Solar Panels

Sunlight provides 1,000 watts (1 kW) for every square meter of panel over one hour. However, most solar panels have around 20% efficiency. Depending on how much space we have for the addition of solar panels to the design, we need to figure out how much energy is required to run Raspberry Pi, power the flash of the camera, and play the radio.

It is also a good idea to consider alternate options for power when the solar panels do not work, (eg. if it is cloudy, night, etc.) Batteries need to be used.

Looking at the Raspberry Pi website, different models will use different amounts of energy, which would affect how many solar panels we would need. For example: In the Raspberry Pi 5, it takes 25W, the website recommends using a high-quality 5V 5A USB-C power supply. We need to figure out if this is within the amount of energy that would be required to run our Raspberry Pi, radio, and flash.

The value of a solar panel is usually measured by dollars per Watt it produces. If size isn’t a problem, then we can go with a lower efficiency solar panel that is cheaper (lower dollars per Watt value).

Info found @ https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-5/