Our second winner of our “Solar Power My Project” Contest combines three of our loves: solar, bicycles, and espresso. Brian Del Vecchio and other friends of Alessandro are going to upgrade his custom espresso-serving tricycle to provide LED task lighting and road safety lighting. In addition, “when parked, interactive color animation will help draw customers.” The lighting will allow extended operating hours in Boston’s Fall and Winter months.
The system will use an Arduino controller (5V, 200mA), LED task lighting from our adjustable USB Touchlight (5V) and street lighting with Adafruit NeoPixels (1A @ 6V). 3 x Voltaic 6 Watt, 6 Volt Solar panels (available from us or Adafruit) will power a LiPo battery pack using Adafruit’s charge controller. The espresso pump and refrigeration are run by a 12V lead acid battery.
We hope to see pics soon and grab an espresso next time we’re in Boston. More on Bryan at Hybernaut.
Read more on our guide to running Arduinos from solar power.
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