I’ve got an outbuilding which I may make fully off-grid in the future, but it is a complex site on a sloping hillside with large trees that cause a lot of shading at different times of the year.
I was thinking of putting a small sensor (or even a tiny solar panel) on the roof and logging the data I get for the year. And I can combine that with the mains electricity use of the outbuilding to see how much battery I might need, area of solar panels, etc.
I don’t know if I should be using a simple LDR or a UV-sensor to best approximate useful sunlight levels, or something like the Sparkfun solar cell IC? https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9962
And presumably I’ll need some sort of waterproof case for it, so perhaps I’d be better off getting a cheap small solar panel that is already designed to live outside? Like https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00KCP76CS/
Many thanks