element14 Community
element14 Community
    Register Log In
  • Site
  • Search
  • Log In Register
  • Community Hub
    Community Hub
    • What's New on element14
    • Feedback and Support
    • Benefits of Membership
    • Personal Blogs
    • Members Area
    • Achievement Levels
  • Learn
    Learn
    • Ask an Expert
    • eBooks
    • element14 presents
    • Learning Center
    • Tech Spotlight
    • STEM Academy
    • Webinars, Training and Events
    • Learning Groups
  • Technologies
    Technologies
    • 3D Printing
    • FPGA
    • Industrial Automation
    • Internet of Things
    • Power & Energy
    • Sensors
    • Technology Groups
  • Challenges & Projects
    Challenges & Projects
    • Design Challenges
    • element14 presents Projects
    • Project14
    • Arduino Projects
    • Raspberry Pi Projects
    • Project Groups
  • Products
    Products
    • Arduino
    • Avnet Boards Community
    • Dev Tools
    • Manufacturers
    • Multicomp Pro
    • Product Groups
    • Raspberry Pi
    • RoadTests & Reviews
  • Store
    Store
    • Visit Your Store
    • Choose another store...
      • Europe
      •  Austria (German)
      •  Belgium (Dutch, French)
      •  Bulgaria (Bulgarian)
      •  Czech Republic (Czech)
      •  Denmark (Danish)
      •  Estonia (Estonian)
      •  Finland (Finnish)
      •  France (French)
      •  Germany (German)
      •  Hungary (Hungarian)
      •  Ireland
      •  Israel
      •  Italy (Italian)
      •  Latvia (Latvian)
      •  
      •  Lithuania (Lithuanian)
      •  Netherlands (Dutch)
      •  Norway (Norwegian)
      •  Poland (Polish)
      •  Portugal (Portuguese)
      •  Romania (Romanian)
      •  Russia (Russian)
      •  Slovakia (Slovak)
      •  Slovenia (Slovenian)
      •  Spain (Spanish)
      •  Sweden (Swedish)
      •  Switzerland(German, French)
      •  Turkey (Turkish)
      •  United Kingdom
      • Asia Pacific
      •  Australia
      •  China
      •  Hong Kong
      •  India
      •  Korea (Korean)
      •  Malaysia
      •  New Zealand
      •  Philippines
      •  Singapore
      •  Taiwan
      •  Thailand (Thai)
      • Americas
      •  Brazil (Portuguese)
      •  Canada
      •  Mexico (Spanish)
      •  United States
      Can't find the country/region you're looking for? Visit our export site or find a local distributor.
  • Translate
  • Profile
  • Settings
Personal Blogs
  • Community Hub
  • More
Personal Blogs
Legacy Personal Blogs Makevember Solar Powered Raspberry Pi Project!
  • Blog
  • Documents
  • Mentions
  • Sub-Groups
  • Tags
  • More
  • Cancel
  • New
  • Share
  • More
  • Cancel
Group Actions
  • Group RSS
  • More
  • Cancel
Engagement
  • Author Author: gam3t3ch
  • Date Created: 24 Nov 2019 1:34 AM Date Created
  • Views 1063 views
  • Likes 8 likes
  • Comments 2 comments
  • rpiintermediate
  • makevember 2019
  • rpibeginner
  • makevember
  • project14
Related
Recommended

Makevember Solar Powered Raspberry Pi Project!

gam3t3ch
gam3t3ch
24 Nov 2019

When it comes to the Raspberry Pi I love to come up with new projects and test things out and play around even if it fails its all about learning and enjoying the adventure.  The Raspberry Pi has been a wonderful source of knowledge in my shop and office I really cant think of too many projects I have not attempted at one point or another on it even tho much not documented. Which now I have started to get a bit better at that and well bring them to everyone to check out and maybe try for themselves.

 

Today's project is exactly that a Solar Powered off grid Raspberry Pi.

 

Now when it comes to the project I had to think what would be the best ideal think that I want to accomplish with it I ran through my head of a nas server, using owncloud, setup a web server and even security camera's and so on.  But one thing came to mind that I really wanted to do and test out to see how well it would work.

 

A Raspberry Pi Solar Powered Desktop.   As you can guess since I have been using my Pi4 for a desktop and currently using to write this article with its been a work horse and has been nothing but fun using it as a desktop.  But I also need one in my workshop so that's the plan.

 

So for my setup I will be using for now a temp setup but we will walk through it.

 

Here is the list of stuff being used in this project for now.

 

Raspberry Pi 3b+

We will be using the Studio Matrix Project that I made for the Matrix VOICE Dev Board - Review

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3783458  is the main unit

20w Solar Panel

12/24v solar charge controller

2x 100ah universal batteries.

7" Kuman touch screen LCD.

Will also be using since its already connected is the Matrix Voice will do something with this in a future project for automating more of my workshop.

12v - 5v stepdown with usb

(I do have another 12v - 5v step down unit attached near the controller but it wont be used for this project)  https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2449638

 

Many Years ago I always dreamed about having a 12v solar powered workshop. Now its time to start building it bit by bit then putting it into a small shop outside off the grid.

 

First thing we need to look at is the Raspberry Pi and power consumption.  From testing my Pi 4 which I think consumes a bit more It will give me a baseline of whats to come.  on idle with keyboard attached and wifi on is roughly about 8 watts of power.  Not bad  and under full load with monitor on the pi 4 I get about 35 watts.    So if we take away the power hungry monitor and use the 7" touch screen it should be more then sufficient now I wont be using it all the time but want it available when I need it even being able to connect remotely to it would be good as well which then would use less power with the touch screen not being on.

 

Yes If I want to run the Pi for more then a certain amount of time I would have to upgrade my solar panel.  But on the bright side the panel is in a location that gets a lot of sun through the day and even at night with a street light it's still producing 2.2v which I thought was weird.

 

imageimageimageimageimageimage

 

Now I will say I did do a whole video on this but seems it helps if you wireless lav microphone actually works so no video this time.  Was a fun project, once I get an upgraded panel for outside or more to add to it then I will start building up the devices added to it so far its been a something I have been meaning to completed and finally got it up and running.

 

 

 

 

  #makevember,  #project14, #e14community

  • Sign in to reply

Top Comments

  • pawel.czarczynski
    pawel.czarczynski over 5 years ago +4
    Hi I think it's a grat idea to go off grid. I have toolbox converted to off grid camping power supply. 6x 7Ah 12V batteries - 6 USB chargers, bluetooth radio with speakers, 240V inverter and 12V car type…
  • gam3t3ch
    gam3t3ch over 5 years ago in reply to pawel.czarczynski +3
    nice setup that is slick I like it! Great job! yes they are 100ah each and they are not 100% good but do manage to get a full charge throughout the day I started with them at a full charge. But ya bigger…
  • gam3t3ch
    gam3t3ch over 5 years ago in reply to pawel.czarczynski

    nice setup that is slick I like it!  Great job! yes they are 100ah each and they are not 100% good but do manage to get a full charge throughout the day I started with them at a full charge.  But ya  bigger panel is coming soon for sure! lol

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up +3 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • More
    • Cancel
  • pawel.czarczynski
    pawel.czarczynski over 5 years ago

    Hi

    I think it's a grat idea to go off grid. I have toolbox converted to off grid camping power supply. 6x 7Ah 12V batteries - 6 USB chargers, bluetooth radio with speakers, 240V inverter and 12V car type sockets.imageimageimage

    Are those batteries 100Ah capacity each? I would suggest either smaller batteries or a larger panel to charge them. I found 50W panel on eBay. approx 50x50cm in size, fits great on shed's roof. In summer I get around 55W from it.

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up +4 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • More
    • Cancel
element14 Community

element14 is the first online community specifically for engineers. Connect with your peers and get expert answers to your questions.

  • Members
  • Learn
  • Technologies
  • Challenges & Projects
  • Products
  • Store
  • About Us
  • Feedback & Support
  • FAQs
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Legal and Copyright Notices
  • Sitemap
  • Cookies

An Avnet Company © 2025 Premier Farnell Limited. All Rights Reserved.

Premier Farnell Ltd, registered in England and Wales (no 00876412), registered office: Farnell House, Forge Lane, Leeds LS12 2NE.

ICP 备案号 10220084.

Follow element14

  • X
  • Facebook
  • linkedin
  • YouTube