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A pseudonymous maker, adopting the identify of the machine which they’re making, has unveiled a Feather-format growth board tailor-made particularly for solar energy and different low-energy initiatives: the PowerFeather.
“This took place after I wanted one thing for a mission powered by a Li-Po battery and charged by way of a photo voltaic panel,” the maker, “PowerFeather,” explains of the board’s origins. “The consensus on the web for constructing such a mission could be to simply use an [Espressif] ESP32 board + [NanJing Top Power ASIC Corp.] TP4056 [battery charger]. Nevertheless, for what I wished to construct, I wanted just a little bit extra options.”
The PowerFeather is an upcoming ESP32-S3-based growth board which goals to drive solar-power and energy-harvesting initiatives. (đź“·: PowerFeather)
That feature-set wish-list included assist for 2A of charging present, the power to measure the cost of a related battery, an enter for a photo voltaic panel with, ideally, most energy level monitoring (MPPT), and a sub-100µA quiescent present. Having discovered nothing available on the market providing the entire aforementioned, the PowerFeather took place.
Constructed round an Espressif ESP32-S3 microcontroller, giving it a dual-core Tensilica Xtensa LX7 processor working at as much as 240MHz, 512kB of static RAM (SRAM), 8MB of SPI flash, and 2MB of pseudo-static RAM (PSRAM), the PowerFeather hits the wish-list: 2A charging, an onboard gasoline gauge for battery monitoring, an up-to-18V photo voltaic panel enter configurable “pseudo-MPPT,” and a low quiescent present of simply 20µA in deep sleep.
“PowerFeather has a companion SDK [Software Development Kit] that offers you entry to the facility administration options comparable to charging management, battery monitoring, turning load switches on/off, setting MPP voltage, and so forth.,” the board’s creator writes. “The SDK helps each Arduino and ESP-IDF so you’ll be able to leverage the libraries, documentation, and neighborhood constructed round these platforms.”
The idea behind the board is just like that of Joey Castillo’s Photo voltaic Feather Categorical, together with a shared kind issue. (đź“·: Joey Castillo)
The PowerFeather is not the one machine on the market which borrows the shape issue for a gadget geared toward solar-power initiatives. Earlier this 12 months Joey Castillo, of Oddly Particular Objects, confirmed off the Photo voltaic Feather Categorical, constructed round a Microchip SAM L21 system-on-chip — then, two months later, used it to energy a satellite-connected Web of Issues (IoT) climate station within the Republic of Zaqistan.
These within the machine can discover out extra in its creator’s Reddit thread, or signal as much as be notified when it turns into obtainable to order on the official web site.
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