Solar powered weather station

Hello,

My wind speed is :Anemometer Wind Speed Sensor w/Analog Voltage Output ID: 1733 - $44.95 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits. and it needs at least 7v to work.

I need to develop wireless network ,each sensor modules need to send data to the computer ( around a building, we will put sensors every four levels, each side of the building). they need to power by solar, because I think there is no options. I did find the following topic in the net.

What about using this? : Arduino R3 Solar Charger shield module -LiPo rider with USB Interface

I am so confused. I am pretty new with this stuff. I need to put sensor (temperature and humidity sensor) in a box and wind speed sensor close to the box. I need to power all of them with breadboard? How to establish successful connection? Also I need to add solar radiation sensor just for the ground and roof. Do you know any solar radiation sensor working with arduino?
Thanks heaps.

G’day,

An exciting project.

Yes, you could use an Arduino Uno R3, but per network node it will be large and expensive. Some of the other controllers are smaller and cheaper. Such as the Adafruit Feather range, which come in several different wireless frequencies and protocols; WiFi, LoRa, and others.

You may need something as your logging or computer connected node; to get the data off the network to somewhere you can use it. One more of whatever wireless controller you choose.

Yes, you could use one of the LiPo Rider modules to charge a battery from a solar panel. You would need to use a controller module that can run off the battery or from the 5V output of the LiPo Rider. The Adafruit Feather can also run direct from a LiPo battery.

Your wind speed sensor is very limiting. You are going to have to use a boost, or step-up, regulator to generate suitable voltage to run it. There are boost regulators from Pololu which can be turned on and off by your controller; so you can sample once a minute to save power.

Solar panels at each side of a building every four levels will be difficult; because there are usually sides of a building that are in shadow.

A breadboard is not really suitable for this task; the wires can fall out over weeks or months with vibration and thermal cycles of the environment. Once free of the sockets, the wires can touch other things in the box. Use a breadboard to help with design, prototyping and testing, but plan to move to soldered wires and circuit boards. If you have to use breadboards, anchor each wire down with polyimide silicone adhesive tape.

There are several light sensors that can approximate a solar radiation sensor; visible, IR, or UV. Check out the TSL235R. A small solar cell can be used as an uncalibrated sensor, if you can calibrate the readings against a calibrated instrument. A calibrated solar irradiance sensor is way more work, and I’ve not seen them available cheaply.

If the building is yours, then you need not worry so much about the safety of the LiPo battery. If the building belongs to someone else, you may need to assure them that you’ve thought about the battery catching fire, and risk to pedestrians from falling flaming modules. :grin:

Don’t worry about the confusion. It is normal; a sign you are faced with lots of choices and are having to choose without enough information. Relax and enjoy the confusion, and keep asking questions everywhere.

Hello,

Thank you for the response. I did buy XBee Module - ZB Series 2 - 2mW with Wire Antenna [XB24-Z7WIT-004] for wireless communication. I will need bunch of it I think.

Temperature sensor Adafruit Sensiron SHT31-D Temperature & Humidity Sensor Breakout. I do have Arduino mega 2560.

I am pretty new with Arduino and this kind of technology. If solderless bread board is not suitable. how can I connect all sensors and solar power (just in case) to the arduino.

can I use this for solar panel http://www.ebay.com/itm/20A-12V-24V-Solar-Panel-Charge-Controller-Regulator-Safe-For-Protection/182247154138?_trksid=p2047675.c100011.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D38530%26meid%3Db8566e26bb0b44bdb8078a8def788d08%26pid%3D100011%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D3%26sd%3D221773112109 ?

How to connect wind speed and booster ( what kind of booster) to arduino?

Thank you…

Temporary connection is by solderless bread board, so you’ll still need them as tools early in your project. They will be surplus at the end of your project.

Permanent connection to an Arduino is either by

  • soldering to the connectors (for which you can buy Arduino that have no connector pins; search for arduino pro), or

  • plug in a circuit board above the Arduino; search for mega protoshield, or

  • layout and fabricate your own circuit board using KiCad and board foundaries such as OSH Park, using the bare controller chip.

The solar charge controller you linked to is for 12V lead-acid battery systems. Yes, you could use this, but you would also have to use a 12V lead-acid battery. With that, select a step-down regulator to power the Arduino, and power the wind sensor from 12V.

If you were using a single LiPo and needed 5V for the Arduino, and 7V for the wind sensor, you would pick two suitable step-up regulators of the correct power, voltage, and current. Search also for “adjustable”. Or maybe a single step-up regulator adjusted for a bit above the minimum input voltage of the Arduino linear regulator.

It’s a project containing many weeks of effort, good luck!

thank you for your response. I am trying to understand. One of the guys from little bird, they suggested to me , 9v 220ma solar panel,200 mah battery (4 of them), 1n4004 diode,Hook up the solar panel to the 6 AA NiMH batteries with the diode in series to prevent discharge to the panel. That should then give you a self charging battery pack that will run your Arduino and wind sensor.

for step-down regulator, there are heaps of choices, which one i need to choose.and do i need to have two of them for one sensor set?
I think mega protoshield is nice, i do have xbee shield for xbee communication? xbee is good?

You think which one is good lead-acid battery or lipo?

Thank you…

It might work. You’ll find out within a few days if it isn’t. Without knowing the current drawn by the Arduino, XBee, and wind sensor, and the daily solar irradiance, and the IV curve of the panel, I can’t say that it will work. Current drawn by the Arduino will also depend on the sketch you write; there’s a sleep mode you can use to lower current between taking samples. Some solar panels have a built-in diode, so an extra diode may not be needed.

Yes, there’s heaps of choices for a step-down regulator, but I can’t choose one for you because I don’t know which way you’ll jump with respect to battery, solar panel size, or sketch. For you to choose, make sure the input voltage range matches the output voltage range of your battery (including before dawn or at midday), the output voltage range matches the input voltage range of the Arduino and wind sensor, and the maximum current is greater than the maximum current to be drawn by the Arduino and Xbee and wind sensor combined.

You might try making a spreadsheet to do the calculations.

I don’t have any direct experience with Xbee, but I’ve heard good things about them. I’ve used bare radio modules and WiFi modules mainly.

I’ve no opinion on whether to use lead-acid or LiPo. There are advantages and disadvantages of each.