**I need a motor which will turn one-fifth of a turn clockwise when the sun rises and one-fifth of a turn counter-clockwise when the sun sets.
Any suggestions? The simpler the better.
Thanks. **
I have a digital minute 12V timer I was hoping to use.
Hi Olivia,
That’s an interesting project! We can think of two ways of making a system to open and close the door without limit switches.
- Servo motor and Arduino microcontroller
A servo motor, such as the Hitec HS-322HD Standard Heavy Duty Servo, would give you control of the door open/closed positions to within a degree and wouldn’t require any additional geardown, so you can mount the output shaft directly to the door (or through a shaft extension for length).
However, this motor requires a PWM signal to set its position, so you would need a microcontroller (such as an Arduino) to control it and that would require a bit of programming in C. The Arduino can accept a 12 volt power source, but we would need to convert one of your 12 volt signals down to 5 volts so that the Arduino can use it as an input to determine the direction to move. This would require a bit of electronics work and probably a bit of soldering.
- Linear actuator with built-in limit switches
You can use one of the following linear actuators, as long as you can mount it in a way that the door-closed position is when the actuator is as one bound of its range and that the door-opened position is when the actuator is at another.
Both these actuators run at 12 volts, so the only additional thing you would need is a simple 2-way relay (we can recommend a part) that will control the direction the actuator moves. This would not require any programming, just a little amount of electronics, and probably no soldering.
Do either of these solutions sound good to you? If you would like more information or explanations, please let us know. If you could send us the model of your timer, we’d like to lookup its specifications to ensure our recommendations are good.
Thanks for choosing RobotShop,
Jeffrey