Walter Knapp wrote:
"Not trying to be discouraging, but using solar panels requires
planning. And try your system in actual use before you make your
trip."
Absolutely. It's very easy to get all starry-eyed about solar power as
if it offers the solution to everything. My solar rig (4 x 8W panels
into 16AH SLA battery, designed to hang over the back of yaks and
mules) works very well, but it's kind of heavy and therefore not
something I'd want to be carrying in a backpack for very long!
Planning and testing is definitely required before commiting to solar
power, but that's no different to any other powering scheme if you're
going for a long time (as the initial question implied).
Regardless of the powering scheme, you need to consider your desired
recording autonomy, storage capacity and so on, and trade that off
against the bulk and weight of the overall rig. For a long expedition,
a well-planned solar rig *might* be lighter and more effective than
the brute force approach of carrying a kilo or more of non-rechargable
batteries there and back again...
Another consideration is how much you'll *need* to recharge the
batteries. A full recharge is nice, but it's only necessary if the
batteries have been fully discharged between charges AND you need to
return them to full charge to complete the next day's work.
If, for example, a single set of fully charged batteries provided four
hours of operation but you only did two hours of recording per day,
then the batteries will not get fully discharged and therefore won't
take as long to return to full power. Also, even if the batteries only
get recharged to 80% or so, often that will be enough to keep working
for another day. With three sets of AAs for the PMD unit (one set
being recharged, one fully recharged and waiting, and one set in use),
a regime of always keeping one set in the charger might be enough to
keep you going for the life of the batteries.
Whatever the case, it should be trialled before trailed!
"While a picture is worth a thousand words, a
sound is worth a thousand pictures." R. Murray Schafer via Bernie Krause
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