<div dir="ltr">Hi Ben,<div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Nov 15, 2013 at 2:55 PM, Ben West <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ben@gowasabi.net" target="_blank">ben@gowasabi.net</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div><div><div><div><div>Hello Battlemesh,<br>
<br></div>A recent, sadly abortive, funding application had my mesh network partner and I scheming interesting things to do with a fully solar-powered mesh of WR703Ns. These lovely little guys have been described as having only 0.5W power consumption, i.e. 100mA at 5V.<br>
<br></div>Is anyone presently using WR703Ns under solar power? Would you have batteries, panels, and charge circuitry you'd like to recommend?<br></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>We have a student working on solar charge circuitry that could be used with these, but it won't be ready for months. I'd recommend instead using the MR3040 with its small built-in battery, and possibly swapping the battery out for a larger one.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Also, you might like to take a look at: </div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://developer.servalproject.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=content:meshextender:power_consumption_table">http://developer.servalproject.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=content:meshextender:power_consumption_table</a><br>
</div><div><br></div><div>We have measured the power consumption of WR703Ns and other devices in various configurations to get an idea of the real-world power consumption to be expected. A bit take-home message is that USB storage is a significant power drain on such low power devices. Feel free to add in any extra data you find.</div>
<div><br></div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div><div><div></div>
My own searching yielded these 6V 12Amp-hour AGM batteries:<br>
<a href="http://www.apexbattery.com/powersonic-ps-6100f2-6v-12ah-battery.html" target="_blank">http://www.apexbattery.com/powersonic-ps-6100f2-6v-12ah-battery.html</a><br><br></div><div>Likewise this handy schematic for an adaptable 5V DC/DC converter:<br>
<a href="http://www.module.ro/5V-dc-dc%20converter.html" target="_blank">http://www.module.ro/5V-dc-dc%20converter.html</a><br></div><div><br></div>A 10W / 12V solar panel like this one could provide ~500mA of current, leaving 400mA or so for trickle charging. Neglecting whatever inefficiencies in the charge controller or the 6V > 5V regulation.<br>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Instapark%C2%AE-Black-High-Efficiency-Mono-Crystalline-Solar/dp/B004FWW1M4/" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.com/Instapark%C2%AE-Black-High-Efficiency-Mono-Crystalline-Solar/dp/B004FWW1M4/</a></div>
</div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>With the WR3040 and internal battery you could use a $20 50Wh USB power bank with a circuit that switches the MR3040 to run from the solar panel when it is developing enough power, and switches it to draw on the battery otherwise. This would let you use mostly off-the-shelf and noxiously cheap power banks and USB solar charging systems.</div>
<div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">
So, it seems such a 12Ah battery could supply a WR703N for days continuously. This would presumably work well for instances where sunlight is scant (e.g. windows in urban environments, polar latitudes), but the battery is large and heavy, possibly overkill.</div>
</blockquote><div><br></div><div>120Wh 12V 10Ah LiFePO4 can run WR703N + RFD900 radio + USB hub + USB storage for about 3 days by our experience. Expect more days without the RFD900 radio and USB hub. Trawl through my blog and the wiki to find more info about the batteries we used, or just poke me.</div>
<div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div>Has anyone else tried the TP-Links with different batteries?</div>
</div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>See above.</div><div><br></div><div>Paul.</div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr"><span class=""><font color="#888888"><div><div><div><div><div><div><div>-- <br>Ben West<div><a href="http://gowasabi.net" target="_blank">http://gowasabi.net</a><br>
<a href="mailto:ben@gowasabi.net" target="_blank">ben@gowasabi.net</a><br>314-246-9434<br></div>
</div></div></div></div></div></div></div></font></span></div>
<br>_______________________________________________<br>
Battlemesh mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:Battlemesh@ml.ninux.org">Battlemesh@ml.ninux.org</a><br>
<a href="http://ml.ninux.org/mailman/listinfo/battlemesh" target="_blank">http://ml.ninux.org/mailman/listinfo/battlemesh</a><br>
<br></blockquote></div><br></div></div>