New Kickstarter – SunControl – Solar Power for Arduino / Raspberry Pi Projects

June 22, 2017 Grove, Kickstarter, Solar Power, SunControl, SwitchDoc Dual WatchDog Timer, SwitchDoc Products

New Kickstarter Live – SunControl – Solar Power for Raspberry Pi and Arduino Projects

The SunControl Kickstarter is now live!.
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SunControl – A Systems Approach to your Solar ProjectSunControl

The latest SwitchDoc Labs Kickstarter is SunControl, an advanced version of the SunAir/SunAirPlus product line with sensors to watch what is going on in the system. Same charging system and voltage booster but with a number of improved features for measuring, displaying and CONTROLLING what your Solar Power System is doing.

Features

  • – Solar Power Your System
  • – Charge your Batteries
  • – Control Your Computer Power
  • – Gather Important Data
  • – Improve Your Reliability
  • – Qi Wireless Charging Too!
  • – Grove Connectors – No Soldering
  • – Full MPPT LiPo Battery charging system
  • – 5V Voltage Booster for USB Power
  • – Computer Power Full Data Collection on the solar panels, battery and computer system via I2C. KNOW YOUR DATA!
  • – USB PowerControl – control the USB Port bboth by the charging system and by your computer
  • – Fully independent Hardware WatchDog Timer – dramatically improves the reliability of your system.
  • – Will charge phones (Android, iPhone and iPad)SunControl is customizable with your software and hardware.

What is On The Board?

70% of innovation comes from customers.   We have seen hundreds of solar projects built by our customers.  One thing we noticed was that our customers we continually buying three boards.  SunAirPlus, USB PowerControl and our Dual WatchDog Timer for a total cost of about $75.   Integrating these three functions together became a high priority for SwitchDoc Labs and the result is the SunControl Board.

Board Compatibility

SunControl works with the Arduino and ESP8266 in addition to the Raspberry Pi. It can be a stand alone charger with no computer needed.

What is a Grove Connector?

The way we have been wiring I2C connections before just didn’t work for building fast and quick IOT projects.  Then we found Grove.

There are hundreds of Grove Devices from multiple manufacturers around the world.     Just for a quick look finds over 100 boards.

You can’t plug it in backwards.   If you put the connector in the wrong plug it just doesn’t work.  No smoke.  No fire. This makes us happy as we look over into our Box Of Death, filled with boards we have ruined.

We quickly found the Grove connectors and their respective cables very useful. With the large selection of Grove I2C devices available, we decided to include a Grove connector on all our future boards and products.

For more information, check out our full Grove Tutorial here.

Coming in the Next Few Days

We will be describing the SunControl board and look at some applications.