Kipp & Zonen SOLYS Gear Drive, Instruction Manual

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2.6.3 Using a solar panel to power the SOLYS
If the system is operating on solar power only, please be aware of the reduced number of hours of sunlight during the winter. On
cloudy days less than 50 % of the normal radiation comes in.
Rule of thumb is to use 10 times as much solar panel power.
How to determine what kind of solar panel is required; please add the power consumption of each additional instrument,
computer, data logger or any other device together with the power consumption of the SOLYS and multiply this by 10.
Power consumption SOLYS Gear Drive on DC: 25 W maximum, 20 W for SOLYS2, during sun cycle. After the sun cycle, the SOLYS will
start its energy savings program and put itself to sleep mode. During this sleep mode the power consumption is 13 W.
20 minutes before the sun rises, the SOLYS will wake up, go to its home position and starts its active tracking mode with full power
consumption.
If no other power is available, even a few days without sun should be covered by the back-up battery. Two 12 V backup batteries can
be used in series for the SOLYS (24 V).
2.6.4 Enabling power / LED status
After the SOLYS has been leveled and the power cable is assembled, the power can be switched on. The SOLYS will start its
initializing mode. During this initializing mode, the SOLYS will check for any hardware errors, presence of the GPS signal, and in
addition it will make an orientation lap to check for any blockades and to check if the cable length of the SOLYS (and attached
instruments) is sufficient. This rotation will be performed each time the SOLYS is powered up.
During the orientation lap, the SOLYS will move 270 ° to the left starting at home position, and will move 270 ° to the right
starting at home position.
Please make sure the cables have the correct length to perform this test. Cable routing is described in chapter 3.24.
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