Can I take solar panel's output as an input to Arduino

Question

For a project of mine I want to build a smart Street lamp. I wanted to use solar panel in order to reduce the usage of electrical energy, I'm using Arduino uno R3 is there a way that I can turn on the whole system when I don't get output from solar panel? And vice versa.

Thank you.

Answer 1

You could use a voltage/current sensor to track the output from the panel and use the output to turn on the system based on the output from the panel. You can use a sensor such as the INA226 current/voltage sensor, which can be read by the Arduino. You could set a threshold based on the output from the panel and go from there.

I wrote a tutorial on using the INA226 for solar tracking: Solar Panel Characterization and Experiments with Arduino

If you look at the hourly output, you get a plot something like this:

This would be a start to tracking your solar output and enabling your system based on the output.

Answer 2

You can Surely use Solar panel as an input to Arduino, You can use a solar module(Safe to use) or Directly connect it to the arduino input (A0,A1,A2.....etc) and program it using arduino.

And also use Solar intensity as raw material for Turning your system on Hope this helps.