I’m looking to do a solar project too, though it’ll be powering a CCTV installation. I hope to start measuring current requirements next week, once my long-awaited Zero 2 arrives.
My posts on the subject, which may be useful:
- What solar equipment might be suitable for a semi-remote CCTV station?
- Can I use a fuel gauge and a solar charger at the same time?
The best approach may be to buy your components and measure their usage. A USB multimeter can be used to see what your out-of-the-box current draw would be, and it’ll help you experiment with approaches to reduce current draw.
The main thing for both of us is probably to ensure that the battery is juicy enough to sustain overnight usage when the solar panel isn’t operational. This current usage calculator gives me some hope - apparently a Zero with a 12,000mAh battery can shoot HD video for ~28 hours before running out (I am making the assumption that the Z2 consumes a similar amount of power to the Z1). That suggests that this 8,800mAh battery would do ~21 hours, for the same load, without sunlight.