Hi folks, new guy here! So I want to install a remote ADS-B receiver on a mountain top and feed the data over 4G. The issue is that I don't have any power there, so it needs to be solar. Because of the location far north and often extreme weather, I really need to conserve power and minimize the size of the solar panel, so power consumption of 4-5 watts is the max, but 3 watts would be much better. I have to add that the location is a low-traffic one, probably no more than 50-100 aircrafts a day, so that may help. Has anyone here measured the average power consumption of the ZTE MF833V stick they sell here? I believe the max is supposed to be around 2.5 watts, but again, it's the average that matters. I have also been looking at LTE Cat-M/NB-ioT modules like SIM7080, as they use way less power, but I don't find any info on setup or any ADS-B projects using them. Also, if anyone has any ideas on other low-power solutions for the rest of the hardware, I would love to hear them.
How far away from power are you? I looked at solar and know from experience in my location that a 100W panel with a 35AH battery is only good for about 12 watts of load, with decent reliability (running two bad days of limited sun) before the battery quits. a Pi4b pulls 8 watts on my feeder. I'm doing a similar project and looked at solar. Instead, I found a moderately priced solution that allows me to remote my feeder on 2000' of Rg-6, and provide 16 watts. I looked at the ZTE stick too, but no one here has used it on Verizon or ATT, so I stopped investigating it.
It's about 10000 ft, so that's not going to work unfortunately, and most of the ground it is just sharp rocks, so it would tear any cables apart. Btw, I saw your thread on the subject, interesting project As for solar, an online guide for the area, said I actually needed a 150W panel and a 60 ah battery for only 5 watt during spring and fall, but this is way above the Arctic Circle, so I actually have to power down the system completely mid winter as there is no sunrise at all. I have looked into wind power too, but it's to expensive for the equipment needed to handle the winter weather.
BRRRRH! I lost my taste for snow when I left Northeast US 30 years ago! Are you going to have a hard time keeping the battery warm?
I have the open sea only 100 ft from the house, so the temp almost never dips below -15C/5F mid winter thanks to the lovely gulf stream. And believe it or not, yesterday I actually had +15C/59F but of course, there is still some snow on the ground for few weeks more. I think the battery will be fine, lead acid does just fine in the cold, and most decent solar controllers have temperature compensating. I also believe solar panels actually have much better effiency in low temperatures? (assuming the sun is up...)
No, unfortunately I have not. A bigger battery, say 100-150A won't hurt anything as far as I know, but it will only keep the system online for a few days more if the solar panel isn't big enough.
