Mixing wind turbines with the tropics

Lead Image © Boris Klissourski, 123RF.com

Into the Wind

We describe the further saga of Project Curaçao, a Raspberry Pi-based weather station powered by wind and sun.

In an article on wind power in the previous issue of Raspberry Pi GEEK [1], I talked about designing a solution that would allow a small computer system on a remote island to operate on solar and wind power. Since then, I actually installed the weather station system – on the Caribbean island of Curaçao on March 12, 2014.

The system is still functioning well in an unattended mode on the island as of the writing of this article (April 2014). However, the wind turbine that was suppose to provide assistance to the primary solar-based power system met with premature and unexpected misfortune. In this article, I describe what happened and what I intend to do about it, but I'll begin with a brief description of the project for those who missed the previous issue.

What Is Project Curaçao?

Project Curaçao is a sensor-filled project designed to hang on a radio tower on the island nation of Curaçao. Curaçao is a desert island 12 degrees north of the equator in the Caribbean. It is a harsh environment with strong tropical sun, salt spray from the ocean, and unremitting heat, but it is a beautiful place to visit and a challenging spot to build and install a Raspberry Pi-based environmental monitoring system. The system consists of a Raspberry Pi running a Python-based control system, a RasPiConnect server (for remote monitoring and remote control), and an Arduino acting as a power system manager and watchdog system overseeing the Raspberry Pi.

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