Solar Raspberry Pi - Sharing experience

Hi,

how to run your raspberry pi off the sun using solar power & Battery is described here.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Sola...-Raspberry-Pi/

Have you realized such a thing? Is the battery possibly reloaded over the solar panel?


which other panels might be an alternative?

tux

"Connect the solar panel to the battery and point it at the sun.

And now all thats left to do is power up the pi"

This is a common way to charge a battery. The solar panel is a charger. I don't usually use solar panels since they are not a green solution. They currently take more energy to create than one can recover from them. Hopefully newer technology will fix that.

I do have a charger on my electric gate at the street. It would have been too much to install higher voltages or even run a low voltage that far. It has been running for 6 years with replaced batteries. The panel does OK in the summer but slows down in the winter. A few cloudy days and the batteries get a bit low.

Hi,

You can use a solar panel along with a charge controller for maintaining a battery bank. Some users do not realize that incidence is important and does change over seasons. That is unless you happen to have the panel located on the equator then once you setup relative to solar noon for maximum output for the panel then no changes necessary. Sadly not everyone lives on the equator, to setup your panels angle for your latitude and longitude so as to have maximum incidence for that period. Most simple setups work best by using solar noon as the set point for the location.

Of course if you happen to have a active panel that tracks the sun then you would setup initially for max incidence then you will provide the angular changes for the seasonal periods for your latitude & longitude. Some active controllers do provide program controlled angular adjustment for the seasonal periods while others may just have single axis control. This of course will cost you more to have multi-axis control. Static systems are a lot cheaper. To me a static system would serve the RaspPi well once you size the Solar Panel system for the required loads.

I have used Solar panels for remote logging systems without to much effort. Be sure to know the power necessary to run your equipment. Do not forget to include the power necessary for the Solar Panel controller or Charge controller for a active system.

HTH!

Hi,

How to make a Raspberry Pi solar-powered FTP server

You've set up your Raspberry Pi using our easy to follow instructions. You've had a gander at our 25 top fun things to do and now you fancy something a bit more involved. How about making a solar-powered FTP server? You'll always have instant access to all your digital files, from anywhere with an Internet connection, and it won't cost a penny on your electricity bill. Ordering the sun bed We'll be using a simple custom-built £25 Raspberry Pi case, with all the right slots for its outputs, that comes with a small solar panel, a battery case and a micro-USB cable. You'll just need to supply your own NiMH rechargeable batteries. Point your browser over here -- you'll find all the information you need to place an order via PayPal. The maker, Cottonpickers, has an eBay page as well if you're more comfortable making your purchase that way.

Good article but the price is a little steep. You can use the project article to help brew your own.

Originally Posted by jefro This is a common way to charge a battery. The solar panel is a charger. I don't usually use solar panels since they are not a green solution. They currently take more energy to create than one can recover from them.

Not true....but I've told you that before jefro and your response was lackluster.

Sometimes people didn't actually ask, they simply put it as a matter of fact: PV solar panels are a loss in terms of energy balance. The truth is that this is just a myth. Modern multi-crystalline and thin-film photovoltaic modules have an energy payback time of about 2-3 years. This means that it takes 2 years for the PV panels to generate the amount of energy that it is required to produce them.

http://zeroemissionproject.com/blog/...-they-generate

http://www.clca.columbia.edu/papers/...back_Times.pdf

Hi,

In actuality the user is wanting to have the means to power a system via Solar energy. We are not sizing for production use but a simple design for personal solution therefore that user is not concerned about the cost ratio involved with manufacture of the Photo Voltaic device or pay back periods. Let's get practical and leave out the debate of costs relative to pay back as most Greenies preach.

Please look at the practical aspects for the OP request and leave out the politics.