Libre Solar Box

This Open Hardware project is about the development of a solar box. We want to provide a compact, mobile and modular electric power generator. An alternative to the diesel generator. The power specifications are chosen to supply a mini house, a boat, a caravan, or any other off-grid devices like a music station on an open-air.

The aim is that everybody is possible to rebuild the solar box at home or at his/her favourite fablab.


Documentation still under developmentā€¦

You find our development process of the solar box on following GitHub repository. Feel free to fork and contribute.

Some impressionsā€¦

Overview of the Libre Solar Box layout.

solarbox_freeCAD

CAD model of the solarbox V0.2 designed in FreeCAD.

solarbox_freeCAD

Finshed assembly of the solarbox V0.2 with wood housing and acrylic glas on one site.

Specifications:

  • Maximal Voltage Input = 55 V
  • Maximal Power Input = 300 Wp
  • Capacity of Batteries = 920 Wh
  • DC Output Voltage = 12 V and 5 V (USB-power)
  • Maximal Power Output = 600 W

modules:

  • electric: Libre Solar (MPPT+BMS), Inverter (Victron), ESP/Rasbperry, Fuse
  • Batteries: LiFePO4 (Calb), 72Ah, 3,2V, 230,5Wh - 4x -> 12,8V, 920Wh
  • Housing/Frame: UniProKit, with corner elements for blending; wood plates for mounting electric parts and batteries
  • Interface: Solarinput (MC4), DC-output (car plug), AC-output (schuko, integrated in inverter), main switch

visualization:

  • Open Energy Monitor via CAN to ESP (Server ext.)/Rasbperry (Server int.)
  • browser based visualization -> access via LAN/WLAN