SustainPi

[doa24uk]

Hi all,

I'd like to build a completely self sustained pi running on renewable sources. Wind, Solar & water power.

My idea is to hook up a wind turbine, solar cell and water turbine to the Pi then store the power generated from these 3 in a battery(s) - which powers the Pi.

I'm traditionally a software developer so have no hardware experience. I'm based in the UK so have access to all the standard shops like Maplin & Amazon.

Here's my idea of what it could look like. Option A is obviously the prefered one, but I might need multiple batteries and some sort of controller?

SustainPi Schematics.png (23.08 KiB) Viewed 480 times

Obviously, I'll probably start with just wind or just solar then build up....

Any ideas, thoughts? What do I have to buy / know / get to make this work?

ps. I'm a newbie, please treat me as such. I won't be offended

[davidcoton]

Start with the specs of each of your generators. What are the nominal output voltages? Each source will need a charge regulator to control the current into the battery. You may also need some logic to control the water turbine if the water source is limited (ie, don't run the water when the battery is charged). If the water supply is not limited, you may not need wind or solar -- so the system will be simpler.

Let's assume that all the sources are charging a single 12V battery. You need to calculate the load drawn by the Pi, (in Watts) and therefore the energy (Wh) required to keep it running overnight with no wind or water. Divide by 12 to get the battery capacity in Ah. If water is permanently available, the battery capacity need not be very great.

Finally, remember the Pi needs 5V, so you need a 12V to 5V converter. This will not be 100% efficient, so increase the battery capacity to allow for that.