3 watt solar base station node (update)
Posted Oct 17, 2022, 3:09 AM UTC
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🙏 not all hero’s wear capes
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Thank you very much for the advice and information Keith. I'm still waiting for my brass threaded inserts to arrive, they should be here in about a week and I very much appreciate the detailed information about the soldering iron and how to melt those holes properly. I'm actually looking at a way to turn my soldering iron into kind of a drill press type of operation where it goes straight up and down on a lever. I've seen it done in other videos I'm just trying to figure out the best way to do it.
Also, I printed off two of The Nut Carriage devices and I can't for the life of me determine where they are to be used. I've looked through all of the photos that you've posted and zoomed in carefully but I'm not too sure where these Nut Carriage devices actually go. Can you shed some light on that?
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I'm happy to help.
I considered a drill press type thing too but didn't find it necessary. When your inserts arrive maybe do a few tests. You may find it works well enough by hand.
As for the nut carriages...haha, yeah. You would find out when you tried to attach the enclosure to the solar panel (like when I first discovered the need for them). Those are for holding the enclosure to the solar panel. In early iterations I made a design change that made it impossible to get a wrench under the enclosure to hold the nuts. The carriages slide under the lip of the panel, underneath each hole. Then you can screw down the enclosure without needing a wrench to hold the nuts. Those were the solution to a problem I didn't foresee when designing.
Note, I recommend attaching the hinge after the enclosure is bolted to the solar panel. The hinge covers that hole so you'd have to remove the hinge to get access to it anyway.
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Okay, thank you. I can't quite visualize that yet but I'm sure I will once the solar panels arrive here in a week or so. I knew there must be a reason for them! I just couldn't figure it out.
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Perhaps these photos will help.
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Ahhhh! I understand 100% now what they are for. Thank you for the photo. That'll make it much easier now when the solar panels arrive here in a week or two.
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The only thing I'm having a problem finding are those Z brackets. They're very expensive here especially to get the same ones you have with the holes lined up. Do you know if there's a place other than Amazon that I might be able to get these?
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As with the solar panel, I spent a lot of time looking for the correct bracket. The z-bracket I chose was for two reasons: it offers a easier mounting solution for either a pole or flat surface. It was also cheap. The brackets were a big part of the cost savings from my first solar enclosure. Though, I didn't consider their availability in other countries.
I don't know of any other solution except for talking to a local machinist and having them made.
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Yes, I thought about the local machinist issue as well. And although I haven't looked into it yet I suspect that they'll probably cost as much or even more because The machinist isn't going to powder coat them or anything like that. I mean I could just spray paint them with outdoor rust paint or something like that but by the time I go down that road, it may be better just to pay the six or seven dollars each that these resellers on Amazon want.
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Keith, Quick Question:
- I'm about the print your enclosure here and it says for the Enclosure that you only need Supports for the Enclosure Pports, which of course are the 3 ports on the front. So in Cura (or any Slicer), do I enable Supports for the Enclosure or not? If I do, as I think they ARE needed for the ports, will it make supports for any other part of the enclosure? I don't have a way (that I know of) to specify supports for "just the port holes" and nothing else. It's either all or nothing I think?? Can you advise about this option?? I'd like to know BEFORE I start the enclosure print as it looks like it's a 16hr, 17min print with Supports NOT checked, and 19hrs, 5 mins, WITH Supports checked, so I'd like to get it right the first time.....if you know what I mean!!!! :)
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Actually, I just printed the enclosure part without supports and it came out great.
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Hi keith, thank you so much for your reply. My only concern is the the rectangular switch port on the enclosure. How does it manage to cross that Gap on the top of it without a support?
And just checking, does it take you about 16 hours or so to print an enclosure? And the one that you just printed without supports, are you able to send me a photo of it perhaps? Particularly showing the front ports?
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It printed great for me without supports. The rectangle and the cable gland port both already have extra space taken out of the top to account for material sag. Here's a photo of the most recent enclosure part printed without supports: https://imgur.com/a/RQ9r9i3
Yes, it takes awhile to print. It used to take about 16 hours. I tweaked the settings and removed supports. Now it prints in 14h7m.
I just counted, the entire project takes 24h24m.
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Thank you so much, and thanks for the photos! Can I ask you now about the ASA filament you use. I actually bought a roll just for this project but I realize I'm not really set up to run that filament with my current set-up. I see it off-gasses quite considerably so it needs some form of active ventilation, and I don't think I'm at the skill level to dial it in properly. I get that ASA is best for outdoor use with heat/cold extremes and UV exposure, but I don't think I'm there just yet in both experience an ability to properly vent off-gassing. I'm hoping PETG might be a compromise. If I'm over-thinking this with ASA, let me know. If you have pictures of how you deal with ventilation and such perhaps it may not be as difficult as I'm imagining it is.
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Just completed a full print of this yesterday. I turned out absolutely AWESOME!! (Will have some links to photos of it later tomorrow).
Only one small issue I thought I'd ask you about. The hinge is VERY tight. In fact I have to force it into the enclosure to make it fit and it's so tight it scratches the sides of the hinge.
Now, I printed all parts with the settings you posted on Printables for this, and one of those setting was a 6 layer wall (instead of 2) to make is very strong. I'm wondering if perhaps the 6 layer wall for the hinge is what's causing the binding/tight fit to the enclosure? Perhaps the hinge needs to be done with just a 2 layer wall?
Other than that, it is beyond my expectations! Just waiting for my gasket material to arrive to cut on the vinyl cutter!!
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Awesome! I'm glad it turned out well!
The hinge sounds exactly right. I meant to make a note about it. Yes, it will be difficult to connect with the enclosure part and it will scrape it when it does. It needs to be this tight. It has to hold the weight of the whole assembly, potential snow, and wind force. In addition, when you tighten the hinge bolt it will try to pull the hinge wings together. If it's any looser, the force required to keep it immovable would warp the enclosure. As long as you can get the pieces together, the tighter the better. Fewer perimeters wouldn't be strong enough for the clamping force of the hinge bolt. You want it tight and solid.
It sounds like it turned out perfect. Please post pics when you can.
A note about inserts: they can be difficult to get right, if you haven't done them before. Ensure they are straight up and down. If you have a soldering iron or insert tool that you can adjust the temperature for set the temp to the same nozzle temp as your filament (for me that's 245). You'll want to keep the heat on the insert for as little time as possible. It may take 15-30ish seconds before it gets hot enough to melt into the hole. Too much heat will warp the enclosure. There's a type of thermal momentum, like a delay, when doing this part. I apply a bit of force and heat until the insert is about 1/4 of the way from flush (mostly in the hole). Then I remove the heat and use tweezers or something to push it down the rest of the way. This has worked well to keep it from deforming. Be gentle with the insert and the plastic immediately around it right after removing the heat. It will be malleable for 30-60 seconds. After all the inserts are done and everything has completely cooled, you can use the sandpaper. This is an important step and will help smooth out any tall spots. It will even sand down the top of the inserts a bit if they sit a bit too high. If you're using a soldering iron without temperature control it will get hot very quickly. You would probably want to remove heat sooner, maybe halfway or more. If you don't have experience with inserts I recommend printing a test piece with 3-4 holes so you can practice. It's worth it.
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Just got a bambu labs p1p for Christmas so going to give this a try! I have wpolymaker pla max instead of ASA, so we’ll see how it turns out.
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https://imgur.com/gallery/SlOr1yQ
Comparison of the two enclosure prints: ASA on the left in brown and PolyMAX PLA on the right in black. Comments on stickies in photo.
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Awesome! Let me know how it goes.
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u/KeithMon Question on the connections to the switch. Is there any chance I could get a closer photo of how that is wired? Or some kind of diagram for how all the wires plug together there into the spade connectors? I'm having a hard time visualizing how those should all be combined into the four connectors.
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Hopefully these photos help.
One leg goes between the battery and the battery connector on the RAK base board. Think of the switch like an extension cable.
The other leg goes from the solar panel to the RAK19004 green power module.
The second photo shows one leg soldered to the switch.
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Thank you, this is exactly what I needed!
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Finished the first build this last weekend while I had some down time. Overall, pretty happy with my first attempt at printing and assembling something like this! I'll leave myself some notes here in case they might also help someone else.
- Not sure what the best way to do this is, but test out the countersunk M3 threaded inserts and screws to the lid to make sure those are secure and won't pull up and out of the casing before attaching to the solar panel. Otherwise your weather sealing is kaput from the start unless you want to add a bit of silicone sealant at the end.
- The JST pins from the parts list have the GND and PWR reversed if you're hooking up a battery to the RAK19003 board. Pay close attention to the pinout on the board and match the connector to that! Burnt out one RAK unit after quickly realizing too late that I had polarity reversed on the RAK19003 board for the battery connection. , so hard lesson learned there.
- The carrier plate has been upgraded to also accommodate a RAK19007 board, so the original photos no longer match the board, but the RAK19004 mount directly underneath the RAK19003 on the right now. M2 screws worked for mounting the RAK19004.
- Put the silicone cap on the rocker switch, then push the switch into the case from the outside BEFORE plugging in any JST connectors. Can't accidently turn on what's not plugged in yet.
- Test the connected RAK unit with the default PCB antennas before screwing down to the carrier plate. When all looks good, turn off the power switch and replace uFL connector for the LoRA antenna with the pigtail for the N female connector. Promptly attach antenna or dummy load to that connector!
- Before closing things up, program the 'Remote Admin' channel if you're planning to set this 'Device Type' to Router so you can modify settings thru the mesh once it's mounted outdoors.
- Go with a stainless steel bolt, washer, and locking nut for the 1/4" bolt.
Once the replacement RAK parts come in, I'll try this with a 2nd and maybe 3rd print. I'm really concerned about the weather sealing for things the most at this point. Maybe a thicker silicone gasket? Or just make things slightly more permanent with silicone caulk around the case.
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I have some questions, here.
- Is it possible with this system to have a couple of 21700 batteries rather than 2 18650s? Here in the PNW, we can go quite a long time without sunshine.
- What is the energy consumption of this unit when it is actively receiving messages via Meshtastic?
- What does your dual 18650 battery holder look like? How did you connect it to the RAK board?
- Does this board offer the same Bluetooth features to connect to Meshtastic as the T-BEAMs? EDIT: Yes, from the website "Bluetooth Low Energy"
Thank you very much.
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- Perhaps. I'll need to check if there's space for 21700s.
- 35mW (about 30 days on two 3000mAh 18650s)
- https://imgur.com/a/8kmVFjO
- Yes. It has very strong Bluetooth.
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Wow! Absolutely fantastic! Thank you!!!
Can you perhaps let us know the size of the 3w solar panel? The link on the Printables site for some reason links to a Russian AliExpress page and, well, I can't understand Russian. I'm sure the regular English side has them as well but just need to know how big or maybe you can repost the link to the English version??
SO glad you've made the files and information available for this! Can't wait to try it out! Even ordered a roll of ASA today and that in itself will be a learning curve for me, but I'll figure it out! Thanks again!!!
Great! Let me know if you have questions about the build process.
That's weird about the link. I updated it so hopefully that works. I'll include it here as well:
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804374789171.html?spm=a2g0o.order\_list.0.0.995818020njCUG&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa&\_randl\_shipto=US
Hi Keith, I do have a couple of questions. First, I've been goin Whole Hog on this for the last couple of days. I've ordered every part in your Parts List now except the 3 RAK modules and the LiPo battery. I've got everything else coming.
So my questions:
So I've discovered (as I'm sure you did too when you set out to make this), that the initial cost for all the parts and such is pretty steep, but I bought enough parts all at once to probably make 10 or more, although I'd need s few more solar panels and those Z-Brackets are insanely hard (and expensive) find in Canada. So when you're buying the nuts and bolts and screws and cables and such I'm getting them in bags of 25 or 50 each (because that's how they are sold) which is fine, so hopefully after the first one is up and running the ones after that will be quicker and cheaper.
I've never printed in ALA, but did some research and can you tell me what kind of environment you're printing that stuff in? Looks like it off-gasses pretty bad, runs around 250C+ out of the extruder and a bed of at least 100C. Do you use a hood or enclosure, and do you vent the fumes somehow??
That's it for now. Parts should mostly be all here in about 2 weeks so I'll keep you posted on how it's going. Thanks again for sharing your work and I'm excited to get one made and working!!!
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I think you may have missed these questions due to too many responses. If you have a chance the answers to these would be very helpful. Thank you so much!!