Electronic – Arduino project, powered by car electric system

arduinoautomotivebatteriescharger

I want to assemble an Arduino project that would be powered by car, and also it should be power-independent to some degree. This project will be a simple car alarm system, with gps reciever and will send messages by gsm network (yep, there're plenty of those, but it's just a hobby project). But I'm a beginner in electrics, so I don't know much about subject. Recently I connected new car stereo system by myself, and proud of it – that should give you some idea 🙂 (there was no ISO connecter in my old car though, so I had to discover and sort wires).

I plan to get positive wire from cigarette lighter, and connect negative to car body.

I need a battery (I'm thinking SLA), and a charger that will be able to charge it from 12V car electrics. Since charger will be connected to lighter (which powered through ingition), it will be active only when engine is running, so it wouldn't drain my car battery.

So, can I just get any car charger, say for usb or some phone, and charge my battery with this? Which will have an arduino project connected to it at the same time?

Or I need some failsafe? I heard smth about "voltage regulator", but I don't know what it is.

Links to appropriate chargers available online will be appreciated.

Best Answer

First, a note - there is already a negative in the cigarette lighter, no need to run a wire to chassis.

For your skill level, what you are proposing is quite complex. Instead I suggest the following setup:

  1. Purchase a Seeeduino Stalker Waterproof Solar Kit. This kit is great. It comes with an Arduino with clock, SD card and XBee interface. It also comes with a solar panel, lithium battery and the charging circuitry on board. It can charge via the USB port or the solar panel. For the GPS, you may also want to look at their GPSBee which can slot into the board.

  2. Purchase a cigarette lighter to USB charger. This will convert the car 12V to USB 5V which can power the battery.

  3. In the car, connect the Stalker to the USB charger, and locate the stalker somewhere on the dash or parcel tray where it can also charge from the solar panel when the car is off.

  4. Now you just have to spend hundreds of hours writing the code and debugging. Good luck!