I just took a look at this page/picture/list and although it should work, if power supply is getting the main thing to solve, a microcontroller is the way to go, not a RPi as that is basically a full computer and total overkill.https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/pro ... er-station - Basically what is on the guide + INA228 measuring the solar panel output, I did have a look at that stuff but wanted to explore this first.Or go the other way.
What is you weather station doing.
If nothing actually computer intensive and just a vane, bucket, temp etc then a move to a PiPico2 or other RP2350 with a built in charger circuit etc would be of greater benefit and probably cheaper.
I remember some YT from 'the guy with the Swiss accent' who explains how to build something with a tiny solar panel, 1 small LiPo cell and a (modified) charger module based on TP4056 AFAIR. I have a few of those chips, they can do up to 1A, but can get very hot then as it is a linear regulator. There is also TP5000 based, I have as well but not used yet (up to 2A and switching regulator). But will need electronics skills/understanding.
My solar system with the 4T HDD, so need quite some size solarpanel size, uses 2 panel with only info type "RDG 48" on it. I got them for free and
I assume they are 48Wp each, but never did measure. With a new 12V 70Ah SLA gel cell was able to survive 4 grey days after a full sunny day. That was with a BananaPiPro + IR LED foscam + proprietary 2.4GHz wireless link. IR LED on all night, 6W or so. Later replaced BananaPiPro with Pi3B and added the HDD (almost always idle).
You have to see for yourself what you can do. A computer like RPI running Linux can do many things and many source code is available. A microcontroller like ESP32 or RP2350 can be set to very low power consumption, but need more expertise.
Statistics: Posted by redvli — Wed Jul 09, 2025 7:41 am