TomkinsG
New Member
I've been poking about on the web for a week or more looking for ideas on how to build a relatively small and simple system to power a couple of USB devices. Looking for a few tips here.
I simply want to mount a couple of Wyze cam3s on a pole on my driveway to watch for when the amazon drivers back into my fence and cause criminal damage to my property before driving off. There's no power out there but there is wifi!
So I have some wifi cameras being delivered tomorrow (yes, by Amazon!) along with a USB "multimeter" so i can assess the power drain from the cams.
I am assuming the load drawn is about .25A each based on some findings out there (but will refine this based on my own observations with the multimeter). On that assumption, I was planning to order a 20Ah LiFePo4 battery and a 20W or 25W solar panel. Thoughts on those sizings?
I have been mesmerized with all the different solar controllers out there and I am looking for an affordable controller that will do this job but is also something that for v2 of my project, i can hook a wifi microcontroller to in order to monitor the solar system (not literally the solar system) and stream back telemetry data over MQTT.
My other question relates to version 3 of my project where i would like to automate the rotation the panel using a servo (might as well put that microcontroller to full use) so it follows the sun as this will be on an E-W fence line and there are trees to the South. It gets good sun in the summer but in the winter, its going to be shadier during the central day but sunny in the morning and late afternoon.
Then when i have got this project behind me, i am hoping to build a fully automated weather station also solar because this same fence is the best place to put up a rain gauge on my property!
Cheers for the help
GT
I simply want to mount a couple of Wyze cam3s on a pole on my driveway to watch for when the amazon drivers back into my fence and cause criminal damage to my property before driving off. There's no power out there but there is wifi!
So I have some wifi cameras being delivered tomorrow (yes, by Amazon!) along with a USB "multimeter" so i can assess the power drain from the cams.
I am assuming the load drawn is about .25A each based on some findings out there (but will refine this based on my own observations with the multimeter). On that assumption, I was planning to order a 20Ah LiFePo4 battery and a 20W or 25W solar panel. Thoughts on those sizings?
I have been mesmerized with all the different solar controllers out there and I am looking for an affordable controller that will do this job but is also something that for v2 of my project, i can hook a wifi microcontroller to in order to monitor the solar system (not literally the solar system) and stream back telemetry data over MQTT.
My other question relates to version 3 of my project where i would like to automate the rotation the panel using a servo (might as well put that microcontroller to full use) so it follows the sun as this will be on an E-W fence line and there are trees to the South. It gets good sun in the summer but in the winter, its going to be shadier during the central day but sunny in the morning and late afternoon.
Then when i have got this project behind me, i am hoping to build a fully automated weather station also solar because this same fence is the best place to put up a rain gauge on my property!
Cheers for the help
GT
