Gboard battery with solar setup

Projects General Guidance
1

Ok i plan on ordering this board http://imall.iteadstudio.com/development-platform/arduino/arduino-compatible-mainboard/im120411004.html

This board is a integrated arduino and GSM/GPRS shield now the problem i have is that i do not know how to run it on a battery( and on which battery ) that has to have a solar charger. The GSM module uses up to 2amps and the board itself is not a normal 5V arduino so i need something that gives out 7V,9V or 12V with a peak of 2 amps and a solar charger to charge that.

My project is remote on water temperature sensor disinged to be placed at sea and send data over the GSM module on the current state of the water temperature.

So if anyone has any ideas for a solar changer with that specification or some ideas on stuff already on the market that i can buy pls do help me.

2

Adafruit has a couple of products that may help:

3

Well that would be all good but the board needs 7V,9V or 12V input.

4

DC to DC converter for moderate to low current demands... Standard 12V solar charger and deep cycle batteries for higher level demands.

5

Grab any old 12v SLA 4.4/5mAh battery you want, google a SLA solar charger http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?120731-Solar-Charger-for-12V-SLA-Batteries and then do what every you want.

Hook the gear up to the battey in parallel to the charger, not serial. I assume the GSM module uses 2amps bursts, not consistently.

6

TooManySecrets:
Well that would be all good but the board needs 7V,9V or 12V input.

You can also wire batters packs/solar panels in parallel...

7

SimpleMindedMan:

TooManySecrets:
Well that would be all good but the board needs 7V,9V or 12V input.

You can also wire batters packs/solar panels in parallel...

That seams a little overkill since the who system needs to float on water, i need something smaller like lipo's but the problem is charging it.
The way i look it i would need a 7.2V 2 cell lipo 2000mAh+

8

TooManySecrets:

SimpleMindedMan:

TooManySecrets:
Well that would be all good but the board needs 7V,9V or 12V input.

You can also wire batters packs/solar panels in parallel...

That seams a little overkill since the who system needs to float on water, i need something smaller like lipo's but the problem is charging it.
The way i look it i would need a 7.2V 2 cell lipo 2000mAh+

It would be over kill to wire 2 battery packs (smaller ones) and 2 small solar panels on it?

9

I would say grab an 8.4V 4500mAH RC car pack with a couple 9 volt solar panels in parallel. You'll need a 7V low dropout regulator to run the board.

Or a single 12 volt 4500mAh lead acid (see: lawn motor, motorcycle, alarm system) with an ATV solar charger on it.

10

Lipo-s tend to explode if they are not balanced and overcharged. I'm in need of a charger that is used to the drops in voltage in solar panel.

11

I have had experience with LiPos and salt water and it was not great. If the terminals on the LiPos get submerged in the salt water you can get extremely rapid discharge and the accompanying fire/explosion.

12

wwbrown:
I have had experience with LiPos and salt water and it was not great. If the terminals on the LiPos get submerged in the salt water you can get extremely rapid discharge and the accompanying fire/explosion.

Well i plan to enclose the board and the lipo and the only thing that should be outside is the temp sensor and the solar pannel.

13

check this solar charge controller : http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/12v-3amp-solar-charge-controller-regulator-for-solar-panel/901770_357836985.html

14

To use an Arduino compatible board on Solar power you should probably look at the GPRSbee.

http://www.gprsbee.com/

In combination with an Seeedstudio Stalker or Arduino Fio it makes an ideal solar powered sensor node.