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Solar power for Coast to Coast Walk
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mikealder
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Joined: Jan 14, 2005
Posts: 19638
Location: Blackpool , Lancs

PostPosted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 10:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you do carry disposable batteries please take care with them, the LI Ultimates are best kept in their box until you need to use them, I have burnt my leg with the old Duracells left loose in the trouser pocket with a bunch of keys - This Resulted in hot keys, burnt leg and flat batteries, its quite surprising how much power these small cells can hold. Treat them with respect and they serve you well, but bear in mind they can bite with a vengence - Mike
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styks
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Joined: Jun 02, 2009
Posts: 8

PostPosted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 11:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

satmapian wrote:
For day walks and weekends I use the Li Poly rechargeable, but for longer trips I use Energizer Li ultimates (non rechargeable). These are very much lighter than alkalines as you probably know, and I carried 18 of them as I couldn't be sure of finding more en route. I expected to buy Duracell alkalines towards the end, but found that I could get 22 hours out of a set by using 40% screen brightness and as many energy saving settings as I could think of. This meant I used only 15 of the Li Ultimates, and the weight drops by 3 batterries every other day. I wouldn't carry this many alkalines.

You can record your trail either as sections as you suggest, or as a single trail. The trail continues without a hitch when you turn on the next day in roughly the same spot as you turned it off (if not it draws a straight line from turn off point to turn on point, and then continues adding to that). Keep a close eye on it when you expect the battery to run out or you'll lose some of the trail to the above straight line scenario drawn from the battery run out point to the new battery point. There is not much warning with these batteries.


Yes I think that is the way I'm going to go.
22 hours is going some, I'll attempt to reduce pwer consumption some more and hopefully achieve similar results.

Why can't the Li Po pack be charged by anything other than the mains charger when switched off? It sure would be convenient to be able to charge from, say that U20 device or any other while your a kip as long as it senses full charge and prevents over charging.

Thanks for the info on the trail recording, one more question if I may.
If I'm going to upload my route to Route Planner or Route share when I return home, is it best to record as a continuous trail or record in sections.
If I record in sections can I stitch them together before or after the upload?

Thank you mikealder for the reminder, I do know the dangers when carrying charged cells and always carry safely. I'm a Ham operator used to carring/transporting high capacity cells.
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jolly47roger
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Joined: Jan 11, 2008
Posts: 116

PostPosted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 1:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Probably too big/expenive but the Power Monkey has a larger cousin called a Power Gorilla; also a Solar Gorilla. Would last you the whole walk...
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jolly47roger
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Posts: 116

PostPosted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 3:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

or this http://www.chinavasion.com/product_info.php/pName/high-capacity-solar-charger-battery-for-pc-laptop-mobile-phone/
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satmapian
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Joined: Jan 14, 2009
Posts: 59

PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 12:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes Mike - good reminder about carrying batteries which can short out. I took mine out of their boxes and wrapped them in 3's in cling film. Putting then in 3's is handy as you use them in 3's, but also they marry together at their most stable in 3's.

To get 22 hours I used the unit as little as poss, with virtually no scrolling around the niht before. I printed off paper maps (anquet) to drool over in the tent at night. Very Happy

Not aware of a way to stitch routes together, but I haven't used the route planner/ sharer much yet.
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styks
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Joined: Jun 02, 2009
Posts: 8

PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 8:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

satmapian wrote:
Yes Mike - good reminder about carrying batteries which can short out. I took mine out of their boxes and wrapped them in 3's in cling film. Putting then in 3's is handy as you use them in 3's, but also they marry together at their most stable in 3's.

To get 22 hours I used the unit as little as poss, with virtually no scrolling around the niht before. I printed off paper maps (anquet) to drool over in the tent at night. Very Happy

Not aware of a way to stitch routes together, but I haven't used the route planner/ sharer much yet.


Good idea with the cling film, I'll pinch that if I may Smile
I just tape them together with electrical tape.
These batteries don't need top breath do they?

If 22hrs is possible thats great, I can carry 12 and buy more en route.

I might email and ask Satmap the best way of recording the trip with a view to uploading it to Route/Share
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ElCapitan
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Joined: Mar 20, 2009
Posts: 22
Location: North Yorkshire

PostPosted: Fri Jul 24, 2009 8:13 pm    Post subject: Solar power for Coast to Coast Walk Reply with quote

Hi there,
If you are taking AA cells, remember to remove them from the unit overnight to prevent them from losing some of their charge (which happens if they are left in, even when the unit is switched off).
This hardly seems to be a problem with the Satmap Li-Pol battery, by the way.
With regards,
Tim
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Andreas65muc
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Joined: Dec 10, 2009
Posts: 2
Location: Munich Germany

PostPosted: Thu Dec 10, 2009 8:25 pm    Post subject: Re: Solar power for Coast to Coast Walk Reply with quote

What do you think about this?:

http://www.silva.se/upload/manuals/solar_manual.pdf
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Andreas from Munich Germany near the Alps....
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philpugh
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Joined: Dec 28, 2005
Posts: 2003
Location: Antrobus, Cheshire

PostPosted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 1:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Similar to other solar devices (with the exception of the 12V plug-in on the SolarII?)

You would need to be using it during walking in order to get any sensible charge into flat batteries - which makes it rather impractical for normal walking - also the usual provisos about UK weather...!!

If you aren't wanting to log your trip on the Active 10 the new firmware has a hibernate mode allowing you to dramatically extend the battery life - they claim 100hrs for the LI-POLY pack. If you want to log your trip it may be easier on batteries to use a dedicated GPS logger - these have excellent battery life (I get about 24hrs out of mine -see sig for model) and it uses relatively cheap Nokia phone batteries - or use Mikealders's homebrew recharger using AA cells.
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