After being inspired by this project, I have ordered a raspberry pi 3. I am pretty well researched on solar applications and have done some minor tinkering in the past. While I would really like to get my hands on one of the ultra low power chips to be used for the official solar staker for now I will settle with a pi, since it has many uses I can re-purpose it later if need be.
Id like to keep the budget under 125$ USD for my own “clone experiment”. I have spotted 5V 5W solar panels on amazon for 20$. Also there are decent size battery packs for 25$+. My plan is to make a very small contained unit for the battery and the pi, so it can sit out of the sun indoors, and the small solar panel(s) I will hook up outside a nearby window.
This is no where near efficient as the official solar staker aims to be, but I like to tinker and I think this project is really onto something. Hopefully my experiment will enable me to contribute some helpful information to the solar staker efforts.
Pi kit = 50$ (more or less depending on the extras you want / need )
USB Lithium Ion Battery bank = 25$
Solar Panel 5v with USB output = 20$
32gig Samsung SD card = 15$
Total Im at about 110$ estimated project cost. I am going to search more for battery packs and solar panels to see if I can get more power within the budget. I would like to have the wiggle room to run an additional rasp pi when the system is built so I will update when I get closer to a final choice on the parts.
