Objective:

To turn the two raised beds in the back yard of the house I’m renting into some produce and data generating delights…or somethin like that.

What?

The first phase is building out the infrastructure for the system’s smarts.

• Solar panel(s) on top to power system and provide shade for the rest of the system.
  • Want to ensure this has plenty of capacity to power the system and surplus charge for night/inclement weather periods. Also would like to have some excess power under the expectation that this will be expanded a fair bit going forward, and I don’t want to have to keep adding panels.
• Central processing and communication….aka Raspberry Pi or Beaglebone Black
• Weather-safe enclosure(s)
  • Mounting and heat management for all electronics
  • Weather safe from moisture and dirt
  • Modular bulkhead interface
• Physical structure

Power management idea:

I wonder if I could make the system something like a battery charging hub, but that also bleeds off of these batteries during periods when needed.

Could house all of my Dewalt, and even all AA and AAA batteries in a charger network. That charger network would be fed during daylight hours, and then provide the supply power for the data collection and such during off hours.

Risk would be that you need one of your batteries after an extended period of rain or something. But since I’ve got the control computer there anyway, I could use it to manage the power draw and prioritize sources and sinks.

Data Management

Control Center - Working notes