Instructions
Table Of Contents
- Introduction
- Parts
- Using Alligator Clips
- Solar Board Reference
- Project 1 – Sun Finder
- Project 2 – Garden Light
- Project 3 – Self Charging Cooling Fan
- The BBC micro:bit
- Getting Code to Run on the micro:bit
- Project 4 – Adding an Energy Meter
- Project 5 – Energy Logger
- Connecting Up
- Code for the Energy Logger (MakeCode)
- How it works
- Connecting to Your PC
- Pairing Your micro:bit With MakeCode
- Showing the Device Console Graph
- Capturing Data From a Charge and Discharge Cycle
- Downloading Data
- Getting Data into a Spreadsheet Program
- Analysing the Data
- Graphing the Data
- Results
- Understanding the Data
- Understanding Duty Cycle
- How the Solar Store Works
- Project 6 – Intelligent Cooling Fan
- Troubleshooting
- About the Author
- Learning
- Monk Makes Kits
How it Works
The Solar Panel converts light into electrical energy, and supplies a voltage to the
left hand terminals of the Solar Store. The Solar Store transfers this energy into its
super-capacitor (the big black component), which stores the energy until it is used.
By joining together the Level and Enable terminals on the Solar Store, you have
configured it so that when the voltage of its super-capacitor has charged up
enough, it will enable the output stage of the board and your attached Bulb will
glow; just think of this a bit like an automatic switch. But, when the Bulb glows, it will
be taking energy out of the Solar Store, and eventually the voltage will drop low
enough that the output stage will be turned off, and the Bulb will no longer glow.
The MonkMakes Bulb is quite a low power device, so if you have bright sunlight
then enough energy will be harvested that makes the Bulb glow and there is
enough left over to store inside the Solar Store to charge it up a lot. When the sun
goes down, there is enough stored energy to power the low power MonkMakes
Bulb for quite a long time.
Experiments to try
1. How long do you need to shine light onto the solar panel before the Bulb starts to
glow dimly?
2. How long before the Bulb starts to glow brightly?
3. Once the Bulb is shining brightly, if you disconnect the Solar Panel from the Solar
Board, how long is it before the Bulb goes out?
4. Try your experiments with different light sources such as the sun or different
brightness indoor lighting to see how it affects the timings.
5. Do the same experiment with the fan. Are the times shorter or longer?
Results
1
2
3
4
5
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