Serenity Lake Communications is a research and development company focusing on cellular communications for low data usage devices. The initial project was a solar charge controller monitor. That monitor has operated for many years providing hourly reports on status. Reports from the test charge controller have been made for 15 years with low cost data service.

AVAILABLE COMMERCIAL SOLUTIONS: For temperatures that do not go below -20 C except on rare occasions, there are commercial solutions now available. The GlobalLink 520 Monitor from Victron Energy is a good solution when coupled with the Victron Solar Charge Controller and the Victron Smart Shunt. This system has operated flawlessly for 3 years at a remote site in Alaska. The Victron Energy Cerbo monitoring system when coupled with the Victron GSM modem has higher data usage and power consumption. This unit has operated flawlessly in a site with commercial power and WiFi internet. This system provides backup power and backup cellular connection at a site with intermittent extended power failures. For temperatures in the -40 C range, the ReadyEdge offering from Morningstar Corporation is a suitable solution; however, uses higher power and data. A separate ethernet connection is required – the Sierra Wireless MP-70 cellular modem/router used in test location.

Serenity Lake Communications has been using special low usage LTE / 4G data services for solar power monitoring, cameras and other devices at remote locations. Solar power monitoring uses extremely low amounts of data where a plan offering 10 years of service for under $20.00 is suitable. Cameras in use have data use under 1 megabyte per day standby. In typical security use at a low activity site, the total usage averages less than 50 megabytes per month. Low data usage plans for cameras typically cost less than $20.00 per year. See my cameras page for available solar powered cameras.

Currently developing a fully capable suite of applications using cellular modules and low data service plans to enable custom programming beyond the capabilities of commercial systems. Developed solutions range from hobby type systems based on Arduino and Raspberry Pi computers to fully developed Linux based Single Board Computers with low temperature tolerance, low power usage and high reliability.

See the other areas of this web site for details. A large number of surplus items are available which are functional; however, no longer needed for future development.