Your power management board will dictate the battery voltage supported. When choosing a battery, make sure your power management board supports charging your specific battery type! The PiJuice Solar supports both Li-Ion or Li-Po batteries. They're cheaper, and chances are you don't care as much about size/weight. I recommend a Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) battery. Li-Po batteries are more expensive but can store more energy in a smaller form factor they're also far more volatile and can explode if your power management board doesn't have proper undercharge or overcharge protection. This generally isn't a deal for a solar-powered project - unless you're building a solar-powered Pi RC airplane, in which case you may want to opt for the lighter battery. Li-Ion batteries are generally cheaper but are also less dense, meaning you'll have a physically larger battery. You're going to want to use either a Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) or Lithium Polymer (Li-Po) battery: Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) Here are considerations for choosing your battery: Type Next, we'll need to select a battery for our solar Pi. You can definitely get away with a 6W panel for the Pi Zero as well, though this will largely depend on which peripherals you attach to it the Zero. I recommend a 12W solar panel for running any model Raspberry Pi. ![]() I threw a quick table together to help you determine the minimum size solar panel you'll want to use based on your Raspberry Pi: Raspberry Pi Model In this case, you'll usually see a yellow "undervoltage warning" lightning bolt in the top-right of your screen. The Pi Zero can make do with a lot less (as low as 1-1.5A), but if your current is too low you will have strange and intermittent issues. How much current does my Pi need?Ī good rule of thumb is to provide at least 2-2.5A (current) output for any Raspberry Pi. This gives us an output current (I) of 2A, or 2000mAh, for this solar panel. Using this Ohm's Law calculator, we'll enter: Per the product description, this panel's regulated output is 5 volts/10 watts (5V/10W). Let's take the PiJuice 12W solar panel as an example. I = V/R - Ohm's Law for finding current (I) in amps (A)īy entering the solar panel's output power in watts (W) and output voltage (V), we can derive how much current the solar panel will output (don't worry, we'll use a calculator to do this later). Ohm's Law allows us to provide two values (V, I, W, or Ω) and use it to find the other two values: But if it doesn't, figuring out your solar panel size is also pretty easy using Ohm's Law. The product listing for your solar panel should list how much current it can output ( e.g. This guide will cover the inclusion of a battery (and the power management board to charge it), but a battery isn't strictly necessary if you want to get technical. I live in sunny Florida, and it still isn't consistent enough here to do without it. Therefore, I recommend your solar setup include a battery. ![]()
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