Note #3: Cosmetics ~ a bunch of wiring just does not look all that swift, at least not to me. In an effort to make the box a bit more presentable, I installed the ledge you see just above the wiring.
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So, the question is: Does it [the ledge] help?
Note #2: Doc Wattson Meter Auxiliary power.
I was using a 9-volt Duracell Battery [seen behind the 12-volt SLA Battery in the photograph to the left]. I had planned to use a rechargeable 9-volt battery, but removed that charger to make more space for the 12-volt SLA battery. I do not want to buy batteries or a 9-volt battery charger. I intend to get auxiliary power from the E-WERK Cache Battery [available mid-February from Peter White Cycles]. Its 5 volts meets the minimum required by the meters and will be charged by my pedal power. This is the system I’ll use to maintain my iPhone 3GS and will talk about it in a subsequent article. From the manual:
Using Auxiliary Power: By connecting a receiver battery pack (of at least 4.0 V) or other power source to the 3-pin connector on the SOURCE side, the Doc Wattson can measure down to 0 V. This makes it possible to measure the characteristics of a single battery cell.
Resetting Meter and Clearing Accumulated Values: All accumulated readings including Ah, Wh, peak current, etc. can be reset to zero by briefly (e.g. a thousandth of a second) connecting the Auxiliary Connector’s pin 3 to zero Volts.
The 9-volt battery lasted about a week, with constant-on for the 2 meters. My planned setup will have the cache batter being constantly charged when I ride. The purpose of the cache is to provide constant voltage for the 3GS iPhone. I do not see overnight drain as a problem. Testing will tell for sure. Now to wait for the cache battery from Peter White Cycles.
Note #1: I thought as I did the wiring for my DiNotte 400L lights, wouldn’t it be neat to have a backup system just for them, with the potential to have up to three batteries to run the 1200L headlight, if desired. Mind you, just because I have bright lights does not mean I ride BRIGHT. I like having the 1200 lumens, and at the price-point for what I would have paid for an 800L, it was a good buy. Now, back to the task at hand. So, I have a tray with 3 Li-Ion batteries, that on a bright day, can also store the sun’s energy or I can use less GREEN motel/hotel/restaurant charging. To facilitate the switch I have a 2-position [headlight & taillight] interconnect point. Please see the two photographs below.
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This means, I do not have to strap, or otherwise mount, the batteries onto the frame. It really adds another tier to my already secure three-tier lighting system. There is no severe weight penalty here. I may not do much night riding on this tour. I’ll be ready, if we do. But, I’ll do lots on my own, including touring.
Before I comment on today, let me say yesterday the solar panels received about 4 hours of sun. The SLA battery lost a few hundreds of a volt. The load was the case fan, the inverter, and the charging of 8 batteries, plus a start on the charging of one DiNotte Li-ion battery. I checked the battery with the AC charger when I brought the Power Box in—no charging needed.
Today was a real contrast. The sky was overcast.
I had the unit out for about 4 hours again. I ran my Garmin Nuvi 760—no problems with it running. The inverter could have been off, but I left it on. I did turn off the case fan
I lost about .15 volts. I’m down to about 12.5 volts of power—well above the controller shut-down voltage of 11.1 volts [see technical information to the left].
I checked the battery with the AC charger. Today, it would take a charge. I did not charge it, however. I want to see if the sun alone can bring the battery back to a level where the AC charger sees the battery as fully charged.
The experimentation is kind of cool and will help me better manage power on a tour.
The next few days we are to have rain. So, it is doubtful I’ll be able to continue testing for several days.
Rather than more drain on the battery, I want full sun. I’m interpreting that to mean, I have to check the forecast on tour for amount of sunshine to better manage my "charging/non-charging" activities the night before.
This is all very interesting stuff as Roger Zoul of BROL noted.
