My solar powered office has been up and online for a while, but one of the joys of a space like mine is that it’s always a project - and I can do whatever I want with it, constrained only by what is possible affordable and what I can figure out how to do! For instance, I’m almost, but not entirely, out of space for more monitors.
(Comments from Blogger)
2017-06-13 by Aaron
I’m surprised you haven’t automated away turning on/off BOINC/SETI@Home by reading the current power available from solar and automatically turning it on/off as the sun rises or sets 
2017-06-13 by Russell Graves
Yeah, you’d think that’s the type of thing I’d get around to doing, wouldn’t you? 
It’s on my list, and I know how to do it, I just haven’t sat down to do it. Turning machines on is easy, turning machines off takes a bit more work.
The other problem is that I don’t always know how much headroom I have - if I’m in absorb, I know that I’m curtailing the panel output, but not by how much. So I’d have to add some hysteresis to prevent flapping, and… it’s more complex than it initially seems. Plus, I’d probably tie it into weather forecasts for the local area.
2017-06-13 by Ned Funnell
I see that Ryobi 40V battery in the background! Was that mine from a while ago, or are you tinkering with another one?
2017-06-13 by Russell Graves
Yeah, that was yours.
2017-06-14 by Aaron
Hehe, yea, but wouldn’t it be fun to work on? I know, always easier for the heckler than the poor sap that actually has to do the work.
2017-06-14 by Russell Graves
I have no shortage of “things to work on.” That list is getting longer now that I have a good multi-channel digital oscilloscope on order…
2017-06-14 by Aaron
Nice! That’d be a fun toy to write up a review and brief “how-to” tutorial on. Although I’m sure there’s a billion how-to and such already posted on the web for the rest of us.
2017-07-09 by Tobias M.
The power monitor you are using looks pretty similar to one I have just reverse-engineered the RF protocol of… → GitHub - Manawyrm/nRFPowerMonitor: Control a MingHe VAC-1030A wireless power monitor with a Raspberry Pi
If you want to sniff the data from the module
2017-07-09 by Russell Graves
Very cool, thanks! I haven’t gone about reverse engineering it yet - it’s on my list, and I have a spare one to play with.