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Post by SDL on Dec 17, 2019 4:24:37 GMT -8
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Post by s0urkraut86 on Feb 20, 2020 17:58:06 GMT -8
Hey guys, I am using a 5.6v zener but my solar is disconnected due to lack of sun. I was using a 5v power supply at like 5.16 volts and it was working fine. On day I woke up to a dead battery and the pi has shut down. A quick diagnosis showed Imy 5v power supply was only putting out 2.5 volts. I clean it out and I must have had a short somewhere seeing I deal with metal in the garage a lot. I cleaned it out and go my 5v back. I usually am around 5.11 to 5.16 volt ands and every would work fine however once I hooke it back up rebooted I’m getting weird voltages and the pi is still operating off the battery because it won’t charge. Is it time for ANOTHER sun control board? with 5v constant voltage the battery should be full and it shouldn’t be using any battery voltage correct  ?
 
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Post by SDL on Feb 21, 2020 13:12:09 GMT -8
Lannie,
Something has fried your the charging SunControl board. My **guess** is it was your power supply doing something funky. I'd guess it went high before it went low. Your 5.6V on the Solar Inputs won't save you from that.
When charging by the 5V, you still will use battery current and you won't charge it very fast. Nature of the beast.
BP
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Post by s0urkraut86 on Feb 27, 2020 21:13:22 GMT -8
Bp, I just got the new board today and I’m still not even charging the battery I swapped Power supplies and same thing... now I’m out of ideas anything else you can think of. Maybe my battery is shot Thanks, Lannie |
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Post by SDL on Feb 28, 2020 9:40:09 GMT -8
Lannie,
Swap out the battery. That's the next thing to check.
BP
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Post by s0urkraut86 on Feb 29, 2020 12:57:35 GMT -8
BP, I just ordered some cells but the weird thing in this screenshot is that all of a sudden it just died I don’t really understand what happened. If the battery went bad wouldn’t it be more gradual. I’m very confused with this. I’m trying to get you u screen shots to show the behavior. Now I get nothing at the 1 hour section and my battery won’t charge above 20%. It seems like I have a short or something I don’t know.     |
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Post by SDL on Mar 1, 2020 15:09:35 GMT -8
What just died? I'm confused by the screens.
Do you have a variable power supply? You can put 5.5V in the solar panel inputs and get charge too. You are using SunControl, right?
BP
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Post by s0urkraut86 on Mar 2, 2020 14:45:19 GMT -8
Bp, I have no idea what died. One day it was putting 3.5 volts instead of 5 and bam all that happened. Blew out the variable 5v power supply hooked it back up and hasn’t worked right since. Since it’s winter here it gets cold so I could see if the battery didn’t do great but it wouldn’t go above 25 percent I’m not sure. So I got a new suncontrol board swapped raspberry pi’s and using a wall plug instead of the variable power supply. Next step is deleting all the code and restarting. Gonna add pictures  |
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Post by SDL on Mar 2, 2020 15:18:45 GMT -8
I'll be looking for it. I really wonder what you have done!!!!
BP
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Post by s0urkraut86 on Mar 3, 2020 12:14:22 GMT -8
Bp, ok Blynk land weatherstem looks waaaaaay better.stats look correct. Now the only issue I am having is the it’s only taking white pictures. It’s almost like the shutter doesn’t close I’m not two sure. Here is too pictures keep in mind the stats are weird cuz it is inside right now.   Thanks Lannie. |
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Post by SDL on Mar 4, 2020 15:51:54 GMT -8
Lannie,
What version of SkyWeather are you running?
John
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Post by s0urkraut86 on Mar 26, 2020 14:20:44 GMT -8
i am running version 55 i had it running in the garage with a battery and plugged into the wall with usb charger and the battery was charging fine. i bring it outside and the battery seems to be not charging at all. is the voltage drop higher i used 4 24 gauge cat5 wires for positive and sam,e for the negative and spliced it into a usb cable. Due to the lack of sun i needed to hardwire it. i have the pot on the 5v psu set to 5.2 due to voltage drop because i know there will be some and using a voltagr drop calculator with the results below based on the amps set to 2.5. according to what i read 4 24awg wires twisted together will make 1 14 gauge wire. the distance is 40 feet that im running. and blynk still shows the battery not charging and i dont want blow up ANOTHER control board. www.calculator.net/voltage-drop-calculator.html?material=copper&wiresize=8.286&voltage=5.2&phase=dc&noofconductor=1&distance=40&distanceunit=feet&eres=2.5&x=72&y=29Voltage drop: 0.51 Voltage drop percentage: 9.75% Voltage at the end: 4.67 you can see in the picture below from when it was in the garage and when I brought it outside  |
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Post by SDL on Mar 26, 2020 17:07:09 GMT -8
Did you measure the voltage at the end or just calculated it? 4.67V is not going to do it into the USB Port. It needs to be at least 4.75V and probably needs to be 5V.
By the way, no charging readings will look right when you have it plugged into the wall.
BP
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Post by s0urkraut86 on Mar 27, 2020 13:39:47 GMT -8
Hello,
I bought a new usb cable and it looks like the red wire carries the 5v and the green wire is the ground which is strange to me. Either way I tried and still no power to the station even though the same cable before I cut it worked fine in a cell phone charger plugged into the wall. I was only using the voltage drop calculator to make sure my 5v power supply was adjusted correctly.
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Post by s0urkraut86 on Mar 27, 2020 16:59:45 GMT -8
quick update i used a different cable that actually worked but still looks like its not charging the battery even though its lighting everything up as if it is working. also not sure if i should have the wall power the battery and solar power in at the same time, please let me know.
Thanks,
Lannie
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