So many times I posted that "I am back on the game..." then a while later "no really, this time I GOT to finish it".....it's like a never ending circle with me. Sorry for anyone who is still waiting for BatteryCheck to get finished on their favorite platform....even that one is an ever growing list! 
Nope, I am not making a single promise to when a new version might come out. Might be tomorrow, next week...month........year
. One thing that I can promise is that every now and then I will get back on the project. Hopefully long enough to keep my concentration and motivation to actually get things done! That's how the ports for PS2, WiiU and switch happened a few months ago. The game's core did not change that much between those versions and they have the same basic game play mechanics, features and bugs!!!
Just when I had a moment of concentration to maybe release the Switch version a while back GBATemp was in "temporary mode" so it made absolutely no sense to write anything about it. While the Switch version technically works quite well I am not confident it's "good enough" yet. Maybe it's just that I am too unfamiliar with the homebrew menu on the switch. For safety reasons I still have the device locked out of my WiFi...that's how paranoid I am for getting it banned! I know the risk is 'minimal' according to most people if you don't cheat in online games. I don't even play them online and have not dumped any of my own games. Would be nice though to have it work like on the 3DS....but let's not get into that right
So what did I get distracted with so much then?? Solar power!!!
Now like I said I make no promises about when things will happen with BatteryCheck.....only that I have not abandoned it just yet.
Thanks for reading
Nope, I am not making a single promise to when a new version might come out. Might be tomorrow, next week...month........year
. One thing that I can promise is that every now and then I will get back on the project. Hopefully long enough to keep my concentration and motivation to actually get things done! That's how the ports for PS2, WiiU and switch happened a few months ago. The game's core did not change that much between those versions and they have the same basic game play mechanics, features and bugs!!! Just when I had a moment of concentration to maybe release the Switch version a while back GBATemp was in "temporary mode" so it made absolutely no sense to write anything about it. While the Switch version technically works quite well I am not confident it's "good enough" yet. Maybe it's just that I am too unfamiliar with the homebrew menu on the switch. For safety reasons I still have the device locked out of my WiFi...that's how paranoid I am for getting it banned! I know the risk is 'minimal' according to most people if you don't cheat in online games. I don't even play them online and have not dumped any of my own games. Would be nice though to have it work like on the 3DS....but let's not get into that right
So what did I get distracted with so much then?? Solar power!!!
While it makes no sense to even consider solar power at home in a city flat/apartment building with only a balcony to catch the sun from around 08:00 - 15:30 on a good day! Now with the summer nearing it's end the usefull "sun hours" are reduced to maybe 2-3 or on some days nothing at all! There is also the fact that that balcony is not supposed to be a solar power generator farm, and while it's quite large the "free space" is extremely limited!
But looking at all those youtube video's of people stuffing their RV, Campers and other off-grid tiny homes and sheds with solar panels on top and all the electrical components made me want it to0! Not the living on the road or fully off-grid part of it....that's really not for me! But the alternative green power appeals to me a lot! Not so much for the environment, although that's a nice bonus, but that it's essentially "free energy"....if you forget all the components you need to make use of it!
So a few weeks ago I decided to make the jump and went on amazon to select my components! A very nice Victron 75/15 MPPT solar charge controller, 2 x 7.2Ah SLA batteries, 2 x 10 watt poly solar panels...and a bunch of wires, fuses and other stuff you need! When I ordered that charge controller I had no idea that such a huge company that I have seen used by YouTube's from over the world comes from my home country! Hahaha
There is just one more Victron fanboy thing I have to mention: I totally got hooked on their app for setting the devices up and configure them in detail for the battery voltages and all that stuff. I can't imagine doing that from a tiny LCD on most other cheaper charge controllers!!!
Needless to say I have expanded my solar power hardware and tools over the last few weeks...and spend way too much money on this!!. Now I have:
- 3 x 10 watt poly solar panel's
- 2 x 10 watt mono solar panel's
- 1 x 28 watt foldable mono panel (folds out to 4 small panels and is quite small when folded)
- 1 x 120 watt foldable mono panel (it's HUGE when folded out into four panels, and even when folded it's still quite large. But at least can be stored behind a closet or something)
You might be asking what's the deal with poly and mono panels. Think of it as poly being the older technology and it's cheaper to produce but less efficient on cloudy days. With mono panels even with clouds or indirect sunlight you should be able to catch a few watts of power. Now the highest ever possible wattage I got with any combination of panels....although it was with the 120 watt foldable was about 40 watts in what I considered full direct sunlight! That was not what I expected AT ALL! But I figured out what the "problem" is!
Because I have relatively small batteries I have set the charge controller to a maximum current of 2A! And it seems that this also limits what the charge controller will ever pull from the panels to power the load!
My current load is just a raspberry pi with the VenusOS image from victron to monitor the solar charge controller....it uses only 0.3A! But since the battery is only so small....and for technical reasons you are not allowed to drain SLA batteries to 0% (only to 50-80% to keep them healthy) limits the runtime on a fully charged 7.2Ah battery to just 18 hours!!! But since there is not enough sun hours to begin with I can not charge the battery fast enough....
To solve this I have spend a bit more than I should have on a larger battery and inverter. If not for solar I might use it for a DIY style UPS to keep my NAS and other network gear running for maybe 3-4 hours if the power ever drops out! We are lucky here that it basically never happens and our grid is really stable! Sometimes I read stories where people are without power for hours or even days! But it's just one of those things that I like to tinker with....so that's what it is!
The most "usefull" thing I have been able to use the little bit's of sunpower for during my experiments is charging my phone, two tablet's and some of my USB powerbank. That last one I had to disconnect because the sun had moved away from my panels for the day. Now it's been raining a lot the last few days but it looks like there might be more sun near the end of the week. Can you imagine that before I started messing with this...I actually hated the sun! I can't stand the heat, bright light and as a redhead my skin burns easily when I am outside! Now I am looking forward to days with a lot of sun....don't care about temperature that much (although...keep it reasonable and not too hot) as the cold actually helps produce MORE energy!
The scary part about all this is...fire! Even with my tiny batteries there is enough power in them to make wires melt and burn something or even start fires! So besides just buying the tools and devices I also had to learn more about safety, wire size, fuses, connections and all that stuff. I think I am getting the hang of it and I tried a few stupid things already....already blown the fuse of my 130 euro charge controller on the first day by hooking up the battery in reverse polarity! Luckily it was just the fuse....lot's of big sparks though and even a tiny bit of the wire terminal got incinerated by the high current! If I had a huge battery I might have actually destroyed it! Replaced the fuse and luckily the device still worked!
DISCLAIMER: I am not an electrical engineer and if you got "inspired" to play with solar power, batteries and inverters you do so at your own risk! If you are not confident you know enough about electricity LEARN and READ that first or hire/ask somebody who does to help you! You have been warned! Electricity CAN kill you!! I am not responsible for anything you do to yourself, others or your property!
Now if that did not scare you away....have fun with it!
But looking at all those youtube video's of people stuffing their RV, Campers and other off-grid tiny homes and sheds with solar panels on top and all the electrical components made me want it to0! Not the living on the road or fully off-grid part of it....that's really not for me! But the alternative green power appeals to me a lot! Not so much for the environment, although that's a nice bonus, but that it's essentially "free energy"....if you forget all the components you need to make use of it!
So a few weeks ago I decided to make the jump and went on amazon to select my components! A very nice Victron 75/15 MPPT solar charge controller, 2 x 7.2Ah SLA batteries, 2 x 10 watt poly solar panels...and a bunch of wires, fuses and other stuff you need! When I ordered that charge controller I had no idea that such a huge company that I have seen used by YouTube's from over the world comes from my home country! Hahaha
There is just one more Victron fanboy thing I have to mention: I totally got hooked on their app for setting the devices up and configure them in detail for the battery voltages and all that stuff. I can't imagine doing that from a tiny LCD on most other cheaper charge controllers!!!
Needless to say I have expanded my solar power hardware and tools over the last few weeks...and spend way too much money on this!!
. Now I have:- 3 x 10 watt poly solar panel's
- 2 x 10 watt mono solar panel's
- 1 x 28 watt foldable mono panel (folds out to 4 small panels and is quite small when folded)
- 1 x 120 watt foldable mono panel (it's HUGE when folded out into four panels, and even when folded it's still quite large. But at least can be stored behind a closet or something)
You might be asking what's the deal with poly and mono panels. Think of it as poly being the older technology and it's cheaper to produce but less efficient on cloudy days. With mono panels even with clouds or indirect sunlight you should be able to catch a few watts of power. Now the highest ever possible wattage I got with any combination of panels....although it was with the 120 watt foldable was about 40 watts in what I considered full direct sunlight! That was not what I expected AT ALL! But I figured out what the "problem" is!
Because I have relatively small batteries I have set the charge controller to a maximum current of 2A! And it seems that this also limits what the charge controller will ever pull from the panels to power the load!
My current load is just a raspberry pi with the VenusOS image from victron to monitor the solar charge controller....it uses only 0.3A! But since the battery is only so small....and for technical reasons you are not allowed to drain SLA batteries to 0% (only to 50-80% to keep them healthy) limits the runtime on a fully charged 7.2Ah battery to just 18 hours!!! But since there is not enough sun hours to begin with I can not charge the battery fast enough....
To solve this I have spend a bit more than I should have on a larger battery and inverter. If not for solar I might use it for a DIY style UPS to keep my NAS and other network gear running for maybe 3-4 hours if the power ever drops out! We are lucky here that it basically never happens and our grid is really stable! Sometimes I read stories where people are without power for hours or even days! But it's just one of those things that I like to tinker with....so that's what it is!
The most "usefull" thing I have been able to use the little bit's of sunpower for during my experiments is charging my phone, two tablet's and some of my USB powerbank. That last one I had to disconnect because the sun had moved away from my panels for the day. Now it's been raining a lot the last few days but it looks like there might be more sun near the end of the week. Can you imagine that before I started messing with this...I actually hated the sun! I can't stand the heat, bright light and as a redhead my skin burns easily when I am outside! Now I am looking forward to days with a lot of sun....don't care about temperature that much (although...keep it reasonable and not too hot) as the cold actually helps produce MORE energy!
The scary part about all this is...fire! Even with my tiny batteries there is enough power in them to make wires melt and burn something or even start fires! So besides just buying the tools and devices I also had to learn more about safety, wire size, fuses, connections and all that stuff. I think I am getting the hang of it and I tried a few stupid things already....already blown the fuse of my 130 euro charge controller on the first day by hooking up the battery in reverse polarity! Luckily it was just the fuse....lot's of big sparks though and even a tiny bit of the wire terminal got incinerated by the high current! If I had a huge battery I might have actually destroyed it! Replaced the fuse and luckily the device still worked!
DISCLAIMER: I am not an electrical engineer and if you got "inspired" to play with solar power, batteries and inverters you do so at your own risk! If you are not confident you know enough about electricity LEARN and READ that first or hire/ask somebody who does to help you! You have been warned! Electricity CAN kill you!! I am not responsible for anything you do to yourself, others or your property!
Now if that did not scare you away....have fun with it!
Now like I said I make no promises about when things will happen with BatteryCheck.....only that I have not abandoned it just yet.
Thanks for reading
