Power from small scale solar to DC devices question

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bgirardot

Joined Apr 23, 2011
1
I am trying to create a stand alone solar powered tcp/ip network camera.

I plan on putting a panel on a pole with a weather proof box to hold:

a camera
a wireless access point w/ external antenna
charge controller
12v AGM battery

I am planning to use this charge controller:

http://www.cirkits.com/spc3/index.html

Which conveniently outputs 12V nominal at up to 10A for loads separate from the battery charging output.

I have a wireless AP that requires 5V @ 2A and a camera that requires 9V @ 1A (at least that is what their power supplies are rated at for output and that seems like a good top end to assume for draw I think)

I may add in a 3rd device eventually like a wind/temp/humidity monitor if possible (I am not sure I will have enough sun to keep even the camera and AP alive 24 hours a day every day).

I also have two of these small switching voltage regulators from Dimension Engineering:

http://www.dimensionengineering.com/DE-SWADJ3.htm

I am planning on just wiring the output from the 'load' terminals on the charge controller to something and then putting the voltage regulators on that same something and making my own little power cords for the two devices and attaching them to the output of the voltage regulators.

One of the things I don't know how to do is the power break out board that I can put my source to (the charge controller in this case) my voltage regulators on and then connect my home made power cords for the devices to the output of the voltage regulators.

I sort of feel like I want connectors of some sort on a board for both the incoming source and the out going loads.

I don't a great deal about electronics, but I think I need something like perf board? But then I don't know what I use for connectors for the power cords and power source.

Any advice and/or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 

wayneh

Joined Sep 9, 2010
17,496
I think you'll need to draw out your plans; my brain hurt trying to follow the description.

But for connectors, there are many choices from wire nuts to in-line-solder joints with heat shrink, to screw terminals, inline connectors, and on and on. Decide if your connections will be essentially permanent, or will need to be moved about often. Are all your wires the same gauge? Do you have some room for a "patch panel", or is compactness a must? In other words, visualize what you want and folks here will come up with ideas.
 

THE_RB

Joined Feb 11, 2008
5,438
Please specify the solar panel W and the actual voltages and currents *consumed* by the camera and transmitter. You need to measure these as you figures above just don't seem right :).

Also please state the battery size in A/h.

Just based on your first info the charge controller seems to be a dump type which might not be best for a small continuous use application.
 

russpatterson

Joined Feb 1, 2010
353
The 9Amp controller seems like overkill for the project but I would think it should work. You can buy a 7 amp controller for less than $20 on Amazon (but it's already built).

Ditto on the request for panel and battery info. Harbor Freight sells some decent panels (the 5 watt or 15 watt may work for you, they are the thin-film variety so they take up a little more space than the silicon type).

Check out http://www.allelectronics.com/ and http://www.goldmine-elec.com/ for online sources for connectors, perf board, batteries, etc.
 
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