So the Boron does not need to go into the house? It can be out in the woods with the other units and its just acting as the central node that has the internet access to push the data out to the web?
If that’s the case then the Xenons with antennas should work just fine. I thought you were trying to have the Boron in the house and the Xenons in the woods for some reason.
The Boron can work off cheaper 12v glass solar panels if you don’t want to spend as much on the Voltaic panels. The Xenons input voltage needs to be in the 5v range so they need 6v panels or 12v panels with 5v regulators, or just run them off batteries and make them sleep most of the time .
I’m currently working on installing Xenon’s in the feeders (replacing the basic timer) so I can tweak the feed schedules remotely and monitor the feed levels with an ultrasonic range finder.
…and trialling RCWL-0516 under the trap door to detect pigs rather than relying on my PIR 3G cameras (they get way too many false-positives).
…might even look at using the microwave prox-sensors and ultrasonic range finders to automate triggering the trap when I get a single animal visiting a trap in the “wee small hours”. (That will sound strange to some porcine-inclined readers but our hogs don’t have any predators (apart from me) on this island, so they don’t herd-up.)
Correct - the Boron was going to be in the woods. Is the current at the USB port to be limited to 500mA from the panel? I want to be sure I’m not sending too much to the xenon/borons.
An expansion of this project is to try it on a 200 acre property owned by the extended family. And to add RPi / MotionEye cameras… or similar, and use the LTE to send images. But I’m way ahead of myself now.
The only thing I don’t get from that video is the 360 degree detection. For some applications that would be great. In my application, I want to know that an animal is (example) south of sensor 01, in zone 01. I will watch more of vids but this looks like a great new (to me) component!
The pmic Charging chip on the Boron will limit the current so no need to worry about over current on the input. You do need to keep the voltage down below the max input voltage and if the voltage is higher than the 6v panels then limiting the charging current to 500mA via code is a good idea to keep dc to dc conversion heat generation down.
The Xenons require 6v or less on the input, I’m not sure if the Charging chip on the Xenons current limit automatically without looking there datasheet up but I assume they did. Better check that or just use one of the smaller 6v Voltaic panels with limited current output.
I wondered the same on the xenon, looked at the datasheet. I don’t know if I need to look elsewhere, but saw this, shows max voltage, but no max current:
Hi All,
I am also working on a extended range system using the Argon/Xenon setup for a Mesh network to allow monitoring of large parcels of land. I am in the process of designing a add-on board for the modules which has a DHT-22, and a Microwave sensor which will give me data on Environment, and motion. I hope to overlay this on a Google Maps API which will allow me to track movement real time should a sensor trigger. I started this a few years ago using the Arduino series, but soon realized the battery life was a issue. Hopefully with the Particle series I can improve the performance, and enhance the Security of the system. Those of us who live on large parcels of land in the country always are faced with intruders of the 4 legged kind. If anyone wants to work together please feel to reach out.
I’m only curious about your components (the project as a whole sounds very fun!) at the moment on the Argon/Xenon pair. The Argon is wifi. Will it stay in close to a structure (like the house) that will have a wifi router running? Mine will be at least 100’ from the house, so not even trying to use wifi at this point.
Yeah - those critters are fun, until I have to take my little pug out. We only have a barbed wire fence so nothing is kept out. But I love seeing deer on my trail cams.
Hi Rick,
I have been thinking on this problem for a while. Ideally I want a system that detects any movement over 15 lbs. I have tested several Microwave sensors, and decided to design my own. The key point of a system is reliability. I don’t want to get up in the middle of the night for nothing. It is still work in progress but I feel that it can be real in the next year.
HillBilly
That’s really cool. I hope you’ll post progress. I have wanted to improve on the expensive MURS motion sensors I have. But I’m not an inventor, electrical engineer (or even serious hobbyist). So other than reading a description, I already feel like I’m starting over learning the specs of these components. I’m curious about yours, watched a video on one of the microwave sensors, and they look cool. I’ll watch and learn, and use before I understand it, most likely!
I just remembered I have some Goal Zero Nomad 7w solar panels in my outdoor gear, they have USB 5v ports. They aren’t ideal, but I can make a frame to mount it outside. So I’ll test those before spending the $$ on the 6v 6w panels just yet.
you have built over there 
