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From £35 crowdsupply.com Delivery: November 2019olar power can seem like a really simple solution to
providing electricity for remote projects. Take a panel,
hook it up to the power port and you’re done, right? Well,
not quite. Photovoltaic cells (aka solar panels) provide a
varying supply of power to your project that also requires
a varying supply of power (unfortunately they aren’t varying at the
same rate). You therefore need something that you can put between
the two to absorb the fluctuating power from the photovoltaic cells
and distribute it smoothly to your project – a battery. However,
batteries introduce their own complexities. They can’t be charged
too fast or allowed to drain too low. It might also be useful for your
project to understand the power level of the battery so it can ration
power appropriately.
The makerPower Solar board is designed to combat exactly these
problems. It takes 12 V solar cells (which don’t actually output 12 V)
and uses this power to charge a 12 V lead-acid battery. This is then
used to power a 5 V regulator that can produce up to 2 A of current
through either a USB port or solderable headers. Up to 3 A of 12 V is
also accessible via a header.
So far, so normal. However, makerPower Solar also lets you read
the current status of the battery and charger via an I^2 C interface.
There are libraries for both Arduino and Raspberry Pi that let you
look at the different voltages and currents flowing through the
controller board. This can be used to intelligently manage the power
you have available. For example, you can stop non-essential
activities below a certain power, or perform high-power activities
when the battery is fully charged and there’s still power arriving
from the sun.
While we haven’t tested out the makerPower Solar, if it lives up
to its claims, it will be a great addition to the toolkit for remote,
solar-powered projects.S
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makerPower Solar
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