Who is it for?

• Fab Labs, makers and hobbyists who want to build a more advanced solar project than a simple “panel + battery”.
• Educators and students who can use it as a teaching platform for mechanics, electronics, embedded programming and renewable energy.
• Off-grid and camper users who want to get more energy from a small panel and understand how tracking works in practice.

How will I share and raise awareness?

• Documentation & files
  I am documenting the project on my Fab Academy site, including the bill of materials, CAD files, PCB design files, wiring diagrams, firmware, app code, and fabrication and assembly steps.
• Community & online platforms
  I could share the project through Fab Lab channels (newsletter, social media) and my personal LinkedIn or other social networks, with a short “project story” and a video clip linking back to the full documentation.
• In-person dissemination
  • Present the tracker during Fab Lab open days, events, maker fairs or workshops as a live demo.
  • Offer a short hands-on workshop where participants assemble a simplified version or a single-axis variant.

The development of this project has been self-funded as part of my Fab Academy studies, using access to the machines and infrastructure of Fab Lab León and Madrid Rural Lab.

For now, I do not have a formal business plan. Even though I mainly designed and built this project for learning purposes, there could be some realistic paths to income.

• Educational kits
  I could develop a simplified kit version with laser-cut or 3D-printed parts and custom PCBs, so schools or labs can order the kit. Revenue would come from selling kits to Fab Labs, schools, summer camps or as a STEAM kit for kids.
• Workshops and services
  I could host “build-your-own solar tracker” workshops in Fab Labs or schools, using a simplified version of the project or the kit mentioned above. In this case, the revenue would come from workshop fees and related services.
• Small-batch products
  After some more iterations on the design, I could assemble a short run of complete units for camper-van, garden, outdoor events and off-grid users. Revenue would come from direct sales or possibly a small crowdfunding campaign to finance the first batch.

There is still a lot of work to be done on this project, but a potential scaling-up plan could consist of:

• Standardising the design for manufacture
  Simplify fabrication processes, reduce the number of parts, and use more standard fasteners and components.
• Improving robustness
  Design a more weather-proof enclosure and connectors, define safe operating limits for wind load, and improve the integration and protection of all electronics.
• Pilot batch
  Build 5–10 units and give them to beta users (Fab Lab, friends with camper vans, etc.) to collect feedback and identify design improvements before a larger production run.

Since I do not plan to file patents and I do want others to learn from and modify the project, as long as they respect the license choices, I decided to use the following license for my project.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial–ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

This means that you are free to share it and adapt or transform it, under the following terms:

• Attribution
  You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests I endorse you or your use.
• NonCommercial
  You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
• ShareAlike
  If you remix, transform or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.