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  • Author Author: ralphjy
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Bee Healthy - Blog 2: Hardware Development - Solar Power Supply

ralphjy

Still waiting for my challenger hardware kit - haven't seen a shipping notification yet, so I thought I'd work on the solar power supply for the project.  I am building it using a surplus solar panel and a USB power bank that I have available in my parts stash.

The solar panel is rated at 5.5VDC @ 360mA and it has a standard USB A power port.  The power bank is rated at 2200mAh and has a microUSB charge input and a standard USB A output.  So this basically involves mechanically assembling the parts and connecting cables.

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I am going to connect the power bank to the microUSB input of the MKR WAN 1310 and use the 5V output header to supply power to the two Nicla boards.

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I printed a clip to hold the power bank to the back of the solar panel.

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And printed a Go Pro mount adapter since I have a lot of Go Pro mounting hardware.

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Here is the front, side, and rear views on a tripod.  The Go Pro mount allows orienting the solar panel.

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  • in reply to JWx

    I had considered that, but the MKR 1310 when running on battery does not generate 5V.  It makes adding the Nicla modules messier.  I could have individual batteries for each module and distribute the solar panel voltage.  I would rather not try using 3.3V from the MKR 1310 regulator to power the Nicla modules.

    This method is simpler for me since I needed a mechanical setup to mount the solar panel anyway - and I didn’t have to buy another LiPo battery.