V44-SET | Voltaic Systems Blog

Timer and Switch for Off-Grid Projects

June 7, 2019

This post will show you how to schedule an off-grid lighting (or a fan, pump etc) to come on and off on a daily schedule without the hassle...

Solar Backpack Review: OffGrid 10W

Voltaic Systems

April 18, 2019

Profiles

Thinking about getting your hands on a solar backpack? The crew at BuzzFeed's Worth It recently stopped by our offices to check out the features of...

Lithium Battery Policy By Airline

Voltaic Systems

December 15, 2018

All

4 Comments

Lithium Battery Policy for Domestic and International Flights Can I bring my batteries on the plane? Lithium batteries are allowed on planes, but...

Measure the Daily Power Consumption of Your IoT Device

Voltaic Systems

November 19, 2018

All, DIY

To run an IoT device from solar you need to know how much power the device daily consumes (energy budget) and how much power you can produce from...

Tracking the Black-Capped Petrel with GPS Loggers

Voltaic Systems

July 26, 2018

All, DIY, Sustainability

The black-capped petrel lives high in the mountains of Hispaniola and makes its nest in a deep burrow, among dense ravines or dry rocky ridges. It...

Solar Powered Full Spectrum Sensing with Apogee

Voltaic Systems

June 5, 2018

DIY, Sustainability

In this post, we test how to run an Apogee full spectrum sensor from a small solar panel or simply a battery. The sensor measures PPFD which is the...

Remote Water Level Monitoring

Voltaic Systems

April 2, 2018

All, Sustainability

Solar Powered Remote Water Level Monitoring Pacific Watershed Associates, based in Northwestern California, is an environmental and engineering firm...

Estimating Solar Charge Time for Batteries

Jeff

November 14, 2017

All, DIY

112 Comments

How to Estimate Solar Charge Time Unfortunately, solar charge time is not as simple as just dividing your battery capacity (measured in Watt hours)...

Water Quality Sensor Launched in Brooklyn Navy Yard

Voltaic Systems

October 17, 2017

All, DIY, Sustainability

We deployed our water quality sensor in a basin near the East River nearly three weeks ago and it is consistently reporting water quality data. Using...

Solar Powered Water Quality Monitoring Tutorial with Adafruit FONA and I/O

admin

September 26, 2017

All, IoT Tutorial

2 Comments

In this post, we show how to design a solar-powered water quality monitor using readily available components. The device is designed to float in salt...

Solar Powered Raspberry Pi Camera

Voltaic Systems

July 25, 2017

DIY

Using Raspberry Pi in a remote time lapse environment requires power management or a very large solar panel. Dan Julio designed a Raspberry Pi...

Can Your Panel Charge My Battery Pack?

Voltaic Systems

July 19, 2017

DIY

1 Comment

Maybe, but probably not that well. Charging battery packs from a solar panel isn't as straightforward as you think - even if the solar panel...

Voltage and Current Data Logger

admin

April 4, 2017

DIY

5 Comments

We sometimes need a lightweight way to track power production of our panels in places that are far from an electrical outlet. In this post, we show...

Solar Power for Raspberry Pi

admin

March 10, 2017

All, DIY

16 Comments

Tutorial: Solar Power for Raspberry Pi This post will walk you though how to protect your Raspberry Pi while powering it from a solar-powered...

Solar Charger – Tutorial Part 4

Phillip Stearns

January 1, 2017

All, DIY

10 Comments

How do you protect the battery? The goal of a charge circuit is to protect both the battery and your device. If you don't have charge protection,...

Automated Offgrid Chicken Coop Lighting With Timer

Voltaic Systems

September 22, 2016

All, DIY

3 Comments

How to DIY your own offgrid chicken coop lighting: Tom Mendise from Northeast Ohio has a 4'x4' chicken coop. He was looking for an offgrid chicken...

Solar Raspberry Pi for Environmental Managment

Voltaic Systems

April 22, 2016

All, DIY

1 Comment

Solar Raspberry Pi for Environmental Management Manage nitrate and other environmental factors with solar Raspberry Pi for environmental...

Make a Dynamo to Charge Your Phone

Phillip Stearns

March 14, 2015

All, DIY

16 Comments

Voltaic System’s battery packs will take charge from solar panels, AC adapters, USB ports, even other battery packs. You can also charge them from kinetic power sources like hand-cranked or bike driven dynamos. Here’s how we did it.