Monthly Archives: August 2013

Solar power for your arduino – battery characteristics

pv-arduino-1In this post we will start to talk about the component that stores the energy from the PV module until it is used: the battery. We will build our system with a lead-acid battery. This post is about the basic function of the battery in our system and the electrical characteristics that are important to us. The next post will be about the different types of lead-acid batteries and how to choose the right type and size. Continue reading

Solar power for your arduino – load

pv-arduino-1A standalone PV system begins with thinking about the load. So let’s talk about our load: The characteristics of the load determine all the components of the PV system because it must be designed to feed the load so that everything works the way we want it to.

In the first part of this article we will talk about choosing the appropriate system voltage. The second part is about how much electricity is consumed and how to optimize the system in a way that it needs less energy but still is fully functional.
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