How to power

During those times, energy stored in rechargeable batteries looks like the best option, but pre-charged batteries can only give few days worth of reading at best, before they run out of juice.

Solar panels are one possible option of recharging those batteries. They can operate during day with variable efficiency and should be sized so they charge batteries enough for make it to next reading. At winters, output would be reduced as day is shorter, sky might be cloudy and there might be some snow on the panels, but at summers, this might will be preferred way of generating power.

Water turbines are another option, given that most streams have active flow which can be used to generate some energy. At summer, some streams dry out, so this source will not give any energy, but at winter / sprint, they might become primary sources of energy, complementing solar panels…

How else to power

Small vertical wind turbines can also be used next to solar panels, but they draw too much visual attention and might not work in sheltered areas that don’t have wind exposure.

Batteries I have in mind are regular rechargeable 18650 batteries, but some locations might benefit from larger SLA batteries that might hold more juice for longer periods of time and might need to be periodically need to be manually recharged by visiting the site.

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