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Getting Ready for SHTP 2021
- Thread starter AlanH
- Start date
One 150 Ah deep cycle AGM battery, or two 75 AH deep cycle batteries? If I buy two, I'll have to replace the main switch. If I go with one, the charging questions are easier...the charge controller is cheaper. But if I get two, one can fail and I still have a significant amount of battery capacity. One battery is easier to put together right now, and I'm starting to feel the crunch of time. Two months to go, to the qualifier.
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The PVC models got taken to Svendsens metal shop yesterday, and an orange dry bag with shoulder straps, which I will line with flat foam for both flotation and protection of the contents, has been ordered for a ditch bag. I'm slowly working away on the list. I suspect that I will not have a windvane in September, but we'll see.
Greg Nelson convinced me to look at the flexible Sunpower 50W panels, and I'm convinced. Two have been ordered. Reading through some threads here on the forum, I'm also convinced that an MPPT charge regulator is the way to go, so now to find a simple MPPT, dual-battery regulator.
I'm gonna have questions for all you experts here, when it comes time to set them up.
I'm gonna have questions for all you experts here, when it comes time to set them up.
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solosailor
New member
Haven't seen a dual battery MPPT solar controller from the usual brands. Usually people get two controllers or since they will be in roughly the same location you could get away with one but lose a bit of efficiency. I still favor the Victron Energy models.
Those panels need to go on a twin-wall polycarbonate panel to aid in cooling and preferably something stiffer behind that.
Those panels need to go on a twin-wall polycarbonate panel to aid in cooling and preferably something stiffer behind that.
Item #6 on the list...check!
I gave them a quick sand and a coat of satin exterior polyurethane, too. The "backup" hatchboard is on the sawhorses, drying from two coats of exterior latex. The one I just cut out replaces the bottom two, originals. There's a really thick, clear acrylic board which is a duplicate of board #3, so with that, plus the new one I made today, I can mostly close off the companionway, even if I lose the other boards, overboard. Maybe I should put a Wildcat decal on it!
I gave them a quick sand and a coat of satin exterior polyurethane, too. The "backup" hatchboard is on the sawhorses, drying from two coats of exterior latex. The one I just cut out replaces the bottom two, originals. There's a really thick, clear acrylic board which is a duplicate of board #3, so with that, plus the new one I made today, I can mostly close off the companionway, even if I lose the other boards, overboard. Maybe I should put a Wildcat decal on it!
Tiller stuff....new primary tiller. Here are the side plates, still need to get them punched for the hinge bolt.
Here's the pad for the attachment of the autopilot pin. I'll drill into the center of the metal plates/red oak "sandwich" (which is epoxied together - I scratched up the metal first) and drop the ST 2000 pin in there, with some JB Weld.
Here's the pad for the attachment of the autopilot pin. I'll drill into the center of the metal plates/red oak "sandwich" (which is epoxied together - I scratched up the metal first) and drop the ST 2000 pin in there, with some JB Weld.
The ditch bag/dry bag in shocking orange, with shoulder straps is here. It stinks of vinyl, so it's airing out in the garage. whoooieee, it came with a shocking orange phone protection dry bag. I can wear this like a backpack if I ever want an extremely visible day pack to wear in the rain.
Hatchboard retainer strap made, this morning. It's funny how some items take dozens, 20-40+ hours to finish and some take twenty minutes!
Item #7 done!
I sold my life to Google, and bought an inexpensive 9" Android mini-tablet on ebay the other day fr $65.. Of course, I had one a couple of years ago and I revolted at running Google's OS, but the damn things are so handy as navigation tools, with the built-in GPS that I relented. I'll load Open CPN on it. It will be a ton easier to read than my now-unused Android based Tracphone. I'll take the tracphone, too but this will be much easier to read. I have a waterproof USB keyboard at work, I think....if I didn't finally pitch it. I wonder if that will plug into the tablet. Hmm.
EDIT: and the solar panels just arrived. They're bigger than I thought they'd be, but not too bad. The charge controller arrived earlier today.
I think that's ~it~ for updating this for a while. Maybe I'll put another post in after I get the whole pushpit/solar/battery thing completed.
Hatchboard retainer strap made, this morning. It's funny how some items take dozens, 20-40+ hours to finish and some take twenty minutes!
Item #7 done!
I sold my life to Google, and bought an inexpensive 9" Android mini-tablet on ebay the other day fr $65.. Of course, I had one a couple of years ago and I revolted at running Google's OS, but the damn things are so handy as navigation tools, with the built-in GPS that I relented. I'll load Open CPN on it. It will be a ton easier to read than my now-unused Android based Tracphone. I'll take the tracphone, too but this will be much easier to read. I have a waterproof USB keyboard at work, I think....if I didn't finally pitch it. I wonder if that will plug into the tablet. Hmm.
EDIT: and the solar panels just arrived. They're bigger than I thought they'd be, but not too bad. The charge controller arrived earlier today.
I think that's ~it~ for updating this for a while. Maybe I'll put another post in after I get the whole pushpit/solar/battery thing completed.
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Garmin's website has been having big issues communicating with their customer database since last week, and now their website is down.
There has been progress but instead of putting every little thing in here, I'll wait until the big energy project is done and take some pictures. The Wildcat of Loch Awe has an extremely substantial tiller installed, now. The panels to support the solar panels are ~almost~ done, including some holes to allow airflow behind the panel. The new battery arrived yesterday, and the last set of brackets for the pushpit also showed up. I thought the pushpit project would be about $200. I put $250 in the budget. It's more like a $500 project.
I need to find my volt-ammeter. It's in the garage, somewhere...
There has been progress but instead of putting every little thing in here, I'll wait until the big energy project is done and take some pictures. The Wildcat of Loch Awe has an extremely substantial tiller installed, now. The panels to support the solar panels are ~almost~ done, including some holes to allow airflow behind the panel. The new battery arrived yesterday, and the last set of brackets for the pushpit also showed up. I thought the pushpit project would be about $200. I put $250 in the budget. It's more like a $500 project.
I need to find my volt-ammeter. It's in the garage, somewhere...
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Back from a week of backpacking with Joan in the Desolation Wilderness. We hiked out of Wrights Lake and over Rockbound Pass (elevation 8650) and down into Rockbound Valley. It was six days of peace and exorbitant sweat. The mosquitos weren't bad, even.
Back to prep!
The solar panel cables are here. They are THICK. In the past I've used 16 gauge (?? +/-) for the solar panel connections but this stuff is 8 gauge and pretty stiff. How to get four strands of this stuff through the deck?
WARNING do not buy a table from the budget/cheapo ebay retailer XGODY. I ordered a 32 gigbyte Android tablet with GPS. They sent a 16 gigabyte tablet that didn't have a GPS in it. So far, their tech support appears to be utterly unaware of what GPS is, as they've e-mailed me back twice, trying to convince me that GPS won't work without a network connection. We'll see how this return and refund process goes.
Back to prep!
The solar panel cables are here. They are THICK. In the past I've used 16 gauge (?? +/-) for the solar panel connections but this stuff is 8 gauge and pretty stiff. How to get four strands of this stuff through the deck?
WARNING do not buy a table from the budget/cheapo ebay retailer XGODY. I ordered a 32 gigbyte Android tablet with GPS. They sent a 16 gigabyte tablet that didn't have a GPS in it. So far, their tech support appears to be utterly unaware of what GPS is, as they've e-mailed me back twice, trying to convince me that GPS won't work without a network connection. We'll see how this return and refund process goes.
Intermission
Member
I just acquired an older model from a neighbor. I've got it sort of set up, and bought a month, but it is still a steep learning curve.
After you figure it out, can I hire you as a tutor?
There's kind of a lot to figure out. I just changed the pre-set messages and the quick-messages...sent a test message to the unit, downloaded the north american topo map database, and confirmed that the GPS works. Another 2-3 hours and I might have this thing figured out.
I'm starting to run low on motivation and energy, I'm afraid. I need to ramp it up again. Today I return the stupid XGODY Android tablet, which the truly incompetent company members can not figure out, isn't the tablet i bought, as it's 16 gb and no GPS, while they advertised a 32 gb with GPS. Isn't that an efficient use of time? I doubt I'll get my money back.
Maybe if I get really motivated I can bolt the solar panels to the panel supports. wooo.
I'm starting to run low on motivation and energy, I'm afraid. I need to ramp it up again. Today I return the stupid XGODY Android tablet, which the truly incompetent company members can not figure out, isn't the tablet i bought, as it's 16 gb and no GPS, while they advertised a 32 gb with GPS. Isn't that an efficient use of time? I doubt I'll get my money back.
Maybe if I get really motivated I can bolt the solar panels to the panel supports. wooo.
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Were you able to find a cheap android tablet that has an actual GPS and doesn't just rely network approximated location services?
I have a few USB GPS units that are reporting location reliably to my Linux box. If I can't find a good cheap tablet with GPS, I may build a charplotter server out of a Raspberry Pi and just use the tablet for display. Not a great solution because Pis are power hungry and produce a lot of heat. I suspect they won't last long in a SF Bay racer.
I have a few USB GPS units that are reporting location reliably to my Linux box. If I can't find a good cheap tablet with GPS, I may build a charplotter server out of a Raspberry Pi and just use the tablet for display. Not a great solution because Pis are power hungry and produce a lot of heat. I suspect they won't last long in a SF Bay racer.
I've had one before...just that I abhor Google in every way and believe it or not, I didn't grok that Android = Google at the time. It was a Samsung, I believe and it had a GPS in it and I sold it to Max Crittenden for about 40% off of what I paid for it. I will probably try to find another one, but WHATEVER you do...
do NOT buy one from ebay suppliers for XGODY. These people are idiots.
My tentative plan is to use the tablet running Android for the SHTP, and then when I get back, wipe it and try to install some form of linux. Firefox also, at one time, developed a tablet OS, and successors to that effort are still out there.
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Awww, thanks Jackie!
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It was hot today but many, many weeks of work all came together today. The pushpit railing is done...the railings drilled/dimpled for the set screws in the fittings, and everything attached with a liberal supply of 3M 5200. The solar panels and their support panels, which allow for air circulation behind the panel, have been finished for a while. This morning I attached the solar panels to their supports, threw them in the back of the OutBack, and ta-daaa.
I might actually be ready by the second week of September. Tomorrow, wiring up the panels to the charge controller, and thence to the battery.
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It was hot today but many, many weeks of work all came together today. The pushpit railing is done...the railings drilled/dimpled for the set screws in the fittings, and everything attached with a liberal supply of 3M 5200. The solar panels and their support panels, which allow for air circulation behind the panel, have been finished for a while. This morning I attached the solar panels to their supports, threw them in the back of the OutBack, and ta-daaa.
I might actually be ready by the second week of September. Tomorrow, wiring up the panels to the charge controller, and thence to the battery.