Hi guys,
I hope I’m not posting a duplicate; in case I do, please point me to the proper thread.
I received my Smart Citizen Kit 1.1 a few days ago, hooked it up to the solar panel, attached both to an old parasol stand (can be moved as one unit and is sturdy enough to withstand windy days), and installed it outside in the front yard of our house (http://smartcitizen.me/devices/view/1168). The solar panel is located below the Kit and exposed to sunlight almost the entire day (east-west axis). The solar energy harvest is “quite good” considering the cloudy days we’ve been having, however, it seems that the Kit (in its enclosure) is heating up quite significantly. It was recording values of about 30° Celsius, even though it should be half that. When I realized it, I built a small parasol contraption that shades the box, which helped the temperature to drop to ~20°C. But that is still not enough.
There are other options I can think of: I could put the Kit and solar panel in a shady place behind the house, but I worry that there won’t be enough sunlight to charge the Kit. Another option would be to shade the Kit (maybe by the solar panel) but I’m not sure if that negatively impacts the ambient light sensor. Or maybe I could fix the solar panel to a sunny place, and hook it up to a much longer cable, so that the Kid can be placed in a shay spot…
I was hoping some of you have asked those similar questions before (basically: how to measure properly and what is the significance of the measured values).
