Drunkskunk
100 GW
I've got a bike project coming up that needs low voltage solar. I don't plan to run the motor or charge the main battery on solar, but I will have a lot of non-optimal surface area and a bunch of low powered things I want to add to the bike. Everything can be run at 5 volts, as most is USB compatible.
I figure I need 4 watts continuous, 24/7. I want this to be separate from the main battery so I'll have a bank of 18650 cells.
What I can't figure out is hook a large number of tiny solar cells together, most of which will be in shade or darkness at any given time. So there will be a great difference in output, and almost always sub-optimal. My understanding is that getting this wrong will fry the solar cells, but I haven't been able to find a good explanation on how to manage this for around 1000 individual cells, all at different output levels.
OK, now the long winded bit. A month ago I was in a serious and stupid bike wreck. I was riding at maybe 10mph at sunset when my front tire (20 inch) dipped into a hidden hole and stopped dead. As the bike did a forward flip, I went headfirst over the handlebars, landing head first in the street. I was knocked out cold. Lucky for me, someone saw, blocked the lane with their car, and called 911. I had a concussion and needed a bunch of stitches, but I'm not dead, and will recover. Things could have gone much worse. The person who saw me wreck might not have, and the next car might not have seen me laying in the road in the dark. Also, I often ride where I might not be found. A few trails I like to ride can go months between people using them.
So laying in the ER i had a brilliant idea of a deadman switch. A series of sensors that can tell when my bike is on it's side and will set a count down timer. If I hit a button in that time, it will reset, but cycle this a few times just to be sure. If I miss hitting the button or don't pick the bike back up, it will send a Wifi alert to my phone. I'll have to wright an app, but the idea is to have my phone call 911 with my GPS location, maybe even with sending pics of the location. I think this idea would be amazing for people in mobility scooters who may have other health concerns as well. No monitoring service, no monthly fees, just help when no one is around. The idea needs a lot of development, but the first part is effortless and maintenance free power for the bike's onboard electronics.
Things I want to try to add to this are an alarm, lights, a camera, GPS tracking. But since it would also be usefull, I'll add wifi, usb charging, move the bike's light system to this power source with wifi control, weather monitoring hooked to the wifi, and provisions to monitor the battery and even kill the power to the bike by wifi Also a possible 4g connection.
The first tech problem to solve is how to get the most power from solar on an object that will move often, and rarely to never be in line with the sun. The answer is to use many tiny panels all over the bike frame and bag rack. But when that happens, there will often be a huge power discrepancy between panels. And that output will constantly be changing, maybe multiple times a second.
So the real question is how do I manage around 100 watts worth of tiny 0.1 watt panels all with different outputs that are constantly changing and get a steady and efficient usable output?
I figure I need 4 watts continuous, 24/7. I want this to be separate from the main battery so I'll have a bank of 18650 cells.
What I can't figure out is hook a large number of tiny solar cells together, most of which will be in shade or darkness at any given time. So there will be a great difference in output, and almost always sub-optimal. My understanding is that getting this wrong will fry the solar cells, but I haven't been able to find a good explanation on how to manage this for around 1000 individual cells, all at different output levels.
OK, now the long winded bit. A month ago I was in a serious and stupid bike wreck. I was riding at maybe 10mph at sunset when my front tire (20 inch) dipped into a hidden hole and stopped dead. As the bike did a forward flip, I went headfirst over the handlebars, landing head first in the street. I was knocked out cold. Lucky for me, someone saw, blocked the lane with their car, and called 911. I had a concussion and needed a bunch of stitches, but I'm not dead, and will recover. Things could have gone much worse. The person who saw me wreck might not have, and the next car might not have seen me laying in the road in the dark. Also, I often ride where I might not be found. A few trails I like to ride can go months between people using them.
So laying in the ER i had a brilliant idea of a deadman switch. A series of sensors that can tell when my bike is on it's side and will set a count down timer. If I hit a button in that time, it will reset, but cycle this a few times just to be sure. If I miss hitting the button or don't pick the bike back up, it will send a Wifi alert to my phone. I'll have to wright an app, but the idea is to have my phone call 911 with my GPS location, maybe even with sending pics of the location. I think this idea would be amazing for people in mobility scooters who may have other health concerns as well. No monitoring service, no monthly fees, just help when no one is around. The idea needs a lot of development, but the first part is effortless and maintenance free power for the bike's onboard electronics.
Things I want to try to add to this are an alarm, lights, a camera, GPS tracking. But since it would also be usefull, I'll add wifi, usb charging, move the bike's light system to this power source with wifi control, weather monitoring hooked to the wifi, and provisions to monitor the battery and even kill the power to the bike by wifi Also a possible 4g connection.
The first tech problem to solve is how to get the most power from solar on an object that will move often, and rarely to never be in line with the sun. The answer is to use many tiny panels all over the bike frame and bag rack. But when that happens, there will often be a huge power discrepancy between panels. And that output will constantly be changing, maybe multiple times a second.
So the real question is how do I manage around 100 watts worth of tiny 0.1 watt panels all with different outputs that are constantly changing and get a steady and efficient usable output?