160 Results for "MPPT"

What is this Thanksgiving????
Log from 1 Square Inch of Power
Silly me forgot that everything in USA is closed for the Thanksgiving weekend. I sent off the board designs to get made by OSHpark last week.....Anyway, while I'm waiting, I uploaded the gerbers, BOM, schematic and added links to the OSHpark board (...

Autonomous Solar Powered System
Log from Arduino MPPT Solar Charge Controller
The MPPT charge controller works pretty well by now, but there are a few more steps necessary to make this an autonomous system that does not require human intervention. I added a power controller board that takes care of that. To reduce internal cables...

Energy Harvesting Module
Log from Modular Potato Powered Robot
Here is a 3D model (kicad 3D view) of the Energy harvesting module. It is based on a BQ25504 Energy Harvester (with MPPT and Battery management), pair with TPS63030 Buck/Boost Converter. It's perfboard/breadboard compatible. There is also a 1V precision...

Difference with another ultra low power harvesting board
Log from Tiny Solar Energy Module (TSEM)
I saw this article on Hackaday.com about the this BQ25504 Ultra low power Solar LiPo Charger sold by Kris Winer on Tindie. I wish that article was about my TSEM. Here I compare the differences with my TSEM. The BQ25504 is...

(In)Accurate Measurements
Log from Solar MPPT Charger for 24/7 "IOT" devices
Putting control of a device like this into firmware requires accurate measurements of the data required by the algorithms and probably the area I spent the majority of time while testing with prototypes was getting reasonably accurate voltage and current...

Slow progress - but a new name
Log from Solar MPPT Charger for 24/7 "IOT" devices
Introducing "makerPower MPPT Solar Charger"Engaging with Crowd Supply has been interesting. They see this device from a fresh perspective and that has resulted in some changes. One is the name. To me "Solar MPPT Charger" (or "MPPT...

First Stab PCB
Log from MPPT for low voltage solar harvesting
Well, that happened quickly. Since the last log, I have added a #SOICbite Programming/Debug Connector Footprint and a couple of mounting holes, but other than that, this is basically the same circuit as in the First Stab log: A few advantages...

Postmortem Updates
Log from 100W MPPT Prototype Charger
For anyone that really wants to build this thing I've posted updated code containing two improvements. Firstly, I fixed an annoying firmware failure mode that would require rebooting the charger when clearing snow off the PV panel. It wasn't...

52 Boards
Log from 52 Boards
As the description says, this is inspired by my partner, who wanting to learn to carve decided to carve one spoon a week. It's been fun to watch the progress of learning the various tools involved and using them for different features or styles. Beyond...

DPP Architecture Test - PCB Design and Bill of Materials
Log from MultiMPPT
This PCB was designed to test the DPP architecture used in MPPT designs. The software used to designed the PCB is Kicad 6.To get the PCB design (e.g. schematic, PCB, gerber files) check the following repository. The tests performed with this PCB will...

A light market analysis
Log from Low cost solar panel solution (MPPT + sun tracker)
Having a fully working solar panel system that I designed for less than 55 USD, I wondered if there was a business model for such a system. The critical device is obviously the solar tracker as we can already find cheap MPPT controllers everywhere on...

Still Alive
Log from $1/W True MPPT
Despite it being over a year since my last project post, I'm still alive.Quite a few things have changed since my last post. I’ve had a major job change, a house change, and a +1 to the family. Needless to say, I haven't’ been able to do much on this...

Experimentalist musings
Log from SentriFarm
I figured I'd measure my ESP8266 test system, so I scrounged a 1Ω resistor and estimated the average current at 70mA, i.e. 230mW, even when just sitting on a timer. This is more than the solar panel at peak, and no amount of MPPT will help us with this,...

Bad Ideas
Log from $1/W True MPPT
So I've been fretting over saving money on this project to get the Bill-of-materials (BOM) cost down. I've had a fair share of ideas cross my mind. Many I'm too ashamed to post on this blog, but three stuck out as being somewhat plausible.Getting rid...

Power system
Log from SoundBeacon
One of the goals of this project was to be able to prototype quickly. So I wanted to mostly use components I already had laying around, was already familiar with or had previously worked with.Many BLE beacon projects run from a coin cell, but I decided...

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