Overview: This is the third generation of our succesful SODAQ ONE board. It is equipped with a solar charge controller and runs on a LiPo or a permanent battery. It has the Ublox Eva 8M GPS module which is not only miniature but with it’s assisted GPS feature it can get a fix within seconds. We’ve now […]
SODAQ ONE board – GPS + LoRa + Solar charger Continue Reading
If you’ve installed solar panels on a camper van to provide you with electricity on your camping trip or at home to supplement your electricity usage or take your home completely off grid then you probably know that the panels work the best when they are aligned directly towards the sun. This sounds simple enough,
Arduino Solar Tracker (Single or Dual Axis) Continue Reading
Makers, developers and electronic enthusiasts looking for a way to communicate with the Iridium satellite network, may be interested in the new circuit board created by Maker Buoy. Their latest developer on board offers a solar powered GPS tracker providing communications with Iridium, due to its ability to be attached to a Feather form factor
Maker Buoy solar powered GPS Iridium tracker Continue Reading
Bismuth is considered as a “green-element” and bismuth-based compounds are gaining attention as potentially non-toxic and defect-tolerant solar absorbers. The researchers of the University of Cambridge and the United States developed theoretical and experimental methods to show that bismuth, which sits next to lead (Pb) on the periodic table, can be used to make inexpensive solar cells.
Bismuth Oxyiodide (BiOI)—A Non-toxic Alternative To Solar Cells Continue Reading
Ideation I build connected sensors, which are often deployed in local parks where there is no access to utility power. Over the past couple years, I have been refining and testing my solar power modules, and have arrived at this compact integrated design. I have a number of these deployed and they have been in
Solar Power Module v2 Continue Reading
Scientists of Japanese research institute RIKEN and the University of Tokyo have successfully developed a product that allows solar cells to continue to provide solar power after being washed, stretched and compressed. Takao Someya of Riken Center for Emergent Matter Science, a designated national R&D Institute in Japan, led the research team. The research results were
Researchers Developed Highly Durable Washable And Stretchable Solar Cells Continue Reading
In Part 1 of this series, we have reviewed solar cell performance, how to select and size the supercapacitor, requirements of supercapacitor charging circuits and charging IC characteristics. We will now use two case studies to illustrate these properties in detail. Case Study 1: Using a small solar cell indoors at low light, 100 lux,
Description Solar power is not trivial, especially if it needs to be reliable and have a long lifetime for outdoor deployment such as IoT sensor nodes. This project is an effort to create a complete, easy to use solar power system that provides the following features: – LiFePO4 battery for high charge cycle count, high
LiFePO4wered/Solar1 – Solar power supply for IoT devices Continue Reading
Get your essential appliances off the grid with just one solar panel Things used in this project Hardware components Particle Spark Core × 1 Arduino Nano R3 × 1 Arduino MKR1000 × 1 Story [UPDATE] Now using MKR1000 to control the UNplug unit I replaced the Particle Core with an Arduino MK1000 for several reasons:
Solar UPS controller/automatic transfer switch Continue Reading
I built a very simple DIY solar-powered USB charger for my TP-link 10400mAh USB Power Bank. All I needed was a 6V/3.5W solar panel and the TD1410-based 5V buck converter module. I bought both of them on Aliexpress for less than $8. It was one of the easiest projects I built. All I needed to do was to connect
A very simple DIY solar-powered USB charger Continue Reading
