Last Thursday I spent a lot of time analyzing exactly how efficient my charging solution was with a real-life test. What dropped out was a rather poor picture of how inefficient the whole solar charging setup was. From over 1.2KW hitting the area of my solar panel I managed to use about 19W. That’s a [...]

The 102 (good) photos that I took on the Solar UMPC tour have now been posted in the UMPCPortal Gallery.

Found on Flickr. …and there’s my version.

We (that’s me, VIA and a PR company) had tried to plan a crossing-the-line press meeting today but as it turns out, everyone is at IFA and no-one was available. It was a little disappointing but seeing as it was raining, I’m not bitter! I took the chance to jump on a train home and start the [...]

Wooooooohoooooooo! Total distance covered: 450km over 10 days. UMPC, Phone, Camera, GPS and Torch all topped up from Solar energy. I made it! Distance since last post: 65kmWeather: Dark and cloudy.Notes: Don’t drink two beers at the finish line without having something to eat first!!!     Today at about 1700 (UTC+2) I crossed the [...]

Location: KoelnDistance since last post: 15kmWeather: Brightening. Still 100% cloud As I was leaving Bonn this morning I passed a trio of mountain bike riders. They where looking closely at one of the bikes and I heard them say ‘I think the gear has broken.’ My army-pattern bike might be heavy but its as solid as [...]

Location: SürthDistance since last post:15kmWeather: warm but cloudy and wet.Notes: Always wear tight underwear when cycling! A business issue this morning cost me 25% of my battery power and with the current weather situation, cloudy and wet, that could cost me dearly. There was a brief bright period at around noon where i slammed on [...]