EvanFoss
Garbage Can
The bottom board was the original controller for the garbage can. The top board is a later upgrade they were adding this day. The smaller green board nested on top of that one is the GSM modem.
The Seal Lead Acid battery in the top left is the power supply for the machine. You can see the outline of the solar panel on the top cover of the unit. The white module in the back is clearly the DC/DC converter and charge management circuits to recharge the battery from solar power. It is a commercial product that they are just buying for use inside the machine.
I am at a bit of a loss for explaining why they need so many wires to connect to the front panel. It only looks like it has 1 LED but the connector has 8 positions so I am guessing they have more lights that are less visible. The converter only takes 2 lines in and 2 out so it must use the full series power of the panel.
The motor is controlled with 3 large relays I am fairly sure are wired in parallel. They would do better to use something solid state for longevity reasons. Near the relays in the bottom left is a funny looking semiconductor which is probably a current shunt with integrated hall effect sensor to measure the motors power consumption. If it goes to high the microprocessor on the main board would want to sense that the motor is jammed ether from mechanical failure or because the garbage is fully compressed.
To the right of the hall effect chip is a DC/DC converter to power the microcontroller and etc that are probably on the large main board. I am guessing the networking is a later addition they planned for (because the two boards connect) but didn't roll out until later on. Ether that or they are using a programming header on the main board as an interface. This could explain why the daughter card (labeled Big Belly Cell Modem) is getting power directly from the battery and not via the main board. This would also explain why the "Big Belly Cell Modem" has it's own DC/DC converter. They probably had to do an upgrade kit for each unit with the second board, modem, antenna, and power cable. It probably cost a lot to have the field technicians go around installing all of those boards and then go back to replace them all when the modems were replaced.
I am very curious what the "RAM SENSOR" actually is. I would guess ultrasonic but it is not easy to tell from this angle.
One way you can tell this is meant for the hostile conditions of the out doors is the absence of any electrolytic capacitors. For the larger values that normally would have been electrolytic they used metal film instead.
I really like the support rod for propping the lid open.
Garbage Can
The bottom board was the original controller for the garbage can. The top board is a later upgrade they were adding this day. The smaller green board nested on top of that one is the GSM modem.
The Seal Lead Acid battery in the top left is the power supply for the machine. You can see the outline of the solar panel on the top cover of the unit. The white module in the back is clearly the DC/DC converter and charge management circuits to recharge the battery from solar power. It is a commercial product that they are just buying for use inside the machine.
I am at a bit of a loss for explaining why they need so many wires to connect to the front panel. It only looks like it has 1 LED but the connector has 8 positions so I am guessing they have more lights that are less visible. The converter only takes 2 lines in and 2 out so it must use the full series power of the panel.
The motor is controlled with 3 large relays I am fairly sure are wired in parallel. They would do better to use something solid state for longevity reasons. Near the relays in the bottom left is a funny looking semiconductor which is probably a current shunt with integrated hall effect sensor to measure the motors power consumption. If it goes to high the microprocessor on the main board would want to sense that the motor is jammed ether from mechanical failure or because the garbage is fully compressed.
To the right of the hall effect chip is a DC/DC converter to power the microcontroller and etc that are probably on the large main board. I am guessing the networking is a later addition they planned for (because the two boards connect) but didn't roll out until later on. Ether that or they are using a programming header on the main board as an interface. This could explain why the daughter card (labeled Big Belly Cell Modem) is getting power directly from the battery and not via the main board. This would also explain why the "Big Belly Cell Modem" has it's own DC/DC converter. They probably had to do an upgrade kit for each unit with the second board, modem, antenna, and power cable. It probably cost a lot to have the field technicians go around installing all of those boards and then go back to replace them all when the modems were replaced.
I am very curious what the "RAM SENSOR" actually is. I would guess ultrasonic but it is not easy to tell from this angle.
One way you can tell this is meant for the hostile conditions of the out doors is the absence of any electrolytic capacitors. For the larger values that normally would have been electrolytic they used metal film instead.
I really like the support rod for propping the lid open.