4 ms·

Do you have a description of your setup? It sounds interesting.

by ajays 14y ago

whyenot 14y ago
Sure! I am still experimenting and changing things around, but here is my current setup. 12v 10Ah sealed lead acid battery Instapark 20w solar panel with solar charge controller Pololu step down switching regulator Logitech c270 webcam (USB) Edimax wifi dongle (USB) With this setup I am running 24/7 "off the grid." We'll see how well it works in the winter. The webcam and wifi can be directly connected to the RPi. You don't need a powered hub. This greatly simplifies things. The goal is to eventually swap out the SLA battery for a 12.8v LiFePO4 and house everything in a waterproof enclosure made from a Pelican case. I also have a powered hub and a GlobalSat GPS unit that I'd like to add at some point. The logitech camera is not that great. I'll look into replacing it once we know more about the add on camera coming from the Raspberry Pi foundation.
makomk 14y ago
Bear in mind there apparently some nasty hardware limitations in the USB controller that tend to make USB webcams unreliable: http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=12097 http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1... I'm guessing that whyenot dodged them due to a combination of luck and not having any USB peripherals connected other than the webcam and Wifi adapter; the more USB devices, the more likely you are to run into a problem.
- whyenot 14y ago
  I've connected the camera, wifi, gps and a usb hard disk to the pi at the same time using a powered USB hub (Belkin I think?) and haven't had any problems. This was with mains power. But you're right, there are many people who have run into problems. Either I was lucky or I didn't notice them.
  - makomk 14y ago
    I think connecting a keyboard and mouse as well may significantly increase the odds of it failing, which is unfortunate given how the Foundation advertised it.
ajays 14y ago
Upon some searching around, I found this person is selling a kit for running a Pi from solar power (with battery backup): http://cgi.cottonpickers.plus.com/~cottonpickers/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4 http://cgi.cottonpickers.plus.com/~cottonpickers/forum/viewt...
- whyenot 14y ago
  I tried something similar using a 2700mAh LiPoly battery, a 3.4watt solar panel and a USB / Solar LiPoly charger, all purchased from Adafruit for a different project. It can power the Pi for about 4 hours, but you'd really want a much larger panel and battery. Also, I was very worried about the potential fire hazard from the LiPoly battery. I will eventually be setting up my camera in a state park, and I don't want to be responsible for starting a brush fire.

Do you have a description of your setup? It sounds interesting.

by ajays 14y ago

Do you have a description of your setup? It sounds interesting.

Sure! I am still experimenting and changing things around, but here is my current setup. 12v 10Ah sealed lead acid battery Instapark 20w solar panel with solar charge controller Pololu step down switching regulator Logitech c270 webcam (USB) Edimax wifi dongle (USB) With this setup I am running 24/7 "off the grid." We'll see how well it works in the winter. The webcam and wifi can be directly connected to the RPi. You don't need a powered hub. This greatly simplifies things. The goal is to eventually swap out the SLA battery for a 12.8v LiFePO4 and house everything in a waterproof enclosure made from a Pelican case. I also have a powered hub and a GlobalSat GPS unit that I'd like to add at some point. The logitech camera is not that great. I'll look into replacing it once we know more about the add on camera coming from the Raspberry Pi foundation.

makomk 14y ago

Bear in mind there apparently some nasty hardware limitations in the USB controller that tend to make USB webcams unreliable: http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=12097 http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1... I'm guessing that whyenot dodged them due to a combination of luck and not having any USB peripherals connected other than the webcam and Wifi adapter; the more USB devices, the more likely you are to run into a problem.

whyenot 14y ago
I've connected the camera, wifi, gps and a usb hard disk to the pi at the same time using a powered USB hub (Belkin I think?) and haven't had any problems. This was with mains power. But you're right, there are many people who have run into problems. Either I was lucky or I didn't notice them.
- makomk 14y ago
  I think connecting a keyboard and mouse as well may significantly increase the odds of it failing, which is unfortunate given how the Foundation advertised it.

ajays 14y ago

Upon some searching around, I found this person is selling a kit for running a Pi from solar power (with battery backup): http://cgi.cottonpickers.plus.com/~cottonpickers/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4 http://cgi.cottonpickers.plus.com/~cottonpickers/forum/viewt...

whyenot 14y ago
I tried something similar using a 2700mAh LiPoly battery, a 3.4watt solar panel and a USB / Solar LiPoly charger, all purchased from Adafruit for a different project. It can power the Pi for about 4 hours, but you'd really want a much larger panel and battery. Also, I was very worried about the potential fire hazard from the LiPoly battery. I will eventually be setting up my camera in a state park, and I don't want to be responsible for starting a brush fire.