Solar Power on the Raspberry Pi – SunAir
The latest SwitchDoc Labs Kickstarter project is SunAir, a board
designed to charge LiPo batteries from Solar Panels and power your Pi.
First SunAir Kickstarter Update (Dec 7, 2014) Published here.
An earlier generation of this project was used in Project Curacao. You also can track the sun, detect low power conditions and more. Works perfectly with the SwitchDoc Labs WatchDog Timer Board.
Come Pledge your support and get a good deal on discounted SunAir units!
This is a board that is designed for you to build your own Raspberry Pi Solar Powered projects around. SunAir is designed for the Raspberry Pi.
- Solar Power System for your Arduino / Raspberry Pi
- Solar Power Charger for your Phone or Battery Pack
- Track the Sun and Turn the Panels for 25%-30% More Power
- With SunAirPlus, Get More Data!
Product Features
- Uses 6V Solar Cells
- Use 3.7V LiPo Cells for batteries
- Has LiPo to 5V power boost built in
- Directly powers Raspberry Pi / Arduino
- Works Raspberry Pi (3.3V) GPIO and Arduino (5.0V) GPIO
- Built-in Interface for Solar Tracking Photoresistor devices – including A/D
- Built-in Interface for Servo motor or Stepper motor
- Built-in Interface for Limit Switches
- Charges iPhones and other Android phones or devices
- Approximates an MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) charging system
- Comes with a iPhone / iPad based Control Panel App ($2 on App Store – SunAirPiConnect / SunAirArduinoConnect)
- 3D SunAir Tracker OpenSCAD files available and STL files
SunAir Block Diagram
The Fritzing diagram below shows SunAir connected up to a Raspberry B+.
Hi,
I would like to get a sunair board through kickstarter but I would like to know more about the mppt method used on the board.
Do you correct charging current load to get mppt, is it possible to get a schematic ?
Gook luck and best regards
Sun Air uses a CN3065 to run the charging sequence for the batteries. The chip does a pretty good job of approximating the MPPT. You can read about it in the chip application note at: https://www.consonance-elec.com/pdf/Application/CN3063/Solar%20charge%20management%20chip%20selection.pdf
It’s really a pretty cool chip.
John