Solar Energy 2 Click

Solar Energy 2 Click is a compact add-on board that can recharge a battery by harvesting the solar power of the Sun or by other means. This board features the EM8500, a power management controller with an energy harvesting interface from EM Microelectronic. The controller is specifically designed for efficient harvesting over various DC sources such as photovoltaic (solar) or thermal electric generators (TEG). It can recharge the connected LiPo battery or supercapacitor (or even a conventional capacitor). In addition, the EM8500 can use the same battery as a power source for powering the connected system.

Click Product page

Click library

• Author : Nenad Filipovic
• Date : Jan 2023.
• Type : I2C type

Software Support

We provide a library for the Solar Energy 2 Click as well as a demo application (example), developed using MikroElektronika compilers. The demo can run on all the main MikroElektronika development boards.

Package can be downloaded/installed directly from NECTO Studio Package Manager(recommended way), downloaded from our LibStock™ or found on Mikroe github account.

Library Description

This library contains API for Solar Energy 2 Click driver.

Standard key functions :

• solarenergy2_cfg_setup Config Object Initialization function.

  void solarenergy2_cfg_setup ( solarenergy2_cfg_t *cfg );

• solarenergy2_init Initialization function.

  err_t solarenergy2_init ( solarenergy2_t *ctx, solarenergy2_cfg_t *cfg );

• solarenergy2_default_cfg Click Default Configuration function.

  err_t solarenergy2_default_cfg ( solarenergy2_t *ctx );

Example key functions :

• solarenergy2_set_pwr_current_source Solar Energy 2 power source selection function.

  err_t solarenergy2_set_pwr_current_source ( solarenergy2_t *ctx, uint8_t crt_src_sel )

• solarenergy2_config_abs_voltage Solar Energy 2 config absolute voltage function.

  err_t solarenergy2_config_abs_voltage ( solarenergy2_t *ctx, solarenergy2_abs_vtg_v_t abs_vtg );

• solarenergy2_set_mppt_ratio Solar Energy 2 set MPPT ratio function.

  err_t solarenergy2_set_mppt_ratio ( solarenergy2_t *ctx, uint8_t mppt_ratio );

Example Description

This library contains API for the Solar Energy 2 Click driver. This driver provides functions to configure the power management controller with an energy harvesting interface.

The demo application is composed of two sections :

Application Init

Initialization of I2C module and log UART. After driver initialization, the app set default settings.

void application_init ( void ) 
{
    log_cfg_t log_cfg;  /**< Logger config object. */
    solarenergy2_cfg_t solarenergy2_cfg;  /**< Click config object. */

    /** 
     * Logger initialization.
     * Default baud rate: 115200
     * Default log level: LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG
     * @note If USB_UART_RX and USB_UART_TX 
     * are defined as HAL_PIN_NC, you will 
     * need to define them manually for log to work. 
     * See @b LOG_MAP_USB_UART macro definition for detailed explanation.
     */
    LOG_MAP_USB_UART( log_cfg );
    log_init( &logger, &log_cfg );
    log_info( &logger, " Application Init " );

    // Click initialization.
    solarenergy2_cfg_setup( &solarenergy2_cfg );
    SOLARENERGY2_MAP_MIKROBUS( solarenergy2_cfg, MIKROBUS_1 );
    if ( I2C_MASTER_ERROR == solarenergy2_init( &solarenergy2, &solarenergy2_cfg ) ) 
    {
        log_error( &logger, " Communication init." );
        for ( ; ; );
    }

    if ( SOLARENERGY2_ERROR == solarenergy2_default_cfg ( &solarenergy2 ) )
    {
        log_error( &logger, " Default configuration." );
        for ( ; ; );
    }

    log_info( &logger, " Application Task " );
    Delay_ms ( 100 );    
}

Application Task

This is an example that shows the use of Solar Energy 2 Click board™. The following example will charge the battery if it is below the maximum voltage of the application of 3.40 V, stop charging when the battery is full and monitor additional status and storage element voltage information. Results are being sent to the Usart Terminal where you can track their changes.

void application_task ( void ) 
{   
    if ( SOLARENERGY2_OK == solarenergy2_get_status( &solarenergy2, &status ) )
    {
        if  ( SOLARENERGY2_OK == solarenergy2_get_bat_vtg_status( &solarenergy2, &vld_status ) )
        {
            display_status( );    
        }
    }
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
}

The full application code, and ready to use projects can be installed directly from NECTO Studio Package Manager(recommended way), downloaded from our LibStock™ or found on Mikroe github account.

Other Mikroe Libraries used in the example:

• MikroSDK.Board
• MikroSDK.Log
• Click.SolarEnergy2

Additional notes and informations

Depending on the development board you are using, you may need USB UART Click, USB UART 2 Click or RS232 Click to connect to your PC, for development systems with no UART to USB interface available on the board. UART terminal is available in all MikroElektronika compilers.