back to 2025.06.21 ARRL Kids Day at Ingawanis

6 solar and power:




I only brought out four of my heavier panels today since the solar was more for demonstrational purposes than
for actual energy production. One of my four panels seemed to be producing less power for some reasons though,
despite no signs of damage. I'll have to give them a good testing later to see what's up. I didn't bring any
solar frames either, so the panels were just lined up on the ground. Good thing these were the heavy panels -
they were only just barely staying on the ground. The lightweight panels would have been getting flipped over
like cards, all day long. (we had to chase down all sorts of things throughout the day due to wind)

I also brought a 60-watt wallet for more demonstration, but it didn't get much use. Since we had more time
and weren't using the radios between scout groups, I was able to do some testing with filters and controllers.
Unfortunately, the 60-watt wallet's controller is extremely noisy on HF when charging, so that may not be a
practical thing to have around on Field Day. My big (lithium) controller was also creating birdies, and my
filters weren't fully quieting them, although I think that was due in part to the placement of the panels and
controller relative to the antenna and coax. We didn't have any sort of ground wire either, which probably was
making things worse.

Mark (N8TWO) brought a few lead acid batteries as well as his new lithium pack, which we added connectors to
and wired up with my grab-and-go lithium battery to power the radios. (his lead acid batteries weren't used)
That grey pack was interesting in that it had separate connections for charge and load. But that reminds me,
I need to make a medium-current adapter for XT30 and XT60 to powerpole. I have gender changers, but the two
cords I have to connect to powerpole are all thin gauge wire.

2025.06.21 08.23.50	2025.06.21 08.24.16	2025.06.21 08.24.24	2025.06.21 10.16.34	2025.06.21 10.16.48	2025.06.21 10.17.20
2025.06.21 10.18.48	2025.06.21 10.18.58	2025.06.21 10.19.02	2025.06.21 10.56.20	2025.06.21 10.56.24	2025.06.21 10.56.32
2025.06.21 10.56.50	2025.06.21 11.05.50	2025.06.21 15.23.32	2025.06.21 15.23.44	2025.06.21 15.23.56	2025.06.21 15.24.02
2025.06.21 15.24.04	2025.06.21 15.24.10	2025.06.21 15.25.06	2025.06.21 15.25.14	2025.06.21 15.25.22	2025.06.21 15.26.00
total 513 WH collected

2025.06.21 10.16.54.MOV (16 MB)

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last updated 06/23/2025 at 16:30:48 by make_www_index.command version 2025.05.20.B