I finally took delivery of my last item of my portable solar solution consisting of:
- a PowerfilmSolar R28 rollable waterproof panel
- a Genasun GV-5 charge controller
- and an A123 Systems 12V drop in lead acid replacement Lithium Ion Nanophosphate battery.
To the best of my knowledge, these products belong to the best in their class. Will write more about why I chose these items in future posts and will inform on how they perform.
2012-11-19
Best instructional video on Automatic Link Estrablishment (ALE)
The best instructional video on PCALE and Automatic Link Estrablishment (ALE) that I have found to date is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4USt8JFUHE
It truly is worth the time to watch.
73 de Marcus KD0JKM
It truly is worth the time to watch.
73 de Marcus KD0JKM
2012-11-12
Hand Crank Generator
In search of a Hand Crank Generator to provide an independent power supply "when the lights go out", I had the following criteria that were important to me:
- Made in the USA
- high quality long lasting construction
- light weight, backpack / manpack portable
- 12V output
- "consumer product price range"
The first criteria, "Made in the USA" was the most difficult to fulfill, since I only found three US manufacturers, of which only two still had their product in construction. Of these, only one was backpack / manpack portable, the Pasco Hand-Crank Generator Model No. EM-8090.
The other (non- backpack / manpack portable) hand crank generator is the Crank-a-Watt which is undoubtedly also a great idea and product.
Unpacking the Pasco Hand-Crank, I was impressed by the solid build quality, essentially no plastic (except for the handle)! It is reasonable in size, easily packable. Cranking it without a load attached was easy, it has a well working easy-going mechanism inside. Cranking it under load was understandably harder and easily produced the specified 12V and 25W. There is however a caveat to it, it produced RFI while tuned on the 20m band, did not try it out on the other bands but assume that there may be some RFI too. Now I understand why MilSpec hand cranks sell for much more money! This however did not make me send it back. I have remained a proud owner and look forward to some "muscle training" on future backpack operations.
73 Marcus KD0JKM
- Made in the USA
- high quality long lasting construction
- light weight, backpack / manpack portable
- 12V output
- "consumer product price range"
The first criteria, "Made in the USA" was the most difficult to fulfill, since I only found three US manufacturers, of which only two still had their product in construction. Of these, only one was backpack / manpack portable, the Pasco Hand-Crank Generator Model No. EM-8090.
The other (non- backpack / manpack portable) hand crank generator is the Crank-a-Watt which is undoubtedly also a great idea and product.
Unpacking the Pasco Hand-Crank, I was impressed by the solid build quality, essentially no plastic (except for the handle)! It is reasonable in size, easily packable. Cranking it without a load attached was easy, it has a well working easy-going mechanism inside. Cranking it under load was understandably harder and easily produced the specified 12V and 25W. There is however a caveat to it, it produced RFI while tuned on the 20m band, did not try it out on the other bands but assume that there may be some RFI too. Now I understand why MilSpec hand cranks sell for much more money! This however did not make me send it back. I have remained a proud owner and look forward to some "muscle training" on future backpack operations.
73 Marcus KD0JKM
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