Planet Arduino

Dmitry Morozov shared with us a new interactive installation called  Solarman at the Polytech Museum in Moscow. 2014 and It’s a work he created with Julia Borovaya and Edward Rakhmanov using 64 ultra bright LEDs, 12-channel sound system and 8 electrical nerve stimulation electrodes controlled by Arduino Mega :

Data on power of X-radiation flux from the Sun is received in real time from the satellite GOES15 which is tracking solar activity. It is being converted into streams of sound, light and electric discharges, thus allowing a spectator to experience in more intensive and evident way the influence of the main luminary of the solar system.

The data, which is measured in watts per square meter, come with a frequency of once per minute. A special computer algorithm transforms it in sound waves, distributed by 12 channels in the space. The radiation power directly controls the height of tones and spectral changes in the sound. The speed of sound displacement in the space is also dependent on these parameters. Light is generated by algorithmic transformation of X-ray emission into physical modeling of light particles, which also affect the muscle stimulators in the chair to produce weak electric discharges.

Check the video below to see the power of the sun:

by deba168 @ instructables.com:

One year ago, I began building my own solar system to provide power for my village house.Initially I made a LM317 based charge controller and an Energy meter for monitoring the system.Finally I made PWM charge controller.In April-2014 I posted my PWM solar charge controller designs on the web,it became very popular. Lots of people all over the world have built their own. So many students have made it for their college project by taking help from me.I got several mails every day from people with questions regarding hardware and software modification for different rated solar panel and battery. A very large percentage of the emails are regarding the modification of charge controller for a 12Volt solar system.

Arduino solar charge controller and energy monitor - [Link]

by embedded-lab.com:

This Arduino Nano controlled solar battery charger can charge a standard lead acid 12V battery and runs with 90% efficiency under 70ᵒC (158ᵒF). The circuit can take up to 24V input from the solar panels. The maximum power point tracking is implemented in the circuit by measuring the output voltage and current from the solar panel to get the maximum possible power from it.

Solar battery charge controller - [Link]

When you venture out onto the beach for a day in the sun, you’re probably not preoccupied with remembering the specifics about your sunscreen’s SPF rating—if you even remembered to apply any. [starwisher] suffered a nasty sunburn after baking in the sunlight beyond her sunscreen’s limits. To prevent future suffering, she developed The Beach Buddy: a portable stereo and phone charger with a handy sunburn calculator to warn you the next time the sun is turning you into barbecue.

After telling the Beach Buddy your skin type and your sunscreen’s SPF rating, a UV sensor takes a reading and an Arduino does a quick calculation that determines how long until you should reapply your sunscreen. Who wants to lug around a boring warning box, though?

[starwisher] went to the trouble of crafting a truly useful all-in-one device by modifying this stereo and this charger to fit together in a sleek custom acrylic enclosure. There’s a switch to activate each function—timer, charger, stereo—a slot on the side to house your phone, and an LCD with some accompanying buttons for setting up the UV timer. You can check out a demo of all the Beach Buddy’s features in a video below.

[via Dangerous Prototypes]

Filed under: Arduino Hacks, digital audio hacks, solar hacks

Doomsday preppers, hoarders, take note… Electrical power can go down at any time due to natural disasters, overwhelmed power stations and, of course, various apocalypses. Still, in those times, some of the more thrifty individuals turn to gas powered generators to keep their frozen burritos cool and their favorite shows […]

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Instructables user deba168 is an electrical engineer based in India. He posted a tutorial to solve a common problem in his country:

In India most of the people are living in rural area where national grid transmission line is not reached till now.The existing electric grids are not capable of supplying the electricity need to those poor people. So renewable energy sources (photo voltaic panels and wind-generators) are the best option I think. I know better about the pain of village life as I am also from that area. So I designed this DIY solar charge controller to help others as well as for my home.You can’t believe, my home made solar lighting system helps a lot during the recent Cyclone Phailin.

He then  made a charge controller  running on the Arduino Uno and with an important task: to protect the rechargeable battery of photovoltaic systems. It regulates the voltage and current coming from the solar panels and it’s placed between a solar panel and its battery . It is used to maintain the proper charging voltage on the batteries so as the input voltage from the solar panel rises, the charge controller regulates it,  preventing any over charging. It works on the principle of PWM which improves efficiency of the solar PV systems.

You can follow all the steps on his page but first take a look at the video:

Heinz Pieren writes:

ArdaSol is the project name for my solar energy and Arduino based monitoring system. This description shows how the system is built and how it works. The energy production of a photovoltaic plant is monitored and also the consumption or feeding to grid of the energy. Data acquisition during a solar day and publishing on the internet is also a function of this system.

ArdaSol – Photovoltaic Energy Monitoring System - [Link]

deba168 @ instructables.com writes:

A solar charge controller regulates the voltage and current coming from your solar panels which is placed between a solar panel and a battery .It is used to maintain the proper charging voltage on the batteries. As the input voltage from the solar panel rises, the charge controller regulates the charge to the batteries preventing any over charging.

Arduino Solar Charge Controller (PWM) - [Link]

Alexander Carl is a Canadian engineer designing and building one of the world’s first diy solar thermal powered car in sunny La Paz in Mexico. He contacted us through Arduino Facebook page to show us his project developed  using  Arduino Mega to sun track the 24 x 6 foot curved mirror, to sense the temperature and pump hot oil and many other things. You can find a lot of pictures on the project page on Facebook.

He’s got over 30 videos on Youtube, documenting the work in progress of this project. Here’s the video of the test model:

 

 

Julian Ilett demonstrates his Arduino Solar Charge Controller. He has mounted all of his Arduino modules to a piece of wood to keep everything nice and neat. [via]

“High efficiency values (96% – 97%) are achievable when the buck converter is stepping down from 18v to 12v. With a 72-cell panel and the converter stepping 35v down to 12v, the efficiency drops to around 88%.”

Arduino Solar Charge Controller - [Link]