Can I use an external power adapter or solar panel to power motherboard?
Table of Contents:
1. Can I use an external power adapter or solar panel to power motherboard?
The motherboard of the equipment is equipped with an 8500mAh Battery by default. To set the LoRaWAN End Node to a short uplink interval such as 1 minutes uplink interval. This 8500mAh battery is not enough for long time use.
It is possible to power LSN50v2 or similar model via external Power. There are two ways :
1.1 Power it via external power (3.3v) and no need back up battery
As shown below, the motherboard is by default power by 8500mAh battery via the battery cable.
User can remove the cable here and connect the external 3.3v DC power to this connector.
Recommand Spec for the power adapter:
- Output: 3.0 ~ 3.6v DC
- Output Current: >500mA
Connector type is XH2.54 connector, So a match XH2.54 cable is ok.
Example photo for external 3.3v DC power ( Need to cut the DC connector and wire it to XH2.54 cable, make sure the VCC and GND are not reverse).
1.1.1 Powering the node with an external power supply (example: CS01-LB)
Requires the following materials: DC power supply, DC power cable, motherboard power supply cable:
Firstly, you need to connect the wires of the DC power connector to the power supply wires of the motherboard using tin-ring tubes. The operation steps are as follows:
Note: Connect the red and black wires of the motherboard power cable to the corresponding red and black wires of the DC power supply:
After soldering the tin ring tube, as follows:
Route both the CS01 acquisition module and the DC power cable through the M16 housing as follows:
Connect the four-pronged wires from the acquisition module and the DC power cable to the motherboard as follows:
Interconnect the DC power cable with the 220v to 3.3v power supply as follows:
1.2 Use the Dragino Solar Recharge Kit with external 5~12v DC
1.3 Power it via 12v solar panel and add rechargeable battery
Dragino has a recharge kit for this purpose. User can see this link for reference:
https://shop.dragino.com/index.php?rt=product/product&product_id=126
1.4 Water Proof Notice:
Note: Both options mean an extra cable needs to pass throug the enclosure. In the current enclosure, the best is to drill a hole on the enclosure to pass and use glue to fill it for outdoor use purposes.