The last component we needed to settle was the power source. Currently, we have been drawing power directly from the socket, but in order to make the boat travel freely on its own, we would need to give it a kind of portable batteries.
Which required reading of labels I would never have noticed until you were intentionally looking for them.
We learnt about input and output voltages and currents, how DCs and ACs are used in real life appliances. Turns out, most of our appliances take in the same measurements of current and voltage, and it wasn’t the data we were looking for either…
After a while we figured out where to look for the data, and then we were able to calculate the total voltages and current needed.
Tony suggested instead of building a battery out of scratch, we could consider solar panels which would give the boat this rechargeability element, and it was a great idea in that now it was “self-sustainable”, and utilizes the natural energy from the sun!
We found out that this technology actually came from the idea of photosynthesis, and studying the components of chlorophyll — finally, a word that is familiar.
Its quite interesting to see how biology is applied in the engineering scene.
So after trying out different positions of the solar panels on the boat, we figured the best way was to place solar panels flat on top of the raft to capture the most sunlight.
Which also meant we had to get the dimensions of our boat.
We also decided how to attached the observational camera at the bottom, and under Tony’s guidance and experience, he suggested using an acrylic board held by aluminum profiles to extend the camera further below the boat so that the view is not blocked.
So it was another round of shopping for us, purchasing boards, aluminium profile brackets, longer cables and solar panels.