Contents
[hide]Solar Panels
3 Large 4 Small Believed to be OK, Contact me if you know otherwise
Solar Controller
Perspex mounted 20A one OK
Box mounted 10A one does not control discharging, that is it allows people to over discharge the batteries. This useful feature was damaged a few years ago, probably when someone short circuited the output. (The life of Lead Acid batteries is significantly reduced when over discharged, well it's same all batteries).
I have got another 20A one but it's unlikely to be mounted and equipped with fuses before expo.
Large Lead Acid Batteries
Believed to be OK, however I doubt this is the case in reality. I need to investigate the state of them when we pull them out of the hole
I have liberated three more batteries and will be looking for some volunteers/monkeys/slaves to carry them up the hill...
I will be making some 'carrying boxes' for the batteries as well. Dropping a battery whilst we bring it out of storage will splash strong acid everywhere, and because we will not have much water at this point this may be very serious. Be careful with batteries.
Personal Lamp Battery Chargers
These need to be 12V car style chargers either with cigarette lighter plug (centre positive), or 4mm red and black jack plugs (red positive)
The new makita drill charger may free up a universal LiFe/NiMH battery charger for personal use however these have 4mm jack outputs and we may not have leads to interface with your lamp battery, ASK FRANK. So if you haven't got a 12V top camp charger we may be able to sort something out.
Make sure you bring your reliable mains charger for use at base camp.
DO NOT THINK ABOUT BRINGING YOUR MAINS CHARGER TO TOP CAMP FOR USE WITH AN INVERTER
Electrocution is a risk we can easily avoid with a little planning. ASK FRANK if your were thinking of doing this and we will sort something out. In addition inverters are horribly inefficient and we ARE limited on power, especially with all the drill battery charging that goes on.
Drill battery chargers
I'm informed that we now have a Makita battery charger for the Makita drill batteries. (Thank you very much Makita)
I have a new top camp charger for the old Bosch 24V drills (The heavy drills no one likes to use)