
Amazing project. I care a lot about heliostats. I need one, and as you said, they aren’t available in the market. I’m not able to build one., so it would be great if you can share more info. Thanks.
Thanks for asking Ok, im collecting some requests, then i ll make a video with lot of details, maybe ill also port the code it in a open source platform, so you can rebuild it at home.
Please please please, you seem to have the best one out there. Is there any chance you can make that DIY video? Would be soooo appreciated. Or some kind of repository with more details .. I want / I need one!
@@VentureVlog for the pcb (i think 3 pieces manually assembled by me) electronic component and 5 pieces of bended metal, i guess about 2k. But i could be wrong lot of time is passed
@@mo_plants Have you seen this watch?v=vGTHB1IBiNA? There is a printable heliostat been developed by a user. It's called "TemplastaT project", I think.
Hi At the moment i m working on another project so i didn t simplified it yet. but i just called a company that builds similar mechanism to see if we can collaborate. No website too. Sorry
Hello Fabio, I love and admire your heliostat and I was wondering if you would be so kind to maybe help me out with my heliostat project? I have built a heliostat with servo stepper motors, esp32 and gps for long, lat and time. I have the heliostat tracking the sun very accurately in solar panel mode but when I switch to heliostat mode, my sun reflection always drifts away from the target. The heliostat is very level so I'm wondering if I'm using the wrong math formula to calculate the sun reflection's position when the mirror position and sun position are known. Also once the sun reflection and sun positions are known, to calculate the mirror position to keep the sun reflection in the same spot all day. Are you able to share your formula's ? Kind regards, Tim
Hi The mirror has to move half angle compared to the sun movement This is the trick I can share prt of the code but i dont know how to share it I want to keep only a couple of tricks for me until i publish
Hallo! this is super awesome! Is super great what you have done. Can you contact me someway? I really want to make one my own. My south oriented window (i'm in south america) needs this!
Hi, its interesting work. I have also thought of heliostat for my home in multistorey building. Whether this design survives high wind and rain? Please provide more details on design. Thank you.
I am very interested as well !! Is there some way you can sell your new, more simple design as plans, kit, or finished controller with motors, perhaps through SparkFun or AdaFruit here in USA, or possibly a crowd-funding site? Please think about exploring this with the video of your next prototype, if you can give approximate price, you could ask how many would buy.
Thanks This is actually a good idea. Let s say that i will be able to complete the new electronic, then the mechanical part will be one of the most expensive and hard to fetch part. Mechanic has to be strong, i live at the third floor, if a wind gust would make the heliostat mirror falling in to someone car (or head) would be really bad. So how do i manage to provide the mechanical skeleton? Maybe as 3d printed project? Since it is a kit , am i still liable if something happen? Thanks for help on thinking
Hey Fabio, great! I was wondering what your result was in creating the best and simplest self calibrate system. Could you share what would be your choice now?
My idea is supercool (i think) i want to write it and make a video about it before telling, so at least i can not be “outpatented “ . I don t want to patent it, to leave it public, but i need a publication in advance
@@MakerFabio Yep - get the prior art out there so no one can ‘take’ it from you via a poorly validated patent. BTW you can also self-file a preliminary patent with the USPTO for very little $$$ as another form of prior art
I am Vitamin D deficient. I wish somebody sell something that direct and concentrate the sun to a larger area. Many people can use it for sunbathing during the winter.
Hi Thanks, i keep this as a hobby, it’s a long way to a finite product. I already have a full time nob so no time to take care seriosly to this product
Unluckily I think for small production batches at least 300$ for good quality materials and some earnings. I know it s a lot Then several Chinese clones will come for 100$
You are right. The problem is that YT does not understand my accent for automatic caption so i have to write by hand But i have to find the time to do so Thanks for the feedback
at least one out of a 100 tausend doe car. just do the math. but you are hard to finde i was first looking on transport ligt via glas fiber. and onli leater came across the heliostat
Hi Also glass fiber is interesting, you can brung light with curves to the inners room, but also light concentrators are hard to develop or find Lets see what will be available for commercialization without paying a fortune
@@meinereiner7777 hi , unluckily those small heliostats are not available There is only one in my knowledge, but I don t like it too much, is called wikoda sunflower
So bad there is no interest, for people in appartements indeed it could be necessary to safely secure the device, but for people in homes this should be a no brainer for rooms badly exposed.
