Question about solar power the sensor and 4G/LTE communication

FAQ
1

Hello forum members.
I am new here and love what you all are accomplishing.
I have electrical / electronics background and in my spare time I am working on a food forest .
Now I want to put 2 air quality and sound sensors in this forest.
Does anyone have experience with solarpower and 4G/LTE communication for these sensors.
What is the power consumption of these sensors ?

Thanks for your support

1 Like
2

There should also be a v2. Try to contact Grigori.
4G/LTE small routers often prevent users to do what they want. Can’t you use LoRaWAN?

3

Thanks for your reply pjg
I try to contact Grigori.
And I will look into a LoRaWAN solution or NB-IoT

4

I tested ESP8266 and ESP32 boards with Simcom Sim7020/7080G NB-IOT modems. Worked well with solar panel and 18650 battery

5

Thanks for your reply and info ibetsun.
Did you use a Sitcom NB IoT development board or did you made your own PCB with ESP and Simcom ?
do you have a schematic of your solution ?

Thanks.

6

I testd with Simcom devboard from AliExpress which there are plenty of. I am planning to develop a daughter board with Simcom module
The schematic is not ready yet. I suppose there will be some power management and a level shifter 1.8<>3.3V

As to the solar part, you can find some info there:

1 Like
7

Did you also compare power conscumption between the two?

8

You mean between 7020 and 7080? Not yet. I have them both as modules, and when the PCBs are ready, I will test the overall efficiency.

But, according to datasheets, there’ should not be much difference in power save mode

9

I see, thank you. The ESP32 should also consume less in power saving mode.

10

For powering air quality and sound sensors with 4G/LTE in a food forest, a small solar setup works well: most sensors use under 0.5 W, while a 4G modem averages 1–2 W (peaking higher during transmission). A 20–30 W solar panel with a 12V 7Ah battery and a compact charge controller is usually enough for continuous operation. To save power, configure the modem to transmit data at intervals (e.g., every 5–10 minutes) instead of streaming constantly, ensuring reliable performance even on cloudy days.