Well, we live completely offgrid, so my advice to you when picking battery capacity. Figure out what you need, and multiply by 10. Also, you're going to need to observe actual power output of the solar panel, and possibly do the same. The idea here is that you want to charge your battery even on a cloudy day.
Last but not least. Either make or buy a charge controller. If you dont, your battery will be short lived. On Mon, Jul 21, 2014 at 7:27 AM, Robert Nelson <[email protected]> wrote: > On Sat, Jul 19, 2014 at 5:16 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi all. I'm working on a new project. The idea is an off-grid > surveillance > > camera powered by the Beaglebone Black. I have a couple of challenged > that > > I'm wondering if anyone has overcome. > > > > - I'm planning to transmit the photos via a cellular modem. I'm looking > for > > a good one currently, but I know several USB versions are available. > > Every usb device is guaranteed 100mA, so look for spi/usart modems. > (they do exist) > > > - I will power the device with a solar panel, sealed lead acid battery, > and > > a buck converter. > > A small bank of super caps becomes helpful when there is random cloud > cover. > > > - I am planning to use an HD webcam to capture the photos. > > > > Now these are the challenges that I'm working on: > > - I have no experience with set-it-and-forget-it electronics. What > pitfalls > > should I watch out for that could cause the system to hang or > malfunction? > > > > - The Beaglebone Black draws about 150mA when idle. Although I can > overcome > > this with larger batteries and solar panels, I would like to minimize > these > > expenses. I've read several posts where people are trying to disable > > certain features on the Beaglebone to conserve energy, but I have yet to > see > > any successful examples. Is anyone aware of ways to reduce power > > consumption? > > > > - I would like to shutdown the Beaglebone when the battery voltage gets > > below a certain point and turn it back on when above a certain point. > Are > > there any pre-made capes that will enable this? > > > Regards, > > -- > Robert Nelson > http://www.rcn-ee.com/ > > -- > For more options, visit http://beagleboard.org/discuss > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "BeagleBoard" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- For more options, visit http://beagleboard.org/discuss --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "BeagleBoard" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
