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Arduino pro mini 3.3V + solar panel - one 18650 3.7V or three 1.2V AA batteries?

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(@tibortosoki)
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Joined: 5 years ago
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I am planning on building a simple weather station which is going to have an outside unit (sender) and a receiver inside. 

In the outside unit I would like to use a 3.3V Pro Mini. I also have a 6V 100mAh solar panel laying around, I know it is not much, but I want to install it somewhere. I also have a bunch of 1.2V AA Ni-Mh batteries, with around 7-800 mAh capacity, and some TP4056 18650 charger unit with protection circuits.

The question is which method should I use:
a) Hook three AA batteries in serial and connect the solar panel directly to them, with a diode of course. 
b) Or would it be better to buy a 18650 Li-Ion cell and connect it to the solar panel with a TP4056?

 

I also want to program the Arduino to put itself in some sort of sleep or power saving mode, and just wake up in every 2-3 minutes to measure and send data. Any suggestions or experiences about this? Is the built in LowPowerDeepSleep mode would be enough?

This topic was modified 5 years ago 3 times by TiborTosoki

   
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byron
(@byron)
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Joined: 5 years ago
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This may not be applicable to your questions but as you are in the planning stage I show a link to a project on indestructible that may be of interest.  I actually got all the parts a while back but too many  other things to do.. but a satisfyingly larger parts bin I suppose. ? 

https://www.instructables.com/id/Build-a-Solar-Powered-ESP8266/

I hope you let us know about the progress of your project.


   
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Ed_Zachery
(@ed_zachery)
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There is a lot to be said for keeping it simple in the early project stages.  If you already have the Ni-Mh and you aren't sure what your current consumption will be then the Ni-Mh would be an easy way to get to the next stage of the project without distracting you from the goal.  Just leave room in your station housing for bigger batteries. 


   
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(@pugwash)
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Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 923
 

I know this is late but take a look at the Adafruit Low Power Library.

LowPower.h

Maybe you can make use of it!


   
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(@tibortosoki)
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@pugwash

It's not late, thanks. 🙂


   
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