So, I am working on a scientific instrument that measures air quality. It uses a raspberry pi with a couple of sensors. Essentially, this instrument is going to be deployed in an Urban area in a couple of months and I need some help with finishing up the power automation of the system.
I have a 50W solar panel and I want to use it to charge a 12V, 12Ah SLA battery. However, we want to utilize the instrument to collect samples during the day and during the night (about 3 hours each time) on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. Therefore, a total of 6 hours of about 2A of power or 12Ah total power on those days. Outside of those hours, I would probably instruct the load to power off and utilize minimum power such that the battery could charge depending on whether the sun is out or not.
What would I need in a power management system in order to be able to fully automate this sample collection process. Therefore, I could come by once a week, collect my samples, the logged data, and the system would not need any other power maintenance outside of that?
So far, I have been using the Wanderer 10A PWM from Renogy, linked here. However, while this works for the power management and ability to turn the load and the charging on and off manually, it doesn't have the ability to be automate the load or charging during certain time periods as we would need.
Recently, a collaborator suggested using a timer to do this power automation, however, I am having trouble finding a device that would allow me to accomplish our goals.
I am open to any suggestions on strategies or technology that might allow me to accomplish these goals. Thanks for your time!
