lickmyeyeball
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I am starting to design my very first hobby-project, a solar-powered wireless sensor.
Being entirely new to this, I was looking for some rules-of-thumb or heuristics from you guys, as you are much wiser and capable than me.
Specifically, I was wondering what rules you follow when sizing solar arrays with respect to expected load. There are few clear sunny days, especially where I live. I expect to have to underestimate what power I will actually get.
Have you had best results when building arrays with 125% capacity relative to load? 150%? Even more?
As an illustration of what I mean, say I have a 60W load. Neglecting the power electronics likely needed between the solar array and load, I would design my solar array with a capacity of 90W if I overcompensated with 150%.
As well, do you think it is worth putting in the effort to simulate the system? I have a copy of matlab, but I feel that simulation would require a good deal of effort to learn; both about the program itself and the elements I am trying to model.
Also, I would really appreciate any general tips you might have regarding design in general. I am sort of winging it and don't know where things will take me.
I have learned some stuff in preparation for this project of mine: a bit of electronics, a bit on computer communications, a lot of control systems (not nearly as helpful as I was hoping), power electronics, and what little I could find regarding solar PV systems. I will still have to learn everything about microcontrollers, sensors, and wireless. Those things are still complete mysteries to me.
Thanks so much for your help and input. :-o First post.
Being entirely new to this, I was looking for some rules-of-thumb or heuristics from you guys, as you are much wiser and capable than me.
Specifically, I was wondering what rules you follow when sizing solar arrays with respect to expected load. There are few clear sunny days, especially where I live. I expect to have to underestimate what power I will actually get.
Have you had best results when building arrays with 125% capacity relative to load? 150%? Even more?
As an illustration of what I mean, say I have a 60W load. Neglecting the power electronics likely needed between the solar array and load, I would design my solar array with a capacity of 90W if I overcompensated with 150%.
As well, do you think it is worth putting in the effort to simulate the system? I have a copy of matlab, but I feel that simulation would require a good deal of effort to learn; both about the program itself and the elements I am trying to model.
Also, I would really appreciate any general tips you might have regarding design in general. I am sort of winging it and don't know where things will take me.
I have learned some stuff in preparation for this project of mine: a bit of electronics, a bit on computer communications, a lot of control systems (not nearly as helpful as I was hoping), power electronics, and what little I could find regarding solar PV systems. I will still have to learn everything about microcontrollers, sensors, and wireless. Those things are still complete mysteries to me.
Thanks so much for your help and input. :-o First post.