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New solar project: Minimal system

heliosoph

Hello all,

 

my new project is again about using solar energy for a arduino system. Now I'm looking for a minimal setup called the "Minimal Solar Arduino". The idea is to find a system with minimal components and minimal power consumption that still has a useful application. My first test system has a standalone ATmega328P powered by a capacitor. The total capacity is 9,400µF consisting of two electrolyte capacitors with 4,700µF each I found in my workshop. This will give me enough information about power reducing. With these results I will choose one of the super-capacitors to extend uptime.

 

In the first steps I'm experiencing with different configurations like sleep mode, Brown-out detection disabling and so on.

 

If interested have a look at:

 

http://heliosoph.mit-links.info/arduino-powered-by-capacitor-start/ getting started and setup description

 

http://heliosoph.mit-links.info/arduino-powered-by-capacitor-first-tests/ first tests and results

 

to be continued...

 

Elektrix

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  • I loved this series of articles.  It's not just the very useful end goal of the project, but also the very methodical way in which Friedrich approaches his investigation, measuring everything in sight!!!  This is by far the most important lesson any beginner to electronics can learn from this great series.  Without measuring, one is only guessing.


    'Roll on the supercaps! image


    Morgaine.



    PS. Also full marks for writing this in a way that is enjoyable to read, yet still full of details and quite precise.  Excellent!

Reply

  • I loved this series of articles.  It's not just the very useful end goal of the project, but also the very methodical way in which Friedrich approaches his investigation, measuring everything in sight!!!  This is by far the most important lesson any beginner to electronics can learn from this great series.  Without measuring, one is only guessing.


    'Roll on the supercaps! image


    Morgaine.



    PS. Also full marks for writing this in a way that is enjoyable to read, yet still full of details and quite precise.  Excellent!

Children
  • in reply to morgaine

    Thank you so much for your reply!!

     

    It is wonderful to see that others like my work. The idea with the capacitors was in fact to start always with the same amount of energy and then to look how long the ride will last... This gives direct comparisons of different energy saving techniques through a very simple method. As I don't have the possibilities to measure supply current with a high speed datalogger to calculate consumption I was looking for a simple alternative. The big advantage of the ATmega chips is the wide supply voltage range. So why not use the full range and simply discharge a capacitor as much as possible?. This is the way the idea was born (ok, I'm not the first one to do so). The small amount of energy in the 2x4700uF capacitors keeps uptimes short - good for a testbed.

     

    The first test with a 1F supercap is running at the moment :-)

     

    I'm also very happy that you like my writing style as I'm not a native english speaker.

     

    heliosoph

  • in reply to heliosoph

    Friedrich Lauterbach wrote:

     

    The small amount of energy in the 2x4700uF capacitors keeps uptimes short - good for a testbed.

    That's actually a terrific principle, as it highlights the effect of changes and is simultaneously pleasing! image

     

    Morgaine.

  • in reply to morgaine

    Hello all,

     

    first of all: thanks for all the replies I got!!!

     

    Now I've changed my capacitors to a 1F supercap. Now uptime is really long  smiley  smiley So I had to increase the memory size a lot. With a total of 256KB it is still way too short to keep all the data that are generated while logging data. To see what is happening you can have a look at:

     

    http://heliosoph.mit-links.info/arduino-powered-by-capacitor-towards-real-system/

     

    Tests are going on, more news will follow!

     

    Elektrix

  • in reply to heliosoph

    Hello all,

     

    after some experiments with 1F of capacity for my minimalistic system I got back to 0.1F. This is the point where different configurations of a "real life" system can be compared to see which one is the best. So this would be the starting point to set up your individual hardware and try it out. If interested, look at:

     

    http://heliosoph.mit-links.info/arduino-powered-by-capacitor-towards-real-system/

     

    To me, this project is a educational one and I learned a lot! The next steps would be connecting other memories like e. g. a SD card and bringing data out of the system to make it useable. At the moment I will stop at this point and perhaps continue at a later time...

     

    heliosoph

  • in reply to heliosoph

    It's been a good voyage, Friedrich, and instructive.  Many thanks for taking us along! image


    Morgaine.