Hello Part 15 peoples!
Hello Part 15 peoples!
I’m posting this to announce the launch of KSOL 1000 Radio, to launch this Saturday night, at 23:59 hours CST. I will also attempt a simul-feed (?) at 92.1 MHz FM. IF, and the big IF is…if everything, including the weather, holds. This station will feature the first (I think) ALL SOLAR POWERED transmitter/audio feed (laptop)/etc/etc radio station! I think I will operate mostly at night (solar, hmmm) to try to overcome local daytime interferance in the SWMO area…tune in and give me a report (if the weather allows) on this blog, if/when you get the time…The station will feature classic rock, classic country, especially Johnny Cash…local weather reports, Low Power Hour archives, eventually local high school sports feeds, and daily Coach Dave Daubenmire commentaries. More to be added later…let me know what you think! Thanks!
P.S. By the way, my wife is working on a website, which I will share later (hopefully sooner).
Dave VQX
Carl Blare says
You’ve Made the News
Great, amradioman, your launch and new website will be reported on Low Power In the News on soon to come LPH#52.
Excellent work.
amradioman says
Thanks Carl!
We’re gearing up for Saturday night, I’m double checking the antennas…the batteries are charged and even though it’s been a cloudy day, the 45 watt panel is generating some current…the transmitters are operating at 15%, so they will operate the maximum legal for years before warming more than a lukewarm wash rag…I have two laptops, one running Windows 98se and the other running Windows Me for the music/LPH/Coach Dave feeds…if the batteries wane too much before sun-up, then I have pretty much everything for the first show on a couple of rechargeable mp3 players…which would make it much more portable anyway, but no external mixing with those…I will take some pictures of the setup soon and post them for all. Thanks again for all the advice, and thanks Carl, for featuring us on the next LPH!
Dave VQX
KSOL 1000 AM
KSOL 92.1 FM
“Low power is better than NO Power.”
radio8z says
This is Great
because sharing experiences allows all of us to learn and enjoy watching progress. Tell us what went wrong as well as what went right.
“Break a Leg”
Neil
Carl Blare says
Small Change
Low Power Hours Nos 52 & 53 will be devoted 100% to the last meeting of the ALPB, so the news release about amradioman’s station will be LPH#54, but it’s coming up fast!
Like Radio8Z says, keep us informed.
Carl Blare says
Bigger Change
No, that small change won’t do.
am radioman’s startup is too important to be put off.
A bigger change has been made, and the Low Power In the News story about the launch of the AM & FM stations of amradio man, KSOL (as I recall), is now locked in for Low Power Hour No. 53. No more changes.
12vman says
Yeah!.. Solar Powered..
That’s what I like to hear. Glad you’re working with it..
I’m 100% solar powered here. Never had a confirmed radio station but I do some yard casting. Had an SStran set up with the home brewed outside antenna and used my FM xmtr as an STL. It worked really well! FM for the yard and AM for down the road. I was getting ~1 mi. with the SStran..
I still yard cast on FM from my XM rcvr. so I can jam on the porch or the living room. I have tunes in about every room of my shack..
What all do ya have in your solar set-up? (panels, batteries, ect..) I run my whole place with 512 watts of panel, a C-40 charge controller and 4-6volt golf cart batteries..
amradioman says
So far, I don’t have much…
I have 3 20 watt amorphous panels (18 Volt each) wired for current (charging power), I have a 45 watt panel (3 15s) and numerous 1 watt panels charging things like the mp3s, cellphones and running the AM and FM transmitters (in the daytime, charging the batteries to use them at night)…the laptops charge up as well as run from some rechargeable batteries I robbed from “industrial emergency lighting” fixtures being thrown out…my big questions is: I have most of a Prius battery back (with only 2 or 3 bad cells, I have over 30 7.5 V cells, can these be wired in series/parallel and be charged/discharged safely? Can I just configure them into 15v (series) and parallel several of them to increase capacity, or is this dangerous/impossible? I’m only starting out, so be gentle…
radio8z says
Battery Dangers
You should read all that you can about battery circuits to gain knowledge about techniques and dangers. It is common to wire cells in series and this can be done safely but one thing to check is “reverse charging” where a weak cell in series with others can develop a reverse polarity under load. This is why it is recommended that fresh and used primary cells not be mixed in series applications.
Parallel connection of cells or batteries presents other problems such a “current hogging” on charging and potential damaging discharges if a cell goes bad.
There are protection schemes for both uses involving diodes and fuses so some homework on multiple battery connections would be a good idea.
Neil
amradioman says
Yeah, that’s what I figured…
I thought it might be too good to be true when I bought them all for $20…I found out later about not hooking them in series/parallel without some sort of non-reversing circuitry…I just thought that if they were powerful enough to push a car around, then they would serve my purpose…
12vman says
“Type” of Batteries..
Not sure of the type used in a Prius but I bet that they are some sort of sealed cell. Same for the emergency light fixtures.
There’s a science in charging sealed batteries. The charge voltage needs to be carefully controlled or they will dry up and become useless..
The voltage of the Prius batteries makes it impossible to apply any conventional solar charge controller with your panels. Being the size of your panels, they are designed for a 12 volt system..
The industral emergency lighting batteries should be rated @ 12 volts or 2-6 volt cells in series. You could use these but you still have the issue of controlling the charge voltage..
I would consider the age of the batteries. Kudos for getting them and experimenting but I would change some things for ease of wiring and reliability, not to mention battery maintenance..
I can help you with a nice set-up if you’re intrested, using the larger panels you now have. You’re investment would be ~200-250 bucks which would give you roughly 30-40 aHr. reserve..
mram1500 says
Fuel Cell Powers Google and Others…
Here is a LINK to a YouTube clip about a new fuel cell from Bloom Energy.
A device the size of a bread box could support an average American home.
It’s made of abundant, inexpensive materials and uses heat from combustible gas (natural gas, methane, etc.) to produce power.
Tests show it uses about half the natural gas that a conventional gas powered generator consumes.
Here is a LINK to an article about the fuel cell.