Our third Solar Power My Project Contest winner from Whistler, BC has “a mesh network of XBee/Arduino nodes that report battery voltage of their respective solar power systems. Of the 20 nodes, 2 are currently unreachable due to the terrain. A well placed node in a treetop would bridge the gap and complete the network.” Because the repeater uses less power than the other nodes, our 6 Watt Solar charger kit is able to power the system and is a lot more convenient to place up high than the 100Ah batteries used on the other notes.

Here’s the node which acts as the repeater.
xbee repeater node

Per the winner, the “node can be populated with XBee and/or Arduino Pro-Mini, depending on the site requirements. The system Voltage is 3.3V, but board has a voltage regulator (Vin = 5-18V) to drop down the USB output of the Voltaic battery. Current consumption of the system is 65mA (or about 8 Watt hours of battery power a day), which potentially could be further reduced using the XBee co-ordinated sleep mode.” Keep track of progress at angryelectron.com

Read more on powering Arduinos from solar.

2 Responses

  1. Anthony (Tony) Drake

    I have an application that will use one or more solar-powered XBee repeaters like this. I had started working on a design with a stock Arduino, but it seems someone has already done the job with a better choice (Pro-Mini)! I couldn’t find a mention of this board on angryelectron.com. Can you specify a more specific URL, or tell us where in their website to look? Besides the design, I’d like to see how they handled outside temperature swings and waterproofing challenges.

    Thanks,
    –Tony

    Reply
    • admin

      Hi Tony, this project isn’t complete yet as far as I know. For waterproofing, a lot of our customers are using something like an Otter Box or Pelican case and drilling holes in them to accommodate the wires. Then seal those holes up with epoxy or silicone. Throw in some silica bags (search online) and that will absorb the moisture. Yes, temperature changes can be a problem especially in sub-freezing conditions. Lithium Polymer batteries will have a shorter lifespan when charged below 32F / 0C. Keep us up to date on your project, this is something we would like to see built and published for others to see and learn from.

      Reply

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