Solar Logic Circuits Guide

Disclaimer

Due to the frequency of game updates, all solutions are subject to change and may or may not be functional.

The designs on this page are valid as of v0.2.3304.16432 (2022-06-06)

While this specific Guide calls out the sensor being place a specific direction(north), its not necessary to orient your sensors to a specific direction.

If you find your panels don't point at the sun, you can add either 0,90,180 or 270 to the horizontal until they point at the sun. This guide is an attempt 

to simplify the setup by removing an extra math, and memory chip(6 chips instead of 8).

Geometry Of Solar Panels and Daylight Sensors

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  Geometry of values measured by daylight sensor in horizontal (yaw) mode

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  Geometry of values measured by daylight sensor in vertical (pitch) mode

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  Effect of setting horizontal rotation of a solar panel

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  Equations relating horizontal sensor measurements from various orientations to solar panel horizontal rotation

Solar tracking using Logic Chips

Two-chip single-axis tracking

This is the most basic solar tracking available, and is all you need on the Moon. It even works reasonably well on Mars.

What you need:

• Kit (Logic I/O) x2
• Kit (Sensor) > Daylight Sensor

Place the Daylight Sensor on a vertical surface (e.g a wall) facing sunrise or sunset (doesn't matter which), with the Data Port facing north or south.

Chip	IN	VAR	OUT
Logic Reader	Daylight Sensor	Vertical/Solar Angle
Batch Writer	Logic Reader	Vertical	Solar Panel

Hand-crank the panels to face the sunrise, and they will do their thing.

Six-chip dual-axis tracking

To get a "100%" accurate solar tracker on planets with an offset solar arc, you need to include the Horizontal component to the solar angle.

What you need:

• Kit (Logic I/O) x4
• Kit (Logic Processor)
• Kit (Logic Memory)
• Kit (Sensor) > Daylight Sensor

Place the Daylight Sensor facing up, with the Data Port facing north.

Horizontal
Chip	Chip label	IN	VAR	OUT
Logic Reader	Horizontal Reader	Daylight Sensor	Horizontal
Batch Writer	Horizontal Writer	Horizontal Reader	Horizontal	Solar Panel
Vertical
Chip	Chip label	IN	VAR	OUT
Logic Reader	Vertical Reader	Daylight Sensor	Vertical
Batch Writer	Vertical Writer	Vertical Correction Math	Vertical	Solar Panel
Chip	Chip label	Value
Logic Memory	Vertical Correction Memory	90
Chip	Chip label	IN 1	IN 2	OUT
Logic Math	Vertical Correction Math	Vertical Reader	Vertical Correction Memory	Add

The panels should align themselves to the sun if you make sure to put the Power Port on the panels facing east (90 degrees). If you've already built the panels and logic with the Power Port facing west, swapping the direction of the sensor so that its Data Port faces south will allow the setup to work with no additional changes.

Solar tracking using Integrated Circuits

This is the most powerful way to track the sun, but the implementation might be a bit daunting at first.

What you need:

• Integrated Circuit (IC10)
• Kit (IC Housing)
• Kit (Sensor) > Daylight Sensor

And if you don't already have one set up:

• Kit (Computer)
• IC Editor Motherboard

Place the Daylight Sensor facing up, note which direction the Data Port is facing, and which direction the solar panel Power Port is facing. These two directions are needed in the code. The Daylight Sensor is connected to the d0 screw, that's all you need.

A simple code example can be found here: https://stationeering.com/tools/ic/_2FpmwojGnBq
This code is considered "inefficient" since it's hard-coded to spam all types of solar panels, even if you don't have them.

A better code example can be found here: https://stationeering.com/tools/ic/_2FpoBEcd3QK
It targets the solar-panel types on d2 and (optionally) d3, so it's less spammy. It also has an option for a display (Kit (Console)) on d1 that shows the sum of power output from both types of panels