Solar charging system - MBED monitor and post to Pachube

Page last updated 02 Dec 2010, by Jeff Mourich. 6 replies

Started MBED project 3 weeks ago:

* Weekend 1 - Getting to know MBED hardware and complier - very nice tool for the beginner in C++.  MBED.org community members are very helpful.  They ROCK!

* Weekend 2 - Selected Pachube.com to post system monitor results (every 5 min), trigger alarms. View system results on EVO Android using Pachube View APP. Very nice.

* Weekend 3 - Setup hardware in workshop where solar array is located on roof , WiFi WNCE2001 access point to home network, calibrate 0-30V circuit.

Very special THANK YOU to Mr. Shinichiro Nakamura for his help with Pachube code and example sensor code.

This helped me build and calibrate five 0-30v circuits divided down to 0-3.3v input to MBED ADC and monitored voltage to five Pachube graphed feeds of 0-30 volts.

Rev 1 of project (not pretty but works) -

* Monitors 4 voltages and battery bank temperature,

* Serves data to Pachube service every 5 min and view hour data graphs on EVO Android with Pachube Viewer.

* http://www.pachube.com/feeds/11471

Up next for a winter project Rev 2 :

* Move MBED off breadboard into a nice sealed project box.

* Add features hardware: Turn on 600W Grid Tie inverter when sunlight on solar array 1 , 2 and 3 is above 400 watts.

* Add Solar Tracker in a future array # 4 - Can I get an additional 20-30% power arrays track the sun's arc during the day?

* MBED Motor code is in the works now....winter project - not ready for prime time...some motor control issues.

* Software features - Messaging services like Twitter or TXT messaging system for triggers.  Turn on/off planned new features via Android.

MBED ARM Hardware and Software Compiler libraries ROCK!


6 comments

Jeff Mourich
26 Oct 2010 . Edited: 30 Oct 2010

Weekend 4 - Updated MBED Rev2A : Sealed box and Fused inputs.

* Still more to go!

* Received a StarBoard Orange from Shin (Thank you!)

- Project is moving to this platform - Report sensor data to LCD

- Fuse box moving to sealed box. Perfect boxes from surplus store local : http://www.surplusgizmos.com/

 

analog match
30 Oct 2010

Hi Jeff,

Great job!! Are you using the mbed ucotroller to control an MPPT to charge a battery? Further, are you also using this for the inverter?

Jeff Mourich
01 Dec 2010 . Edited: 01 Dec 2010



Jeff Mourich
01 Dec 2010

Jeff Mourich
01 Dec 2010 . Edited: 03 Jul 2011

Rev 3 - Moved project over to StarBoard Orange baseboard - Sealed protected boxes - Cold and moisture protection

After a few months off doing other things / Software code changes / **Chased down a new LCD because I did a bad thing.

* Monitors 4 voltages and battery bank temperature.

* Serves data to Pachube service every 5 min and view hour data graphs on EVO Android with Pachube Viewer.

* Improved I/O protection from 0-30V to 0-3.3V MBED ADC input.

* Fused 0-30V protection from junction box to MBED Data Logger Wireless Server Box.

* Now ready to move out to the shop and monitor Solar Charging System (Code version 3A)

 

Frank Vannieuwkerke
16 Dec 2012

I loaded your http://mbed.org/users/JeffM/code/EthernetTesterGood/ into the mbed compiler but when i compile the code, i get a massive load of errors.

When i tried to open the lwip/tag folder, i get following errors :

The folder name 0.2 contains invalid characters

The folder name 0.5 contains invalid characters

the dot is the culprit - any idea on how to resolve this.

I already exported the code to a zip file, modified the 0.2 and 0.5 to 02 and 05 and tried to import again but i get an import error.

You mentioned on your page that this code is a repost of another user - perhaps i should get in touch with that user - if so, who posted the original code?

You need to log in to post a comment