Does this mean goodbye to my solar panel, my 1KG lead-acid battery and the box full of cables I have? Does these mean that you won’t have to spend over $1000 on a Solar UMPC kit now? iUnika have announced a range of very low end, low-cost netbooks which include one with a solar-panel on […]
One year ago (see this post for details of the 2007 Solar UMPC tour kit,) I was using the setup below for my mobile blogging and tracking. This year, its a lot simpler. And a lot more powerful. Notice how the phone, GPS tracker and Camera have merged into one device. Yes, the N82 is […]
Distance since last post: 15km Weather: Clouds thinning Notes: I don’t have much faith in the lead-acid battery. The Li-Ion battery seems to be charging much more reliably. Another day completed and I feel like I’m getting into a better rhythm. Checking emails and RSS on the mobile phone and creating rich journal updates with […]
Distance since last post: 40kmWeather: Mixed, cloudy. Hazy. Warm 20-22 degreesNotes: Feeling really good. No aches. Pushing harder today. Cant stop eating sultanas! The hills on each side of the Rhein are getting bigger! Winter is coming…If you take notice of the geese that is. I saw a flock flying south (following the River perhaps) […]
Planning a busman’s holiday around the weather isn’t that easy. Camp set-up and break down, cycling between locations, working, keeping an eye on the weather, finding suitable places to work and charging power sources all need to be thought about. The key to success here (in our wonderfully changeable weather system) is to be flexible between 10:00 […]
Here’s a solution based on the Sunlinq 25w panel and a Xantrec 300 Plus combo lead-acid battery/inverter. Its very similar to my own solution apart from the fact that this one weighs nearly 10KG!!! A number of blogs seemed to have picked up on this solution today and are quoting 11-12 hours charging time. This figure […]
I don’t really understand why I didn’t try this before. Its simple. its recommended and it works. Have I been too focused on flexibility why simplicity could be the answer? I was speaking to Chris from Euro-Line, an importer of consumer solar products and he highlighted a document that I’d already seen. I took another […]
In a recent comment here, someone asked why the Lead-Acid battery was needed. Its probably not too clear in the video why I use it so I reproduce my answer (which comes from the best of my knowledge!) here. There are two main problems with charging Li-Ion batteries from Solar panels. Firstly, Li-Ion batteries (in […]
Lesson number one in the Solar-UMPC project is that the weather is chaos and if you live in mid-northern Europe, you can’t rely on it as a source of instant energy. You’ll see how I’ve had to adapt my solution in my first Solar UMPC video. In the video I present the solar charging and […]
The new tent has arrived, the bike baggage, and finally, some warmer weather so I’m taking the chance to test things out in the garden. My daughter is nearly asleep in the tent and I’m perched outside with the Samsung Q1b and organizer pack resting on one of my panniers, a clip-on LED lamp a […]