Self-sufficient radio station: power need, battery and solar panel
A self-sufficient radio station keeps working without mains power and without internet – for example during a power cut or in emergency communications. The Signal-Pirat planner calculates the daily need, battery runtime, the battery size for a required number of days and the minimum solar panel power from the chosen building blocks.
Open in the browser
No installation, no sign-up needed.
What the page does
- Blocks: Meshtastic node, radio panel with display (CYD), VHF/UHF radio, mini PC with local AI, SDR receiver, router or HAMNET access
- Mean power from idle and transmit power, weighted by the transmit share
- Daily need including converter loss, runtime without recharge, battery size in Ah
- Solar panel in Wp from full-load hours and system factor
- Memory need of a local language model by parameter count and quantisation
Background
Time rather than transmit power drives a station's consumption: a radio drawing 120 W on transmit averages about twelve watts at a five per cent transmit share. A mini PC idles at a few watts and needs more only while the language model answers. For winter in Austria assume few full-load hours per day; the European Commission's PVGIS calculator gives values for your own site. Local language models run offline with open-source runtimes such as llama.cpp or Ollama; answers can be wrong and replace neither law nor guidelines.
In practice
How it works: tick the blocks, enter idle and transmit power from the datasheet or a measurement, set operating hours per day. Enter battery voltage, capacity and usable share and choose the required days without sun. The planner shows whether the battery suffices, how large it must be and which solar panel recharges it.
Frequently asked questions
Are the power values manufacturer data?
No. They are guide values for calculation; for your own station use the datasheet or a measurement.
Does the AI run without internet?
Yes, if the language model is on the mini PC and memory and compute suffice. The AI never transmits anything itself.