[MLB-WIRELESS] Cray---zeeee idea.

[Clae]

Don't waste your money on a car battery - they are not designed for 
deep drain-and-recharge cycles.  unless you are getting them free of 
course.  go for a deep-cycle, sealed or gel-cell battery with a 
charge controller.  that way you will get much longer life out of 
your battery, avoid risk to your AP, less visits to your remote 
repeater :-) etc.

alternatively, for a small system such as an AP, you could invest in 
a few NiMH D-cells (nickel metal hydride).  you should be able to 
safely charge these off the panels (depending on the right voltage) 
without a charge controller.  they are more expensive than a 
lead-acid battery, but they will probably last longer.

avoid NiCads, because of the memory effect. they will need 
occasionally to be completely drained and discharged, and eventually 
it'll get them anyway.

I'm happy to help anyone who is considering this type of setup, with 
calculations, etc.

clae.

>These are designed to trickle charghe car batteries, to stop always-on
>acessories from completely draining them.
>If you combine them with a battery, and a DC-DC convertor, they should be
>able to power  a AP, depending on the current drain.
>UPS's use rechargable sealed lead acid or similar batteries, which are
>safe, leak free, etc, but if you want gobs of voltage very cheaply, a car
>battery may do, as long as you avoid charging/discharging it in
>unventilated.
>
>I'm looking at wiring one (or two, or more) up to charge a secondary car
>battery while my car isnt running, maybe see if i can sun some small form
>factor, low power drain computing gear in there.
>
>James
>
>
>On Sat, 19 Jan 2002, Ryan Abbenhuys wrote:
>
>>  Was wandering through cool airconditioned K-Mart East Burwood last night and
>>  noticed something interesting.  Solar powered car battery chargers.  Come
>>  with a reasonable large solar cell on them.  Someone with a bit more
>>  electronics knowledge than myself may want to take a look for them next time
>>  your in K-Mart.
>>
>>  I if they could be adapted for use to run a small access point like an
>  > Airport or a D-Link or something?

--
To unsubscribe, send mail to minordomo at melbwireless.dyndns.org with a subject of 'unsubscribe melbwireless'  
Archive at: http://melbwireless.dyndns.org/cgi-bin/minorweb.pl?A=LIST&L=melbwireless
IRC at: au.austnet.org #melb-wireless