Just took a couple of 3D printed OWL2.0 off a 36m trailed Amazone sprayer today. They had been on there since April collecting image data. Sprayer was used for normal operations in Danish conditions.
These OWLs were powered using a PoE Hat from Waveshare, Teltonika RUT951 PoE+ Router and then an ethernet cable running across the boom. It also used a 7 inch EDATEC display with PoE and then a 12 to 48V converter to get the PoE outputs to operate on the RUT951.
What I was quite happy with though was the enclosure being exceptionally clean on the inside. With the rubber seal, there was no dust or evidence of moisture inside and the UV/coated lens filter stayed really clean despite the rest being covered in mud.
I think it got up to just under 100 here over summer, but this wasn’t operating for weed detection, just data collection. The PLA we printed has all warped/melted as we somewhat expected but this BambuLabs PETG-HF has so far been ok. I know another group coated theirs in a spray on epoxy to cover all the micro gaps between layers for added security.
The biggest issue we’ve had is the device getting quite hot even with the fan, because plastic insulates quite well. It still operates, but just hotter than I would like.
Ah yeh, I forgot to upload that mount, I’ve just uploaded it to the repo now.
It lets you use some M5 heatset inserts to add a RAM mount ball joint. It just slides over the OWL and then a few M3 screws to clamp it down.
When I was focusing the camera, the pi was getting to 70*C just open in my barn. I went ahead and sandwiched a little cooling fan in between the pi and hat. That dropped it quite a bit. I’m still a little worried about enclosing it and the heat. I plan to make a shade for the Owl and used white PETG to help.
My next move was going to be a copper coil in the housing with some water cooling, but not sure if it will condensate in there or not.
