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1Choose your case
I knew right away that this case needed to be waterproof to protect the sensitive electrical contents inside. I searched for cases built to Ingress Protection Standards (IPxx), and settled on the fact that my case needed to be at lease IP67 to have the amount of protection I desired for this project. I also wanted my case to have wheels to make the burden of transportation a little bit easier. You can check wholesalers, online retailers, or hardware stores to find a case that meets your needs.
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2Choose your Monitors
You are in control of the quantity and size of your monitors, but they have to fit inside your case even when folded on top of each other. If you are on a budget or environmentally conscious, use old laptop displays as your monitors. Arsenijs has a great tutorial on how to utilize old laptop displays. Make sure your case is deep enough to accommodate your monitors and the solar panels attached to the back. Design how your monitors will fold in and out of the case before moving on to the next step. Another consideration is power consumption, you must ensure your monitors will not out-draw your power source before the solar energy replenishes it. To calculate this, you can track your monitors required input power, then make sure your power bank has enough Watt Hours to support 7 Hours of use (8 hour work day - 1 hour lunch). This will ensure your battery will last as long as you need it to, with the solar energy replenished to it being a buffer to tide you over if you need to clock in some overtime.
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3Affix the Monitors to the Case
I accomplished this using hinges so the monitors can fold back inside the case. Plan out the motion and position before making permanent changes to your project. This step is difficult because it requires a significant commitment to a design plan. Another tip is to avoid compromising the structural integrity of the case when affixing the monitors to it. In order to maintain the case's IP67 rating, I plan on gluing two pieces of wood to the inside lid of the case, then screwing the hinges into the wood so I don't actually break the seal of the case itself while still securely mounting the monitors and hinges.
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4Route your cabling
In my case this comes after the previous step because my monitors are removable, but if your monitors are fixed this needs to be done first. Route your power and display cables from your monitors to your IO panel. Hide them as best as you can for the cleanest results. Make sure you leave enough leeway in the cable as to avoid putting too much stress on them when the monitors are set to their outward position.
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5Setup your IO Panel and Info Displays
Affix your female ports to the IO Panel, and connect the male ports from the monitor to it in the method you prefer. I am choosing to route the USB Power to the top of the panel so the user can unplug the monitors in order to charge a phone or other device, and route the display cables underneath so the user can use the HDMI ports on the panel for any source device they want. Make sure your ventilation is placed to extract the heat created by the battery, and your information displays like battery and solar levels are easily visible while working for easy monitoring.
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6Connect Battery and Finish Electrical and Internal Wiring
Finalize your electrical wiring and mount the battery securely to the inside of the case. Remember the tip from step 3, avoid compromising the structural integrity of your case. Connect your solar charger to your batteries input port, the panels will be connected to the solar charger in a later step so insure the solar charger input is exposed.
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7Build the Internal Case Top
Build the Interior top to the case that will protect the battery and components from the elements when in use. My design will include a platform to place a laptop on top of, once again leaving enough room for the monitors and panels to fold on top of each other.
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8Affix Panels to Monitors and Case
The external panels can be affixed as is, routing the cabling inside the case underneath the waterproof construction of the panel and using waterproof silicone sealant around the edges between corrosion resistant border and the case. In order to fit the panels on the interior of the case, the corrosion resistant borders must be removed before affixing them to the back of the monitors, but this is okay because the interior panels will not be exposed in rainy conditions. Electrostatic barriers should be applied between the back of the monitor and the solar cell to prevent interference or electrical damage.
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9Wire Solar Panels to charger
Wire your panels in a combination of series and/or parallel to meet the required input voltage and amperage of your power bank. Use the diagram included under files as a reference. Then connect your panels to the solar charger to begin providing energy from the sun to the battery.
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10Get to Work!
The Solar Display Case is finished! Now you can work wherever you please without power or productivity constraints.
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