Sunday, February 17, 2019

Loadshedding in South Africa calls for Solar Power Supply Ver.1

Once again South Africans got to endure loadshedding.  I was sick and tired to reset modes after the power comes back on.  Not to talk about damage to equipment due to unstable voltages and spikes. The Raspberry Pi's do not like power fluctuation and being switched on and off.  I decided I had enough.  I  decided to build the first Solar Power Supply (some call it generator) with the following futures:

  1. Must be portable and light weight.
  2. Must be rain /damp proof.
  3. Need several outputs.  2 x Terminals, 1 x Car Cigarette Lighter Socket and  2 - 4 USB Power Socket. (2 x 5v 3Amp and 2 x 5v 1 Amp)
  4. Solar Voltage, Battery Voltage, Cut off Voltage, Floating Voltage, Discharge Reconnect Voltage and Discharge Reconnect Voltage must be visible via the Solar Charge Controller.
  5. Up Power Converter and Down Power Converter for Raspberry Pi and Aredn Mesh Node.
  6. Space for accessories.
  7. Must provide adequate power and amps for at least two - three hours. 
I am not going to go into detail of how to construct this unit as this is available freely on Youtube and several WebPages.  The photos gives great detail of the build.












I will soon do a final test with the solar panel connected and will then post more images and results of the tests.  I am quite pleased with the outcome of the Solar Power Supply.  I now there is a lot of other components I could have added but I am happy with the build.