Hi, I have done plenty of research on this but could not find a satisfactory answer. I am sorry if it a little wordy.
I built a weather station a little while ago... using a Raspberry Pi Zero W as the computer, currently a 20W solar panel powers a waveshare powerband (c) with around 9Ah of battery. Here is the UK, we had the sunniest spring on record so plenty of sunshine around but as we are starting to head into short days again and longer nights, I know the battery will not charge quick enough ass we only have around ~6hrs in December, and that is not counting the fact that it is usually cold, damp and cloudy, The solar panel can charge the power bank in around ~3hrs of direct sunlight (depending),
I should add that there is no place for I direction 'grid' connection as it is almost 20m from the nearest plug + Through a few hedges.
I am looking down the root of a 'car battery' as I have a solar charge controller that it would plug into, but I am a little lost in the world of batteries. Assuming that I would need to top it up every week by bringing it into the house (I don't mind doing that), the total energy consumption for that week would be around 170Wh on a worst case scenario, I am also not sure what type of battery to get.
Anyone able to help, Thanks
I built a weather station a little while ago... using a Raspberry Pi Zero W as the computer, currently a 20W solar panel powers a waveshare powerband (c) with around 9Ah of battery. Here is the UK, we had the sunniest spring on record so plenty of sunshine around but as we are starting to head into short days again and longer nights, I know the battery will not charge quick enough ass we only have around ~6hrs in December, and that is not counting the fact that it is usually cold, damp and cloudy, The solar panel can charge the power bank in around ~3hrs of direct sunlight (depending),
I should add that there is no place for I direction 'grid' connection as it is almost 20m from the nearest plug + Through a few hedges.
I am looking down the root of a 'car battery' as I have a solar charge controller that it would plug into, but I am a little lost in the world of batteries. Assuming that I would need to top it up every week by bringing it into the house (I don't mind doing that), the total energy consumption for that week would be around 170Wh on a worst case scenario, I am also not sure what type of battery to get.
Anyone able to help, Thanks
Statistics: Posted by HumanProgrammer10000 — Sat Jul 05, 2025 11:40 am