Hi Jay,
An interesting quandary indeed. My thoughts are to build a grid of
radials with short ground rods at the ends, extending in all
directions from the equipment. This approach does not use anything but
wire, short ground rods and ground connectors so there is no equipment
to fail or replace.
You have very low conductivity on the ice so static builds up. What
you are trying to do is increase conductivity by equalizing
(neutralize) the potential in the area around the communications gear.
This is not really a grounding system but an effort to force all
electrons to neutral in the immediate area. You want as many radials
as possible in all directions from the comm gear. Make the radials as
long as is practical but don't sacrifice number of radials for length,
i.e. more is better. If you can leave materials behind, grow the
radial network each time you have opportunity to bring in more material.
For SURE you want to bond all equipment together and test these bonds
with a megohm meter to make sure they are potentially the same. Then
attach the equipment stack to your radial system and megohm that bond.
Use as wide a copper material as you can carry in.
If your problem is human contact, make sure you discharge to the
radial network and bond yourself before touching any equipment. You
can use a static wrist strap. A surge suppressor is useless if it has
no ground reference to conduct to so I would not pursue that approach.
Example of radial system for RF purposes:
http://harvesting.com/tower/photos/radials.jpg
That's my best guess on a solution. Let me know if you try this.
Kindest Regards,
Larry Crutcher
Starlight Solar
(928) 941-1660
Renewable Energy Products, Service and Installation
Mailing Address (NO SHIPPING):
11881 S Fortuna Rd.
#210
Yuma, AZ 85367
Shipping and retail store (NO MAIL):
2998 Shari Ave
Yuma, AZ 85365
On Jul 22, 2009, at 7:13 AM, jason pozner wrote:
Hey all,
I am trying to figure out how to mitigate problems found with a 12v
500w simple DC system without a ground. This system is at 14,500'
on Denali (Mt McKinly). We experienced a somewhat "festive"
fireworks display on the 4th of July as static current from a storm
seemed to travel through one of the antennae, and energized some
radio equipment. There is no grounded conductor, as there is no
grounding electrode, as there is no ground to put it in. The camp
is situated on about 500' of glacial ice. The conductivity of the
ice is questionable, and to make the puzzle a bit more fun the camp
is raised and taken down at the beginning and end of every climbing
season (Apr-July), though the site is the same. The loads are
primarily for communications for search and rescue purposes, and
reliability, and simplicity are paramount. I have been exploring
the avenue of a surge arrestorsThanks, and was wondering if any of
you could make a recommendation on a product that can either be
reset or cheap enough to have a few replacements on hand.
Everything is flown in or carried to the site, and repair/
replacement needs to be simple enough so non-technical minded
personnel can perform and re-set the system.
Thanks,
Jay Pozner
Nunatak Alternative Energy Solutions
Crested Butte, CO
(970) 349-3432
nunatakene...@gmail.com
--
Nunatak Alternative Energy Solutions
Jay Pozner and Lena Wilensky
(970)349-3432
www.nunatakenergy.com
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