toroidalcore

There is a small solar panel on the roof over my back porch, about 21 watts. This runs into my basement where it charges a small (7 Ah, 12 VDC) gel cell battery. This panel has been covered with thick, icy snow, and so for a while has not really put out any useful power.

Recently, the weather has warmed up, and the panel has gotten a little sun exposure. I don't really use this system for much on a routine basis, but I try to keep it charged. It's really a temporary system.

I would like to try to use this panel for an idea I had, a website accessible only when the sun is out. This is part gimmick, part concept art project, part technical exploration. The panel would power a Raspberry Pi pretty much directly, which would host the site. The fact that the site would not be accessible for a while due to snow covering the panel would be part of it.

I may enact that come spring. In the mean time, I have several other panels (164 rated watts in total) charging a larger battery, which I use for things like charging my laptop, or lighting in a power outage. These are easier to keep free of snow, and in fact in the winter time they can still get some decent sun, albeit for not as long as summer.

Find me at @toroidalcore@hackers.town