DEVLOG 004
I worked on finishing up the major new cad that I have to do like creating the electronics bay that houses the esp32, stepper driver, and extra stepper motor wire. I think I did quite well when I cadded it, as I am getting much better at CAD after practicing so much about it. I also mounted this box to the main assembly, added the stepper motor to the main assembly, as well as the main screw. I now have only a few things left to add to the main assembly including the camera ball head, the 5:1 gears, the door hinge wood pieces, and the electronics bay lid.

After that, I switched over to finishing up the software side of this project, and worked a lot on understanding deeply how I can use the esp32 to control this system wirelessly. I now know the different possible control methods include station mode, which I have previously used in another project, which requires internet connection, and also access point mode, in which the esp makes its own wifi network, and you can join it without the internet, because it sends data over its own wifi connection, rather than through the interconnected internet. I have chosen right now, to go with AP mode, as many people will use this remotely, but I definetly will make a system, where you can change between either mode, or possibly use both modes at once, so if you usually use the tracker at home, you can connect to it from anywhere in your house, but if you take it outside somewhere, it switches to AP mode, and acts as a solo wifi station.

I then worked on the frontend of the html mostly, making a neatly organized web control software with many buttons and labels. I included controls that I though were helpful, but if this becomes successful, than I am extremely open to any additional suggestions, as I might even add on a simple red led on the outside of the tracker, to use as a flashlight, to see the ground without ruining your night vision. This led could also be used as a quick indicator, which tells you if it is actively tracking, or if there is some error with the system, then it would start blinking rapidly. I can probably use the pwm pins to control this and allow easy dimming controls through the webpage. Another possible thing I can add is a dew heater with a thermistor to read the outside temperature, and camera temperature, and then automatically turn it on when it hits a certain temperature, or just manually control the temperature through a pwm loop.

I also added a small amount of the frontend’s backend; by that I mean the JavaScript portion, in which I added the ability to turn on and off tracking, and it switches the CSS of the button to say either ON in white letters or OFF in red letters, with a black background.

By then, the print for the electronics bay was finished, and I was elated to discover that the whole ESP32 and stepper driver setup didn’t even fit in it. I must have measured horribly wrong, as it is a whole roughly 4mm too small in one dimension. but I also tested the fit of the stepper wire through its slot, which fits well, as well as the fitment of the esp32 pins, which sadly do not fit very well as they are way too small to fit, so I will make them much bigger.