Major Parts
5 Volt Solar Panel
This project gathers collects energy using this solar panel, which charges a battery.
-
Current: 500 mA
-
Power: 2.5 W
-
Conversion Rate: 17%
Battery
I chose this battery to power the project, because it should power the device for roughly four days (84.86 hours) and the solar panel should take approximately that long to fully recharge the battery.
-
2,000 mAh
-
Up to 2,000 recharge cycles
Battery Charger
This battery charger takes the voltage provided by the solar panel and outputs a stable 4.2V to charge the battery.
-
4.5V - 8V Input
-
Charging output of 4.2V
Arduino Pro Mini
This micro controller is the brains of the whole project. It reads the outputs from all of the sensors, converts them to something readable, and outputs them on the screen.
-
Uses the ATMega328 Processor
-
14 Digitail I/O
-
6 Analog Inputs
Temperature/Humidity Sensor
This is a DHT22 sensor that uses a digital output to communicate with the micro controller.
-
Temperature Range: -40 - 80 degrees Celsius
-
0 - 100% Humidity
Barometric Pressure Sensor
This is a BMP 180 barometric pressure sensor. It uses the I2C port on the micro controller to transfer data.
-
300 - 1100hPa
-
1.8 - 3.6V
Wind Sensor
This is a wind sensor made by Modern Device. It is their Revision C wind sensor and uses the hotwire technique to measure wind speed.
-
Needs 10 seconds on startup to thermally stabilize
-
Adjustable via onboard trimpot
-
Slightly tricky to work with due to dependence on temperature and wind speed
LCD Screen
.jpg)
This is a character based LCD screen that communicates with the micro controller using the I2C bus.
-
4 lines X 20 Characters
-
Contrast Adjusted via Potentiometer
Boost Convertor
This is a boost convertor that boosts the voltage that it is given from the battery to a constant 5V that powers the micro controller.
-
.9 - 5V to 5V
​