Are you interested in piso machine business? From ATMs (Automatic Tubig Machine), pisonets, coffee vending machines, pisoWIFIs, and mobile charging stations; piso machines are found almost everywhere in the Philippine cities and crowded rural areas. By inserting coins in the machine, you get what it offers.
Why not build a piso machine that can charge smart devices like smart phones and tablets and offers a wifi with internet connection at the same time,and a machine that is powered by solar energy to electrical energy?
Here, I designed a solar powered charging station. It is made up of wooden enclosures, solar panel/s, charge controller, battery/s, coin box with timer circuit and coin slot circuit and car mobile charger with multiple mini USB (Universal Serial Bus) plugs.. The station requires only a little space with good roofing. Mobile phone chargers designed for cars run at 12 volts dc.
The closet could be made up of plywood or ply board. You can paint the outer surface either buy brush or spray. You may use vinyl or wood laminate. The edges can be covered with aluminum or rubber edgers. Depending on your design you may extend the numbers of charging ports but you may extend the solar panel and battery size or number.
The machine is best deployed inside a business establishment such as a convenience store, eatery and cafe. You may omit the use of solar panel and install with a dc power supply of 12 volts which are widely available in most electronics stores. The machine can be deployed away from your house or business establishment since it is solar powered and off the grid. Make sure, if it allows Wifi connectivity, the modem must be an LTE (Long Term Evolution) type. A modem that is powered by an LTE sim. Make sure there are openings near the circuits for easier installation and easier access for maintenance.
You may choose any of the closet where to place the battery/s and modem.
It is best to mount the charge controller on top of the machine. The image below shows an example of mounting the charge controller.
The length of cable between the solar panel/s and charge controller must not be too long. The longer the cable, the bigger the power loss. Unlike alternating current, direct current makes cable hotter. It is not necessarily to install exhaust fans on the machine. The timer and coin slot circuits draw less current and produce less heat but make sure to create ventilation holes near the circuitry. Connecting exhaust fans in a solar powered station is not a good idea. They consume power too and drain your battery/s.
The image below shows a charging station deployed on isolated location.
The best direction where a solar panel faces is on the south. The sunlight exposure from this direction lasts longer compare to any other direction. Avoid the solar panels from shading. A small shading can can drop the charging current up to 95 %. For a three charging port station, I recommend to use at least 100 watts of solar panel, a 30A 12 volt charge controller and a 50AH deep cycle battery. You may extend the number of solar panels and batteries. Since timer and coin slot circuit run at 12 volt dc, the solar power must be a 12 volt setup also. A 100 solar panel can charge a 12 volt battery. If you wish to add an extra solar panel, it must be connected in parallel with the existing solar panel. Connecting two or more solar panels in series, to charge a 12 volt battery is not recommended. The panels would still charge the battery but very slow and would damage the charge controller. If you intend to connect solar panels in series, you must connect the batteries also in series and replace the charge controller with a one that can handle the battery output voltage. Like for example, if you want to connect three panels in series, then connect three batteries in series. If each battery has 12 volts output, the total output voltage would be 36 volts. So make sure your charge controller is rated also to operate at 36 volts or higher.
The image below shows the block diagram of the machine (does not include the WIFI feature): Each cabinet has coin slot and timer circuit. So a total of three coin slot circuits and three timer circuits. Aside from car mobile usb chargers with multiple charging plugs, you may add a usb receptacle if users prefer to use their own usb cable.
The image below shows a block diagram which includes WiFi Connectivity: Most modems run at 12 volts dc.
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