Wifi powered by solar? advice please

Forums › Digital Imaging › Wifi powered by solar? advice please

1 | 2 | 3

2263 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 779

Trusted

#1564371 2-Jun-2016 16:42

mikespook:

I was going to make a full design of such solar chargeable circuit, before that I found a better article suit for you in my bookmarks.

http://www.robotroom.com/Solar-Recharging.html

It would be enough to get your hands dirty.

Cheers

That's an interesting blog site, and clicked around some and found the

The Great Internet Migratory Box Of Electronics Junk

with a couple of our GZ's on the list :-)

New Zealand

Nate, Christchurch, New Zealand
Nic, Dunedin, New Zealand
richms, Auckland, New Zealand

Stu

Hammered
8743 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2409

Moderator

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1564386 2-Jun-2016 17:05

@nate isn't a Christchurch lad and is a software guru, not electronics etc so I doubt it's him. Don't know about Nic. Chances are good with @richms though!

People often mistake me for an adult because of my age.

Keep calm, and carry on posting.

Referral Links: Sharesies -

Are you happy with what you get from Geekzone? If so, please consider supporting us by subscribing.

No matter where you go, there you are.

gnfb

2685 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 197

ID Verified

#1564402 2-Jun-2016 17:29

Well that's a shame I thought there would be a solution. I guess I need to wait until someone thinks its a good idea. Starts building them and then the Chinese copy the idea and produce for $9.99.

Is an English Man living in New Zealand. Not a writer, an Observer he says. Graham is a seasoned 'traveler" with his sometimes arrogant, but honest opinion on life. He loves the Internet!.

I have two shops online allshop.nz patchpinflag.nz
Email Me

gnfb

2685 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 197

ID Verified

#1564403 2-Jun-2016 17:32

tchart:

mikespook:

In short, 5V 1A means 5 Watts. And you need solar plates, batteries (e.g. 18650), and some component to and control stable the power.

If you are not too rush about that I can make a detail description abouth the design this evening.

I'd be interested in the design too.

This says 5v 5w is that what you would be looking for to do the solar side?

Item

Is an English Man living in New Zealand. Not a writer, an Observer he says. Graham is a seasoned 'traveler" with his sometimes arrogant, but honest opinion on life. He loves the Internet!.

I have two shops online allshop.nz patchpinflag.nz
Email Me

richms

29104 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10222

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1564415 2-Jun-2016 17:37

gnfb:

This says 5v 5w is that what you would be looking for to do the solar side?

Item

That will run it if you have it aimed square onto the sun at around midday. You probably want it for more than that, so you need to over specify the solar panels to allow for it being off axis, then you need more so you can charge batteries, more so you can have enough on overcast days (10% or so output) and allow for shorter daylight hours in winter.

Try 60-70w of panels at a minimum. Then something to store the charge in, so you would probably want 150 watt hours of storage at least to see you thru the night and allow for inefficiancies etc.

That would be 16 decent quality 18650 cells or so. 4 decent USB power banks worth.

It can be done, but you probably need 15x your initial budget.

Richard rich.ms

richms

29104 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10222

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1564417 2-Jun-2016 17:40

Stu: @nate isn't a Christchurch lad and is a software guru, not electronics etc so I doubt it's him. Don't know about Nic. Chances are good with @richms though!

Correct.

Richard rich.ms

Geekzone

Want to support Geekzone and browse the site without the ads? Subscribe to Geekzone now (monthly, annual and lifetime options).

gnfb

2685 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 197

ID Verified

#1564418 2-Jun-2016 17:41

Close but still to expensive

Is an English Man living in New Zealand. Not a writer, an Observer he says. Graham is a seasoned 'traveler" with his sometimes arrogant, but honest opinion on life. He loves the Internet!.

I have two shops online allshop.nz patchpinflag.nz
Email Me

richms

29104 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10222

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1564422 2-Jun-2016 17:45

Gotta love their photoshop skils.

Richard rich.ms

gnfb

2685 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 197

ID Verified

#1564425 2-Jun-2016 17:52

sbiddle:

The most cost effective (and best) solution is likely to be run cable.

It'll be a few hundred dollars minimum to build a decent setup, and considering it's a pretty low spec camera I wouldn't expect a lot from it picture wise.

The camera was $30 so I wasn't expecting anything more than the clarity for surveillance.

Is an English Man living in New Zealand. Not a writer, an Observer he says. Graham is a seasoned 'traveler" with his sometimes arrogant, but honest opinion on life. He loves the Internet!.

I have two shops online allshop.nz patchpinflag.nz
Email Me

richms

29104 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10222

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1564430 2-Jun-2016 17:59

Is there any reason you cant just run some cat5e and use a normal power over ethernet camera in this location?

Richard rich.ms

gnfb

2685 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 197

ID Verified

#1564440 2-Jun-2016 18:14

Just a side note whilst have all your electrical genius around. If I wanted to power the camera for 8 hours on a "battery pack" how many and what type of batteries would i need?

When i first started down this road I tried a solar charge unit plugged into the camera but it only lasted just on a hour.

Is an English Man living in New Zealand. Not a writer, an Observer he says. Graham is a seasoned 'traveler" with his sometimes arrogant, but honest opinion on life. He loves the Internet!.

I have two shops online allshop.nz patchpinflag.nz
Email Me

Lego

Shop now for Lego sets and other gifts (affiliate link).

richms

29104 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10222

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1564640 2-Jun-2016 22:36

Work out the watt hours you need, so 5 watts and 8 hours is 40 watt hours. So then add the inefficiacy of your DC to DC boost converter - 85% is a good amount to work with, so that means 47 watt hours into it to get 40 watt hours out.

Mean voltage of a lithium cell is 3.6-3.7v for working things out for amp hours from watt hours, so that means 11.111 amp hours of lithium cells, so a 12000mAh bank should do the job assuming that the capacity is real and not some made up number from an alternate reality. 4 3000mAh cells in a case would do the job.

You can get a cheap 6 cell powerbank case off aliexpress/ebay and fill it with cells you salvage from old laptop packs if you are keen. Just fully charge each cell 1 at a time and check they work and then fill them back up so that when you put them all in the case they are all at the same charge level. otherwise if you have a full one and an empty one the full one will quickly discharge into the empty one, and that is a bad thing. Also means you are not going to risk putting a stuffed dead short cell across a full once and make sparks and smoke that way. 6 cell means that each cell could only be deliverying 2000mAh and still get you the 12000 you need.

This type of thing - http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Universal-5V-9V-12V-6x18650-Dual-USB-Portable-External-Power-Bank-Battery-Charger-Box-Case-For/32597606952.html

Richard rich.ms

richms

29104 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10222

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1564647 2-Jun-2016 22:48

And watch the polarity.

Richard rich.ms

gnfb

2685 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 197

ID Verified

#1564649 2-Jun-2016 22:55

richms:

Is there any reason you cant just run some cat5e and use a normal power over ethernet camera in this location?

None whatsoever What I was hoping for was a "simple" solution "oh that easy just get a gizmothingy of aliexpress and away you go" Obviously not the case.

I suppose my non technical mind assumed they have solar powered light systems etc and you can buy solar powered battery packs. You must be able to just plug one in!

Is an English Man living in New Zealand. Not a writer, an Observer he says. Graham is a seasoned 'traveler" with his sometimes arrogant, but honest opinion on life. He loves the Internet!.

I have two shops online allshop.nz patchpinflag.nz
Email Me

richms

29104 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10222

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1564651 2-Jun-2016 23:01

If you are buying to put into a pack make sure to get unprotected ones, otherwise the protection will cut out at low voltage and the protection in the powerbank will refuse to charge it till you "jumpstart" the pack with a full one.

Richard rich.ms

1 | 2 | 3