I came across the TinyGS project on day watching YouTube, where I get most of my ideas, and thought it would be a one to build. After watching a few videos and browsing the web I ordered the hardware. I was already familiar with the ESP32 from other projects so I understood its role. I 3D printed a mount for it. I experimented with power and found it pulls around 0.065 amps. So I tried running it off of 1 18650 3000mAh battery, didn't last a full day! Math says should have lasted a 40+ hours. So turned the screen off, didn't help to much. I ended up added a 2nd battery as seen in the picture below and now I get around 42 hours. I don't know why the batteries drain so fast. The 5v solar panel I'm using seems to be keeping it charged enough. The charge controller I came across on Amazon his pretty cool. I can take power in and out in multiple different ways, I suspect it has something to do with how fast my batteries are draining. This project set on my test bench for months before I finally settled on an antenna, My plan for this project was not to spend a lot of money on this project so I ended up using a cheap 433MHz with low gain. Overall this was a very easy project to build and it is serving a good cause.
Useful Websites:
Parts List: All from Amazon.com (total project cost at the time was $124.57 USD)
- UAYESOK 433Mhz External Antenna
- Ankway Solar Panel for Security Camera 5W Solar Panels
- JXMOX USB C to Micro USB Adapter
- QOJH 18650 Rechargeable Battery, 3.7v Lithium ion Battery 18650 3000mAh
- 900mA MPPT Solar Panel Controller - Solar Power Manager Module for 5V Solar Panel - Support Solar and USB Charging
- QILIPSU Waterproof Junction Box IP67 Outdoor Plastic Electrical Project Enclosure Weatherproof
- HiLetgo ESP32 LoRa V3 SX1262 0.96 inch OLED Display Development Board WiFi Bluetooth Dual Core 240MHz CP2102 and 433-510MHz Antenna for Arduino Smart WiFi LoRa 32
