Any good outdoor weatherproof solar power packs available yet?

NeverDie

NeverDie

Senior Member
It would be nice if there were a scalable solar power pack, maybe notionally similar to this one (which comes in 3 different capacities, depending on your needs) :
 
41QdQwM7wIL.jpg

 
http://www.amazon.com/Allpowers%C2%AE-Monocrystalline-Environment-Thunderbolt-Incredible/dp/B00EEYVMQO/ref=cm_cr_pr_sims_t
 
for powering outdoor projects, whether it be DIY wireless sensors, wireless deadbolts for gates controlled by home automation, or whatever.  Ideally, it would be weatherproof, waterproof (say IP66?), could withstand summer heat even while in direct sunlight, have a rechargeable battery that lasts many years but when it eventually dies can be replaced with readily available off-the-shelf stock rechargeable batteries, and that would be UV proof (i.e. none of those cheap polycarbonate windows that turn opaque from too much UV damage).
 
Do such things exist yet that anyone here has tried or is currently using?
 
I'd rather not DIY it, but "Plan B" would be to just get a solar panel and run the wires into a NEMA enclosure, and do the battery charging DIY-style in there.  "Plan C" would be to chuck solar altogether and just feed freshly recharged batteries into a NEMA enclosure on an as-needed basis (as determined by wireless supervision alerts) and bring the spent batteries inside for recharging.
 
What you're asking for is pretty standard in select markets.  I do some work in WISP and Surveillance and these solutions are commonplace.  There's some thought that goes into it though - you have to size your load so you know the draw - then size your batteries typically so that they can support the load for 3-5 days of zero sunlight, then you size your panels to fully charge the battery bank in 6-8 hours.  There are kits you can buy based on your region and load needs.
 
If you have specific loads in mind I can do my best to assist - I have a client I'm meeting with now that will probably have me put a couple on his property so I need to dust off the old info; I did this a couple years ago for another client.
 
What's the typical real world lifespan of the battery bank's used in those kits?  i.e. not lifespan until failure, but lifespan until replacement (to avoid failure) is recommended?
 
I'm still waiting for the freakduino's to arrive from Japan, so I don't have any load measurements to convey as yet.  However, a regular arduino board with no added components will idle at 80ma of 5 volt current.  So, to have a concrete example for discussion purposes, you could assume double that.  Most likely the actual average currents drawn will be less, especially if the freakduino has good sleep modes.
 
In my case the region would be Austin, Texas.
 
As a first approximation, I suppose something like this plus an IP66 Nema enclosure might do it, though not to the standards you described:
 
http://www.amazon.com/Goal-Zero-41022-Guide-Recharging/dp/B00DD6B9IK/ref=dp_ob_title_sports
 
So, the viability is really going to hinge on how good the sleep modes are.  
 
I'm beginning to suspect LSD eneloops will be the better choice over solar for a freakduino sensor.  Just fewer potential issues overall.
 
From the numbers you quoted for the Arduino (80mA @ 5V), I conservatively calculate that you'll need about 24 Watt-Hours of power per day.  If the Goal Zero panel can really deliver 7 Watts of power, and you get 3 good hours of sunlight per day, that might just be enough to keep things running all day and night.  But if you get 2 or 3 cloudy days in a row, I think you'll run out of power. 
 
The other thing to think about with the solar panels is that the power output will be considerably less than the maximum during the winter months.  30% lower is not unusual in winter.
 
RAL said:
From the numbers you quoted for the Arduino (80mA @ 5V), I conservatively calculate that you'll need about 24 Watt-Hours of power per day.  
Click to expand...
 
Am curious as to how you arrived at the 24 Watt-hour number.
 
NeverDie said:
Am curious as to how you arrived at the 24 Watt-hour number.
Click to expand...
 
I took the 80 mA @ 5V for idling, and doubled it to 160 mA as you suggested.  Since I wanted to be conservative (and wanted to make the math easy :)  ), I rounded up to 200 mA.
200 mA @ 5V is 1 Watt.   So for 24 hours, that is 24 Watt-hours.
 
That Goal Zero Charger is not something designed for long term outdoor use and for a project like this it is expensive for a 7 watt charger, you can get Solar panels cheap now, the link I posted earlier had 10 watt 12 volt panels designed for real outdoor use for $25.
 
I have a Goal Zero Nomad 7 that I bought at Costco and while it might work OK for charging something on a hike or a camping trip it is not designed to be left outside long term.
 
Here in the midwest I have a neighbor powering up his LED landscaping lighting using solar cells, solar panel voltage controller and two car batteries.
 
I had a look once and asked what he did.  I looked at my roofs to do similiar and did find one roof with a south to south eastern sun view which I think would work.  Thing is that its on the other side of where the landscaping wires go to.  Guessing though I could run the power into the house in the basement to the other side and it would work that way bringing the power over to the LV power board that I have set up.
 
He put two solar cells on his garage roof, ran the cable to a outdoor PVC box with a little plastic window (voltage controller) and used landscaping sprinkler plastic in ground containers for the batteries. 
 
He said he purchased the two solar panels on Ebay. 
 
Not sure if what he did was correct as I just looked at his set up.  Its been over 3 years and functioning just fine.
 
Recalling now I did ask how he got the wires down from the solar panel to ground level with the gutter in place.  He used an already installed downspout for his wires thinking running along side or behind the downspout to ground level.  The little controller box windows was just a piece of plexiglass glued to the cover on the inside.   He said it was more to see the LED voltage status and lighting on the controller and not having to open it.  It did look though as if the controller was made to be installed outside.  Note too this is in the midwest.  His two solar panels are mounted on the back of the house over the garage sloped roof facing more West than South (well almost directly West) such that they were more aesthetically rather than functionally installed on a back yard facing roof than a front yard facing roof.  This said it looks like his outdoor LED lighting works all night just fine.  This winter I did notice that they didn't for for a period of time (well over a month from what I could tell).  He is still using the "cold" bluish LED lights rather than the newer "warm" colored lighting which does sort of cast an interesting effect on the up lighting spots to his home.  Here over the years of playing with the outdoor LEDs have changed them all now to a warm light which resembles the older incandescent landscaping lighting.  For a time too I went to using single warm white LED lamps that utilized hardly any electric (well like maybe 100mV?) for walk mini coach lights (they are all glass).  Thinking today though you can now convert all outdoor lighting to LV LED lighting and use solar cells to power it.  Thing too nowadays there are some pushes again "light pollution" at night where folks are just shutting down all exterior lighting at night in a solidarity movement relating to "light pollution".  I did find this a bit hampering while driving at night in Colorado in the mountains during snowstorms; but that was me wanting to stick to the road some and not driving off by accident.  (guessing the solution would be not to drive at night during a blizzard in the mountains of Colorado)
 
He said he had the batteries and was able to purchase everything for less than $100.
 
I see that All Ellectronics has a bunch of Solar cell stuff. 
 
All Electronics Solar Stuff
 
Pete, car batteries are not a good idea for solar, you can use golf cart batteries instead. Golf cart batteries are true deep cycle batteries and can handle greater depths of discharge than a car battery, running a car battery too low seriously shortens there life.
I don't know what the current going rate is for golf cart car batteries is, I used to get mine from Sam's club pretty cheap. The batteries I used were 6 volt and 220 amp.
 
Thank-you Wayne.
 
Basically just walked over one day while he was doing some yard work.  I was impressed though as I thought I was the only one in the subdivision using LED landscaping lighting at the time.  (small 100 home subdivision).  That said he showed me what he had put into place.  He did mention that he owns an automotive shop and that had been the source of his batteries.  I never really looked at the models of the type of batteries nor asked about them when he showed them to me.   There are a few "golf cart" stores around here as the golf courses are plentiful.
 
Wondering though too if it was a good idea to plant the batteries on the ground (well almost underground).  That and it looks like the led lights did fail in the winter.
 
Here use one marine type boat battery for the sump pump and have a little stack of batteries from a whole office backup UPS system sitting around somewhere here.  These are smaller than the boat battery but bigger than average batteries (and heavy).
 
Here though I have only created a d-mark of sorts for the LV stuff for the LED lighting.  Not gone much further than that; just entertained the use of solar cells / batteries for all of the outside lighting (well landscaping and all of the coach lights).
 
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