Tame the Beast: Solar Power Station for Arduino

Short Summary

This solar powering unit is a time-switching, battery-powered, solar-charged circuit, used to power an Arduino Uno and some peripherals. The solar powering unit presented here is energy efficient. When we talk about Arduino, it consumes lots of energy in displays and other work that are not important. The solar powering unit presented here has a timer which turns on the Arduino in regular intervals. When you have a project like weather station, remote data logger, etc. or applications like this, you do not have to keep your Arduino on all the time. And of course in all this applications, powering is the major issue. If you turn on the Arduino in 1 minute or any interval, it can save a lot energy. This unit is variable i.e. you can decide the time delay! The unit can also power your Arduino when there is no sunlight(at night) as it has a rechargeable battery inside.

The unit consists of two solar panels, one is for the timer circuit and another is for output. The timer circuit is connected to relay module. The unit also consists of rechargeable cells which are charged by solar panel. When you want to use power from them, you need to just toggle the switch.

Pre launch page: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/tame-the-beast-solar-power-station-for-arduino/coming_soon

Features:

• Time switching device

• Variable i.e. you can change the time delay

• Can also work without sunlight!

• Easy to use

• Switch for using power from batteries

• Highly compatible with Arduino and its peripherals

• Long battery life

• Detachable solar panel

• Portable

• Clean energy

The unit actually contains a timer which is variable and the time delay can be adjusted by Potentiometer. The maximum time delay you can set is 5 minutes. The minimum time delay is 30 seconds. If there is no proper sunlight, a switch is provided to run your Arduino on batteries! The port for this is different.

Battery Life Calculation:

Arduino ON time: 1 seconds

Arduino OFF time: 1 min. = 60 seconds

Power(when ON) = 1/3600 x 3mA = 0.0042 mWh

Power(when OFF)= 1/60 x 0.2mA = 0.167mWh

Operating Voltage: 5V

Power(ON+OFF): 0.17mWh

Li-Ion Battery: 2100mAh

Battery Voltage: 2.4V

Power: 2100 x 2.4 = 5040mWh

Battery Life: 5040/0.17 = 30k cycles

Note: Power consumed by power booster is not calculated here.

Thus, timer circuit saves a lot energy and also saves energy by cutting power of sensors, displays, etc. In sleep mode, the power consumed by ATMEL micro controller will reduce.