An Off The Grid Camera Beacon With Solar Panels

We generally see a beacon transmitting signals at regular intervals to perform radio measurements. But in this DIY you can get a live image using a beacon which uses solar panels as battery source. You can use any model of Raspberry Pi or any other minimalistic computer, just make sure it has an audio output and GPIO port. Apart from this, you will need electrical wires, 1K resistor, an NPN transistor, a small relay and pin header connector for the Raspberry Pi. And soldering equipment is needed, of course.

In this DIY tutorial you can see how transmitting images over radio can work, how you’ll connect the Pi to the radio, setting up the software on the Pi and finally putting it in a neat weatherproof box along with the solar panels. As you read on, you will realize that certain transmissions might require to check out your state law for proper licensing. We suggest you go for a PMR Radio, which is allowed in most of the jurisdictions. It is a slightly long procedure, but totally worth it.

You could try to increase the speed of the transmission and the quality of the image. Let us know, how!