Solar test 12 failed after two days. I guess the Raspberry Pi 3B takes up way too much power. I will be sticking with the Raspberry Pi Zero W for the rover.
I am printing out a new box for the solar test and this time I will be adding a mock-up, that I have not fully designed yet, of the camera mast. The design for this will be as follows:
- (4) 18650 batteries, (4) chargers, (3) panels and a Raspberry Pi with an M4 for battery monitoring and startup and shutdown of the Pi at night. This was the configuration for the previous test that lasted 31 days.
- (2) 18650 batteries, (2) chargers, (1) panel, servos for the mast.
- Camera mast will contain (1) camera, 4 servos. 1 for pan, one for tilt, and 2 for raise and lower.
- The camera will either be an 8 mp Pi camera or a USB 1080p webcam. I may wait for the USB until I get another to do stereo photos.
The mast will raise and lower once an hour during the day and lower at night. Once the mast is up it will take a few photos using its pan and tilt and then lower to it’s resting position. I am thinking that two batteries should be enough to power the servos and one panel to re-charge the batteries. but that is what testing is all about.
I have yet to design the mast. I have two designs but I don’t think they will work well. After learning this weekend about making a bearing holder for the servos to stiffen up the connection, I will be designing a 3rd version of the mast.
On another note, I have all the parts for a rolling rover. After the mast build, I can start with the rover again. I want to get the solar testing started as soon as I can, it takes a long time to test that and I can use the time to get the rover rolling.
Failing means that the batteries run out before the morning?
I’ve been following your progress for the past couple of months and I can’t wait for the rover to drive 🙂
In this case there was not enough power to power up the Pi 3B in the morning.