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Solar Powered Raspberry Pi Camera

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Re: Solar Powered Raspberry Pi Camera

#31

Post by mdorazio »

Jenda_ wrote: post #21
nevi-me wrote: post #9

Reading this has reminded me of something I wanted to explore in the past. Most of my applications/requirements for a Pi include GSM, but I've found GSM modules to be very expensive, often being more expensive than the Pi itself. The author mentions a mobile USB modem, and it's just dawned on me that older 3G/HSDPA dongles are often very cheap. Does anyone have experience using them, especially what power implication…

SIM800L costs $2. It supports GSM (AT commands - dialing, SMSs etc.) and GPRS (both PPP and a direct TCP connection to a hostname and port). Regarding USB dongles, I've been running Huawei E3131 with RPi. I needed to put +5V directly onto the pin header, but maybe now with the USB-C RPi4 the power should be stable out-of-the-box. I have heard rumors that the modem freezes after a while, but I've never ran it for long…

Keep in mind that most networks in the US are sunsetting GSM/GPRS within the next two years if they haven't already. Building anything dependent on this is a tricky proposition.

Re: Solar Powered Raspberry Pi Camera

#32

Post by sigstoat »

nanomonkey wrote: post #2

100W solar panel seems like overkill. I'm curious what the minimal size panel one would need for 24 hour usage. Assuming 5 hours of usable sun, it would seem like a 20 W panel would be sufficient.

you don't get a cookie for installing less panel. you just get headaches on low-sun days. and your battery won't last as long, as it has to discharge deeper and more often.

Re: Solar Powered Raspberry Pi Camera

#33

Post by frakkingcylons »

el_benhameen wrote: post #25
nevi-me wrote: post #9

Reading this has reminded me of something I wanted to explore in the past. Most of my applications/requirements for a Pi include GSM, but I've found GSM modules to be very expensive, often being more expensive than the Pi itself. The author mentions a mobile USB modem, and it's just dawned on me that older 3G/HSDPA dongles are often very cheap. Does anyone have experience using them, especially what power implication…

This isn't an answer to your question, but can you tell me more about how you source your sims/data plans?

I've used Ting successfully before: https://ting.com/

Re: Solar Powered Raspberry Pi Camera

#34

Post by amelius »

I don't understand the RPi camera. It is lower quality than a webcam of the same price, and it has an awkward connector, so you can't really use it more than a few inches away from the RPi. Why not use a simple USB camera instead?

Re: Solar Powered Raspberry Pi Camera

#35

Post by el_benhameen »

oh_sigh wrote: post #29
el_benhameen wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't an answer to your question, but can you tell me more about how you source your sims/data plans?

You probably want to look into M2M(machine to machine) plans if you don't plan on using standard telephone features with your device and just want data. A lot of companies offer this service these days. For example(random googling first result): https://hologram.io/pricing/ is offering M2M sims for $1 per SIM per month + 40 cents per mb.

Wow, this is super cool. Thanks!

Re: Solar Powered Raspberry Pi Camera

#36

Post by el_benhameen »

teraflop wrote: post #28
el_benhameen wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't an answer to your question, but can you tell me more about how you source your sims/data plans?

I investigated this a year or so ago for a hobby project. The best cheap option I found for non-trivial amounts of data in the US was T-Mobile's $10/month plan, which comes with 2GB/mo of high-speed data, and throttles down to roughly 64kbit/sec after that.

I thought about something similar. T-Mobile based MVNOs have pretty good pricing, too, so maybe I'll do that.

Re: Solar Powered Raspberry Pi Camera

#37

Post by epmaybe »

amelius wrote: post #34

I don't understand the RPi camera. It is lower quality than a webcam of the same price, and it has an awkward connector, so you can't really use it more than a few inches away from the RPi. Why not use a simple USB camera instead?

The csi interface doesn't take up as many CPU cycles, so if frame rate and performance is important, or even power consumption, it's better.

Re: Solar Powered Raspberry Pi Camera

#39

Post by Fnoord »

I guess one purpose of a mobile camera you can implement like that could be perimeter pen testing / red teaming. What did the author use their camera for?

Does the Raspberry Pi Camera have an IR? How is the quality? Why didn't the author bother to hide the Pi and the camera better in the case?

The pricing is dishonest. It first says "$8 Raspberry Pi that supports the camera module." and then later on it mentions Raspberry Pi 3. AFAIK that does not cost $8, and furthermore its missing on the other necessary components such as a microSD card.

I'm using Xiaomi Dafang Hacks [1] right now, as I found that a cheap solution. Approx 25 EUR for the Dafang camera. Its a MIPS machine.

[1] https://github.com/EliasKotlyar/Xiaomi-Dafang-Hacks

Re: Solar Powered Raspberry Pi Camera

#40

Post by hutzlibu »

winter_blue wrote: post #6
magicalhippo wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW, idle draw on my Pi4 4GB is 0.6A with one HDMI display connected and one wireless keyboard USB transceiver.

It might be easier for the reader, if we all used watts (W) when referring to power usage. Amperes (A) are useless without knowing the voltage (V). In the case of the Pi, since it runs on 5 V USB power, it was easy to calculate the wattage. But for devices of unknown voltage, amperes tell you nothing about power consumption. (For reference: a Pi at 1.2 A is using 6 W, and a Pi at 0.6 A is using 3 W.)

Batterie advertisement sometimes uses that to mislead..
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