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Arduino Solar Capabilities
So I went and bought a 1.5 Watt 9v solar panel from radioshack today. It gets ~10.5v and ~80mA in full California sun, and ~10.2v and ~75mA in afternoon light.
Does anyone have any experience with running an arduino only on solar power? If so how much load can it take at this power level?
Comments
7 years ago
Try this
http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/solar-charger-shield-v2-p-914.html
7 years ago
The PROCESSOR on an arduino will run down to 1.8V IIRC. You need a smart powersupply to use the variable voltage to drive the board efficiently.
Reply 7 years ago
I figured what I will end up doing is the trickle charging thing described by caitlinsdad below. I figure a 7.2v battery pack will be enough.
7 years ago
from arduino power requirements:
should be between 9V and 12V DC (see note below);
must be rated for a minimum of 250mA current output, although you will likely want something more like 500mA or 1A output, as it gives you the current necessary to power a servo or twenty LEDs if you want to.
Most solar powered stuff uses the solar cells to trickle charge a battery. You can run an arduino off of a 9v battery or 4 AA cells in a power pack.
Reply 7 years ago
OK. Thanks for the reply.