…and I haven’t let the magic smoke out
of any of the parts…so far. I’m getting caught up (read: side-tracked) with the software, trying to get the OLED display to have a format that makes sense so I can see what’s going on with the station. This is especially important when I eventually take the whole thing outside to the shed because there won’t be a serial connection for debugging. Right now I’m trying to figure out how I can over-write an entire line. But so far so good; all the pieces work. I need to get the sample timing kinks worked out, but that’s software. And getting the OLED display better will help. Also, I need to work on the current drain issue; I’m using a Vishay P-channel “TrenchFET” as a “high-side” power control to the more power-hungry parts. The TrenchFET exhibits a VERY low Rds-on resistance and so drops very little voltage. For some reason the MLX90316 angle sensor sucks more current than I expected. More testing is needed but I got the standby current down to about 22mA, which I should be able to live with, hopefully. So, 20-ish mA should be OK with solar charging of the LiIon battery, but that’s a bit later.