Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2001 08:44:43 +0800 From: Raymond <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [LIBRETTO] Solar Lib on Cycle Tour: Bill Cotten?
>I have no clue. I don't know anything about solar panels or >problems encountered in use of. I would appreciate any >pointers. I can't say I've ever done anything quite like this but based on what I've read and the limited experience I've had playing with solar panels, a solar panel of a suitable size and weight to put on a bicycle probably won't have enough power to run the libby AND the satphone (I don't know how much the satphone draws but you'll have brownout problems even with just the libby whenever the slightest shadow came over the panel). You should however be able to get a reasonably sized panel to charge a few AH worth of NiMH cells (or perhaps even a small sealed lead acid cell) that you'd just keep topped up with the panel and fully recharge whenever you can get near a power outlet. Then you could run both the libby and the satphone off that whenever you needed them (you'd want to remove the internal batteries off both of them though - no point charging a battery from a battery in that sorta situation). You could probably also rig up a dynamo and rectifier to your bike and charge the battery from that in an emergency too but I don't know what you could do about the lack of voltage ... Perhaps a good place to look would be a series of books called 'Living on 12 volts' which go through things like this ... they were written from the point of view of fixed installations but they should still have useful info for you. Hope this helps! - Raymond ************************************************************** http://libretto.basiclink.com - Libretto mailing list http://libretto.basiclink.com/archive - Archives http://www.picante.com/~gtaylor/portable/faq.html - FAQ -------TO UNSUBSCRIBE------- Reply to any of the list messages. The reply mail should be addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Then replace any text on the message's subject line: cmd:unsubscribe --------TO UNSUBSCRIBE DIGEST------ Do above but with this on subject line: cmd:unsubscribe digest **************************************************************
