[Troop139] Build It Night Activity Report

[J.Gordon Beattie, Jr., W2TTT]

Hi Folks!
Tonight was very productive!  

Charlie Dewey and Sean Siebert removed extremely long, small gauge wire
cables from the solar panels and connectorized each of the six panels with
Anderson PowerPole connectors on the end of much shorter "pigtails". 

Charlie tested them to ensure that when exposed to light, that each
connector was showing voltage.  In full sunlight, these panels each generate
about 15W of power for a total of between 90-100W!  

The next step is to make short cable assemblies using heavy gauge wire to
connect the panels to a charge controller.  The new, shorter and larger
wires will reduce the loss of power in the wiring that the old, long wires
caused.    

Next, we will mount the panels on a frame that will allow for the panels to
be pointed toward the sun.  The frame will be done this weekend or next week
before camp and will include a light PlexiGlass(R) protective cover to keep
them from being damaged during transport.

Another task was to determine if some laptops that I was asked to rework for
the Red Cross were functional.  One was, but the other two did not have the
correct power supplies.  We will put out the word to see if anyone has a
power supply for these once we document the model. 

Hope to see more participation next time we do this sometime in August!  You
can learn a lot and have some fun while doing it!

Yours in Scouting!
Thanks & 73,
Gordon Beattie, W2TTT
201.314.6964

 

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