Replying to Avatar Low Information Voter

Sounds 100% doable, today! Without any custom boards, even.

You don't want MPPT at that scale, it will waste far more power than it saves. Just put a step-down buck module on the power input.

There are various RISC-V SBCs on Crowdsupply you could start with, and Waveshare make some very diy-friendly e-ink screen up to 13".

Repairable is the only dicey bit. All modern mass market stuff is surface mount. If you want through-hole and socketed ICs you're going to have to go more retro or design your own boards. If you do, pls share!
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atyh 1y ago

Interesting about the mppt.

At what scale does it stop making sense? I don’t really know what the efficiency of that tech is.

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Low Information Voter 1y ago

Once you start having more voltage drop through the regulators and diodes than you make back in increased output, your MPPT is a liability.

The exact cutoff will be different for different projects, but I certainly wouldn't consider it for 12v or below. Unlikely to be worth it below 24v, even.

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atyh 1y ago

That makes perfect sense and is great to know.

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The Beave 1y ago

Would depend on your panels. MPPT controllers use significant power to calculate the maximum power point and adjust the voltage to charge the batteries or supply current to the system. The percentage of the power captured increases as the system size gets smaller, though it's not exactly linear as it does depend on the implementation between hardware and software.