Solar panel mount for Spider Rover

thingiverse

I used a gear motor 1:50 which is not the fastest solution to drive an already worm gear driven mechanic. However through the lower power consumption the solar cells rated 9V&109mA each (full sunshine) have no problem to keep it moving. I have connected the cells in series. The motor is 12 volt and takes about ~70-95 mA. I have not tried to connect the cells in parallel sofar but it already works good enough. Maybe lower gear ratio and connection in parallel would give it some more speed. Remark: It is mandatory to have the worm gear fixed with ball bearings (see pictures) otherwise it will melt through friction really quickly. The worm gear needs to be smooth (use a nail file and sand it a little bit), the gears may not have any faults (edges, blobs etc). Lift it into the air and do a 15 minutes "burn-in" (power motor with battery) to get everything going. I have not used any oil and i do not recommend it! Now i need someone who can send it to Mars. Thank you!