Why so few members in here, is it a technique place for camera? Why I feel nervous? I hope that I can't post an error where is not a suit place. I want to need a little power design help:
As an example, if I have a 40Ah 12v car battery, and I know my draw is 14.4Ah a day, then this battery can give me 2 days of usage?
However my project requires only 5v, and my 14.4Ah is calculated from 5v.
This is where my math breaks up, but if I convert the car battery 12v to 5v output, and draw 14.4Ah a day from it, does this mean I'll get approximately 4 days of usage?
Ultimately I'd like to hook a 25w solar panel to the battery to try and keep it charged, too.
Edit: adding a little info about my project. It may help with the design.
I'm an electronics rookie, I know enough to get me in trouble, but not enough to help fix it
I'm looking to setup a long-term timelapse camera. The enclosure will consist of 1 camera and 1 mobile broadband device. I'd like to use solar power to try and keep the unit operational.
Some brief details on my setup: The camera is a Canon ELPH 130 point and shoot which has firmware on it to take 1 photo every 10 minutes, between 6am and 6pm. When a photo is taken, it'll save it to an Eye-Fi SD Card. When the Eye-Fi receives a new photo, it'll connect to the MiFi and automatically upload it to the internet.
I've connected my Multimeter in-line with these devices to gauge their amp usage.
Here's my findings:
- Camera: average current of 0.25a over 2 hours.
- Mobile Broadband: average current of 0.35a over 2 hours.
Both devices showed various spikes - mainly when a photo was taken and uploaded. Then the current seemed to "settle down" back into the averages above.
The downside: I need these devices up 24 hours a day because if they lose power it requires human intervention to push a button to power them back on.
So here's my math:
- Camera: 250mA x 24 hours a day = 6000mAh
- Mobile Broadband: 350mA x 24 hours a day = 8400mAh
- Totaling: 14400mAh battery required to keep this thing going for 24 hours.
One thought on the camera and current usage: The camera does not have a sleep function, so it's powered on all the time. It does have a power-reducing mode (LCD off), but that's about it. Perhaps I can connect some jumper wires to the power button to be able to control on/off without a human needing to press it?
Thanks all advice!