@toroidalcore@masto.hackers.town
Post #2467853
2026-04-21 05:29 UTC
@flipsideza@fosstodon.org Now that said, a controller is probably a good idea. Something regulating the battery voltage to about 14.5-14.6 V will probably let the BMS equalize the cells a bit better. There are cheap ones available, and I think some mesh nodes have ones built in.
This was thrown together, since I had the battery and panel already with PowerPole connectors, as well as a Y-cable. So it was just plug and play.
Replies (1)
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@toroidalcore@masto.hackers.town 2026-04-21 05:33
@flipsideza@fosstodon.org It's worth looking at cheap MPPT charge controllers. I'd set up your node with a DC-DC converter and measure the power it draws at say 12 V. Multiply by 24 Hrs to get watt-hours/day. Size a battery to run that for a certain number of days without sun. Look up average sun hours for your area, size your panel so that you harvest as least as many watt-hours as you use. IE, if my node needs 10 Wh/day, and I get 3.5 sun hours/day, I'd need about 3.5 watts of solar.