Post by SDL on May 21, 2017 8:35:58 GMT -8
I Just ordered one of these and will be following the Instructables you guys put up about the solar powered weather station.
I was just wondering what kind of adjustments you might think were appropriate for use where it get cold in the winter, like northern coastal Maine, where temps can drop down -30F at night.
From what I’ve ready about LIPO batteries they don’t really like the cold…. I was thinking about putting the battery in a small separate enclosure and insulating it a little to try to keep some heat in the battery.
Any thoughts ?
I’m going to be drawing a bit more power since I’ll be running a RPI camera on it as well, so I’m not sure if I should increase the battery size and assume a reduction of battery power in cold conditions – maybe 2 batteries in parallel ?
It’s not for anything critical, but it’ll be 500 miles away if it acts up so I’d like to get a feel for it before putting it in the field.
Thanks for making some cool products !
Answer:
Hello Kevin,
Thank you for the praise! We love hearing that.
1) LiPo batteries don’t like the cold. The real solution is to do like the Mars Rovers. Add solar panel and batteries and the actually run a little resistor based heater if the temperature inside gets too cold. Unfortunately, I’m not kidding. We are now building a solar powered rover and are facing the same thing. What are we going to do to keep the computers and batteries warm?
2) Putting in a separate enclosure will definitely help. Put a thermistor in there so you can read out the temperature and keep track of it. Plus data is cool.
3) The Pi Camera doesn’t take much power unless it is running, then it takes quite a bit. Measure it using the SunAirPlus INA3221 A/D and tell us how much. Take a look at what we did with Project Curacao (http://www.switchdoc.com/project-curacao-introduction-part-1/). Funny, but our problem with that project was getting rid of the heat. If you want to see the latest data, check out: milocreek.com/projectcuracaographs/
4) What you need to do is to increase your storage capability and your power generation capability. That means more batteries (in parallel – use the same kind and brand of LiPo if you are putting them in parallel) and add more solar panels. Your system will shutdown sometime because of lack of power, so make sure you really understand the shutdown and startup procedures and hardware (USB PowerController).
Keep us informed and send pictures. We will highlight your project on our site and with our partners.
Best regards,
SDL
John,
I just wanted to reply and say thanks again for helping me back 5 months ago. I’m going to finally be deploying my TimeLapse Camera Project out into the open air of New England. Hopefully in a year I will have a lot of pictures that I can stitch together that shows the building of my house! Very excited to both be building a new house and also finally deploying this project of which I’m using both a SunAirPlus board and a Dual WatchDog Timer.It certainly isn’t professional looking, but it is functional…at least thus far in the testing I’ve been doing with it.
Thanks again for your great products!
I was just wondering what kind of adjustments you might think were appropriate for use where it get cold in the winter, like northern coastal Maine, where temps can drop down -30F at night.
From what I’ve ready about LIPO batteries they don’t really like the cold…. I was thinking about putting the battery in a small separate enclosure and insulating it a little to try to keep some heat in the battery.
Any thoughts ?
I’m going to be drawing a bit more power since I’ll be running a RPI camera on it as well, so I’m not sure if I should increase the battery size and assume a reduction of battery power in cold conditions – maybe 2 batteries in parallel ?
It’s not for anything critical, but it’ll be 500 miles away if it acts up so I’d like to get a feel for it before putting it in the field.
Thanks for making some cool products !
Answer:
Hello Kevin,
Thank you for the praise! We love hearing that.
1) LiPo batteries don’t like the cold. The real solution is to do like the Mars Rovers. Add solar panel and batteries and the actually run a little resistor based heater if the temperature inside gets too cold. Unfortunately, I’m not kidding. We are now building a solar powered rover and are facing the same thing. What are we going to do to keep the computers and batteries warm?
2) Putting in a separate enclosure will definitely help. Put a thermistor in there so you can read out the temperature and keep track of it. Plus data is cool.
3) The Pi Camera doesn’t take much power unless it is running, then it takes quite a bit. Measure it using the SunAirPlus INA3221 A/D and tell us how much. Take a look at what we did with Project Curacao (http://www.switchdoc.com/project-curacao-introduction-part-1/). Funny, but our problem with that project was getting rid of the heat. If you want to see the latest data, check out: milocreek.com/projectcuracaographs/
4) What you need to do is to increase your storage capability and your power generation capability. That means more batteries (in parallel – use the same kind and brand of LiPo if you are putting them in parallel) and add more solar panels. Your system will shutdown sometime because of lack of power, so make sure you really understand the shutdown and startup procedures and hardware (USB PowerController).
Keep us informed and send pictures. We will highlight your project on our site and with our partners.
Best regards,
SDL
John,
I just wanted to reply and say thanks again for helping me back 5 months ago. I’m going to finally be deploying my TimeLapse Camera Project out into the open air of New England. Hopefully in a year I will have a lot of pictures that I can stitch together that shows the building of my house! Very excited to both be building a new house and also finally deploying this project of which I’m using both a SunAirPlus board and a Dual WatchDog Timer.It certainly isn’t professional looking, but it is functional…at least thus far in the testing I’ve been doing with it.
Thanks again for your great products!