How it works?

Since I started this project I have made dozens of experiments with a variety of sensors, charging and switching methods, types of batteries, solar panels, inductors, mosfets etc... And the device had usb capabilities from the beginning so I have the opportunity to compare complexity vs. efficiency during these experiments. You can find most of these experiments and design decisions in the project logs. Below are the major building blocks:


Goals

The end product will be something similar to a conventional desk lamp. Goals below will be success criteria for the project.



Why Does It Matter?


I am living in a leased unit where I can't install a full blown proper solar system. Assuming that is the case for a majority of people especially living in heavily populated cities where power consumption is highest, a practical, efficient, budget solar product that can take out one appliance at a time off the grid without any harm or loss in function will provide people the opportunity to try it out within their budgets.


If this project or any similar product can successfully make it into the common household then it might start a reaction leading to more industry and scientific attention, more investment, better solar panels, better batteries etc. and most importantly better ideas. Imagine what the light bulb did to electricity but without any transmission problems faced as energy is converted, stored and consumed as locally as possible just like every living being.


This project might have aimed to get something fancier powered up such as a remote fire control system, a desert water pump or a mobile desalination station. But once light is there, others will follow. Most of the living things on this planet interacts, likes, plays, dies , feeds one way or another with light. It's the simplest way of getting attention and warning about a simple solution for a dead serious problem.


First Prototype

First prototype I put together was built around PIC12f675 which is one of the abundant chips I had in my parts bin and was a perfect candidate for my budget goal. Simply said a microphone input was being amplified by an op-amp and being fed into the chip with a input from a pot as means of configuration data. A 0.5W solar panel was also being used to charge the batteries as well as providing input to MCU to be used as ambient light level data. Based on the configuration value supplied by the pot mcu was doing one of the following:


Challenges and Problems V1

The first prototype has served its purpose but I came across a bunch of design issues and usage issues which was not easy to fix. During this project will try to address those issues, refine the requirements and come up with a simpler design. So here are the most disturbing.

Switching around different modes and configuration with a pot was a dirty idea just to make it work and it simply doesn't provide enough parameters to the program. It's location and preferred type of usage requires a bunch of parameters for timings and sensors and the impact of these parameters on power consumption can't be ignored. In my opinion adding more encoders, pots, dip switches around will just led a complex inflexible hardware increasing the budget unnecessarily.

Whatever I did I couldn't find a way to isolate led pwm from poisoning op-amp which lead to strange results and turned me into a crazier person providing more than enough negative feedback to me.

Sound input alone didn't seem to be enough. I tested the prototype in different rooms, indoors, outdoors to understand energy storage, efficiency, ease of use, how practical it is under different conditions. Sound is decent under many conditions but it needed another sensory input like motion to justify and infer if light is really needed or is it just snoring, a strong wind, storm, rain etc... eliminating as many false positives as possible.


This Version And To Do List


I will get into more details in projects work log but below is roughly what I'm planning to do for this version.

  1. I decided to use a PIC16f1455 which is one of my favorite chips and used it in many different projects. Planning to use it's USB capability for configuring the device as over engineered as possible. Has an internal temperature sensor which might become handy during charging.
  2. While I have a bunch of bright LEDs, I'm looking for something more powerful. Will order and test a few warm white LEDs in terms of luminance and power consumption and supplier availability of course.
  3. Deciding on a solar panel will probably be the hardest as their availability, cost, packaging and quality variance is crazy. I will use a few on hand, will order different types from ebay for initial prototype and tests. Once I clarify required power range and surface area will consult a friend who's in solar business full-time.
  4. Batteries are another problem but I am in between NIMH and SLA's for their availability, low cost, safety and ease of charge. First prototype was using NiMh's and they did pretty well. SLA's might be slightly a better choice as weight is not a constraint for this project while budget is. Decision on LEDs and solar panel will help me on charging circuit as well.
  5. I need to do a bit of research on motion sensors and order a few modules considering their power consumption and how to utilize them. I had problems with sound input as well in the first prototype. For some reason I'm scared of op-amps and my lack of electronics expertise and knowledge didn't really help. Having said that during the first prototype I believe I found a few good combinations of op-amps and microphones. Will check their availability.I will order a few sound input modules as well just to see if they're better than my design or end up being cheaper.