[Bradford] Thinking of a project

[John Robert Hudson]

Hi Bernie and all

That looks an interesting project - I wonder how easy it will be to
implement.

I have a number of things to share at the next meeting and, in view of
the mention of SystemRescue at the last meeting, I will bring
SystemRescue to the meeting.

So, if you have a laptop you want examining - as long as it has power
and a working BIOS, even if everything else is dead, SystemRescue will
work - bring it along to BCB on the 11th.

John

On Sat, 2025-05-03 at 12:06 +0100, Bernard Czenkusz via Bradford wrote:
>  
> Hi guys,
> I've found that Raspberry Pi 5 has a ‘low power’ feature plus an in-
> built Real Time Clock, which has a ‘wake up’ capability. A 'Seconds
> to wake up' value can be inserted into a file which is read on going
> low power (Linux ‘shutdown’ but retaining power to the board). After
> the given seconds, the board powers up again.
> 
> This suggests a time lapse project.  I would like to take a mid-day
> photo of an apple tree I have, throughout a year, to stitch in a film
> showing snow on bare tree, spring blossom, leafing up, growing
> apples, falling leaves. But due to the difficulty of getting power to
> the garden, I’m thinking of a Solar panel plus battery with raspberry
> pi with camera, all boxed up and mounted.
> 
> So the Pi would be in low-power mode apart from a brief mid-day on-
> time for the photo, plus a possible evening on-time period to give
> myself a chance to connect and pull down photo’s or do any changes -
> hopefully this would make the solar/battery combo possible.
> I'll be having a go at a script to do timed power ups/downs, but I've
> not given much thought to anything else such as:
>  
>  * Solar panel, battery, power management.
>  * I should be able to get wifi to the garden, but may need an external
>    antenna if the boxing is a problem.
>  * Which camera/lens, and its protection: glass covering or naked lens.
>  * The physical box and mount.
>  * Should the pi monitor voltage, (if possible), provide warnings, auto
>    send any data?
>  * The RTC can also have a small battery backup in case external power
>    fails, probably needed. 
>  
> I'd be interested in any suggestions, or if anyone has any experience
> with Pi cameras, solar panels and batteries. Perhaps something to
> discuss at the next meet?
>  
> Cheers
>  
>    Bernie
>  
> 
>  
>  
> 
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>  

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