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Post by grognaak on Jun 29, 2019 18:07:42 GMT -8
I plan to use the SunControl board. Please excuse my lack of experience with hardware and help me with the following questions.
1) Can I connect more than one solar panel to this board? If so, how? What cables or other supplies do I need? What are the connectors on those cables called? Where do they plug in?
2) Can I power several devices simultaneously with this board (i.e. Raspberry Pi, GSM board, etc.)? If so, how? What specific equipment do I need? What are the cables called? What are the connectors on those cables called? Where do they plug in?
3) Can I charge several different batteries with this board at the same time? If so, how? What do I need? What are the cables called? What are the connectors called? Where do they plug in?
4) Can two SunControl boards be connected to a central mission computer (Raspberry PI) while providing power to different subsystems? If so, how?
Thank you!
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Post by SDL on Jun 30, 2019 6:46:36 GMT -8
Grognaak, You are asking great questions that would take a lot of explaining. Here is some information to get you going: 1) Can I connect more than one solar panel to this board? If so, how? What cables or other supplies do I need? What are the connectors on those cables called? Where do they plug in?
shop.switchdoc.com/collections/solar/products/multi-solar-panel-connector-board2) Can I power several devices simultaneously with this board (i.e. Raspberry Pi, GSM board, etc.)? If so, how? What specific equipment do I need? What are the cables called? What are the connectors on those cables called? Where do they plug in?Yes, you can power several devices. The Raspberry Pi uses a USB Type A to USB Micro cable to be powered up and you can use the Pi to power other devices up to a limit. Look at using the Pi2Grover board to simplify this. shop.switchdoc.com/products/pi2grover-raspberry-pi-to-grove-connector-interface-board3) Can I charge several different batteries with this board at the same time? If so, how? What do I need? What are the cables called? What are the connectors called? Where do they plug in?We do not recommend this. If you do want to do this, you should use multiples of the exact same battery and then make sure they are charged to exactly the same level when you wire them together. You will have to do some soldering to do this or build a special connector board. 4) Can two SunControl boards be connected to a central mission computer (Raspberry PI) while providing power to different subsystems? If so, how?Yes, you can do this. You would need to use an I2C Mux to read the data from two SunControl boards. We did something similar with SunAirPlus boards in the SunRover project. www.switchdoc.com/category/sunrover/BP Read more: forum.switchdoc.com/post/new/956#ixzz5sLJEu59z
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Post by grognaak on Jul 2, 2019 18:39:27 GMT -8
Thank you, Doc, for the informative post! One more pressing question for you: can I use the micro-USB connector supplied with my Voltaic solar panel to apply power through the SunControl USB input and still retain all the great functionality of the board?
Thanks again!
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Post by SDL on Jul 2, 2019 18:42:52 GMT -8
Yes, but you aren't going to get as much current to the charge the battery as you will through the solar panel input.
BP
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Post by grognaak on Jul 2, 2019 18:48:12 GMT -8
Yes, but you aren't going to get as much current to the charge the battery as you will through the solar panel input. BP Thank you. How were you able to get a jst-connector on the Voltaic panel cable? My panel seems to be wired with a red cable connected to a 3.5 x 1.1 mm plug and comes with the micro-usb adapter. Did you take this apart and solder or do you know of a JST-PH2 adapter? Thank you!
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Post by SDL on Jul 2, 2019 18:59:43 GMT -8
On Project Curacao2, John cut the red cable and soldered JST-2 wires and plugs on to the cable. You can get adaptors but they are a mess since Voltaic used a strange size of plug. BP
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Post by grognaak on Jul 2, 2019 19:08:22 GMT -8
Very cool. I think I am missing something though as far as my project is concerned. Apparently, micro-USB can do an output of 1500mah and the Voltaic Systems 9W, 6V solar panel I have advertises a peak current of 1420mah. I wanted to stay below the 1800-something rating for current coming into the SunControl board. Am I misunderstanding something about these numbers? Thanks!
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Post by SDL on Jul 3, 2019 5:58:13 GMT -8
The issue is the way the controller uses the USB to charge, not the supply itself.
BP
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Post by grognaak on Jul 3, 2019 8:40:33 GMT -8
The issue is the way the controller uses the USB to charge, not the supply itself. BP Ah, I see, thanks. Can you elaborate on why the JST PH2 adapter is a “mess”? I see now that Voltaic Systems sells one: www.voltaicsystems.com/3511-ext-jstMuch appreciated. I’m starting to feel like my power subsystem is coming together.
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Post by SDL on Jul 4, 2019 6:59:53 GMT -8
The conversion was a mess. The VoltaicSystems conversion cable definitely fixes that!
BP
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Post by grognaak on Jul 6, 2019 6:45:08 GMT -8
Doc, is the SunControl board negatively impacted if it is receiving maximum input from a 9 W solar panel (1420 mah) in addition to 2.1 amps from USB power? What does the board do in this case? I am thinking about plugging in a different battery pack to the USB power with its own solar panel. I had assumed that I would not want to go over the 1880 max current input for the SunControl board, but I'm not sure if that means it would hurt the board to have more coming in, or only if that's the max that the board can do something useful with. Please advise. Thanks!
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Post by grognaak on Jul 7, 2019 7:36:26 GMT -8
I have an additional question. I want to used TWO shields stacked on my Pi Zero W. I have read that this is not just plug and play, but depends on the pins that each shield is using. This is all mad science to me and I need help unraveling this cipher. I need to have the following two hats on my board: *Pi2Grover * sixfab.com/product/raspberry-pi-3g-4glte-base-shield-v2/?attribute_header-type=with+long+headerThe link contains a description for a cell comm shield with the pins used. Can you explain the order in which these should / could be stacked (hopefully they are stackable!)? If not, can you explain why they are incompatible? Thanks!
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Post by SDL on Jul 7, 2019 7:51:44 GMT -8
Well, that website is clear as mud as far as pin usage goes. I understand why you are confused.
Here are the GPIO pins used by the base shield:
Pin Number Pin Name Description 2 5V PWR This pin is connected to the 5V power net. 4 5V PWR This pin is connected to the 5V power net. 8 PCI RX This pin functions as the serial data input to the module for UART communication. 10 PCI TX This pin functions as the serial data output from the module for UART communication 31 RI This pin is Ring indicator functions as the indication for receiving call or SMS, can be calibrated to HIGH or LOW using the AT commands. 33 DTR When the module is in sleep mode, DTR pin allows to wake up the module up by pulling it to LOW. 35 W_DISABLE This pin is used to turn Airplane Mode on the module, by pulling it HIGH. 37 PERST The pin is used to hardware reset the module, by pulling it HIGH. 6,9,14,25,30,34,39 GND These pins are connected to ground.
Doesn't matter which one you put on top but I would put the Pi2Grover on top. They are compatible, but you have to check out which GPIO ports are used. Look at the charts.
BP
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Post by lbendlin on Jul 8, 2019 12:57:12 GMT -8
4) Can two SunControl boards be connected to a central mission computer (Raspberry PI) while providing power to different subsystems? If so, how?Yes, you can do this. You would need to use an I2C Mux to read the data from two SunControl boards. We did something similar with SunAirPlus boards in the SunRover project. www.switchdoc.com/category/sunrover/Alternatively you can change the I2C address on one of the SunControl boards from the default 0x40 to something else, like 0x43, and then speak to the board via that address. That's how my setup is working (since April, without interruption!)
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Post by grognaak on Jul 8, 2019 20:10:32 GMT -8
Thanks! Can someone tell me what will happen if I plug a 2.1A USB out on an external battery pack to the mini-USB on the SunControl board while also charging through solar at 1420 mah?
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