Solar Power Your Pi

Aug 14, 2023

Running a Raspberry Pi with solar power sounds easy. Of course, like most things, the details are what get you. About a year ago, [Bystroushaa] tried it without success. But the second time turned out to be the charm.

Of course, success is a relative term. It does work, but there is concern that it won’t be sufficient in the winter. In addition, if the battery dies, everything doesn’t restart automatically. Still, it is usable, and there should be ways to solve those problems.

The original attempt used a PiJuice hat and solar panel. This time, the design didn’t use these, opting instead for a LiFePO4 battery, a solar regulator, and a solar panel. The rest of it comes down to mechanical and physical mounting. The cheap regulator has some drawbacks. For example, it doesn’t allow for monitoring like more expensive units. It also cannot balance the cells periodically, although that could be done with an external controller.

We’ve seen solar-powered Pi boards before. Or, try a Game Boy.