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Power Raspberry PI using Solar Panel

feiticeir0

Hi all.

Following a project - AllSky - taking photos all night at the sky - I want to place the PI - Raspberry PI 4 B+ 4GB memory using a SSD NVMe 512GB  - where I don't have a power outlet.

I've the following setup:

- Solar Panel -

  • max power: 20W
  • Vmpp: 18.2V
  • Voc: 22.6V
  • Impp: 1.12A
  • short-circuit: 1.18A

image

That connects to a Waveshare Solar Power Manager (C), that is powered by 3x 18650 batteries - each battery has 3350mAh - NCR18650B.

imageimage

I've set the setup voltage switch for 12V - the same as the solar panel.

image

I don't have a problem with the charging. It charges very well, to full charge.

My problem is, it just wont last all night.

Starting to take pictures at 21:30 (9pm), it only lasts to (the last picture taken) 3:44 (3:44am) . Just over 6h.. This can't be right.

My question is - what can I do to make it last longer. Should I buy more powerful batteries - like 5000mAh or more ? Chose other solar charger ?

I have the Raspberry PI Lite version - and I've disabled some unwanted services like - bluetooth, avahi-daemon, triggerhappy, etc.. I even disabled the status LEDS... Slight smile

Any idea would be great.

Thank you

Parents

  • I have a few suggestions:

    1) you may consider changing to a lighter Raspberry Pi model - like a Pi Zero or Pi Zero W.  Capturing photos doesn't take a lot of computing power.

    2) you may consider losing the SSD.  If you are simply taking photos at night, you can probably capture on the Micro-SD and offload in the morning w/o problems if you have a large enough card.

    3) depending on where you've placed your equipment, low temperatures can severely affect your battery discharge.

    4) finally, you should try to measure the average current load of your running PI to estimate how to size your battery plant.

    Good luck!

Reply

  • I have a few suggestions:

    1) you may consider changing to a lighter Raspberry Pi model - like a Pi Zero or Pi Zero W.  Capturing photos doesn't take a lot of computing power.

    2) you may consider losing the SSD.  If you are simply taking photos at night, you can probably capture on the Micro-SD and offload in the morning w/o problems if you have a large enough card.

    3) depending on where you've placed your equipment, low temperatures can severely affect your battery discharge.

    4) finally, you should try to measure the average current load of your running PI to estimate how to size your battery plant.

    Good luck!

Children
  • in reply to mswope63

    Thank you.

    I went for the SSD because of space. A SDCard will surely draw less power. I will try with a SD Card.  I will consider a 3B+ . They don't recommend Pi Zero (1 or 2) .

    I'm from Portugal. Now, it's summer. In my town - interior of Portugal,in the middle of the country, almost near Spain, I'm getting 35+ degrees celcius during the day and 20+ at night..

    I have one of those usb devices that measure power - will check that.