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Third Visor Iteration + First PCB

A project log for Solar Powered LoRaWAN GPS tracker + phone charger

An environmental friendly visor using solar energy to charge handheld devices and supports GPS tracking/SOS through Helium LoraWAN network.

superpowered-jalapenosSuperpowered Jalapenos 06/29/2023 at 21:460 Comments

Our third visor iteration used PETG plastic and was much more stable, which meant we could finally attach the solar panels and PCB. The PCB used through-hole components and was very noticeable, and the wires from the solar panels also stuck out. It didn't look the most aesthetic, and we got some feedback from our community after sending out a survey about maybe covering up the solar panels and PCB to make it look like a normal hat. 

Some more cons were that the two solar panels were not secured properly, and fell out quite easily. This is a big problem because people should be able to walk around on long hikes with our visors. We also had a PCB enclosure, but it was very flimsy and we needed to improve the design of it.

However, this was our first working design and we were extremely happy about it! It was able to charge a Samsung phone and Airpods, but not an iPhone due to data line issues. 

We decided to make a list of future improvements, and this included:

- adding iPhone charging support

- making the design more comfortable + aesthetic

- adding a battery for nighttime use

We decided that our final visor design would look like this since we wanted the area of the visor to be longer a wider so it could fit a more powerful visor. We also chose a rectangular design so less area would be lost due to the curve:

We made a video to show how to use this model: 

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