Daily cardio: longer walk along Shea Rd

Most of this hike was in deep, tiring gravel. Muffin has lost a bit of the bounce in her step at this point: It did yield some interesting geology in the cliffs to the south:

preprocessing media to save bandwidth

{almost forgot:  Merry Christmas everybody!} There are several bandwidth-related concerns for nomads: limits on data plans spotty mobile data not abusing open wifi These concerns can be ameliorated by preprocessing media Elsewhere to more appropriate quality levels to “good enough” before  D/Ling.   In this case, “elsewhere” is

Solar harvest under 100% overcast / tilted v. flat

Today is 100% overcast with medium light. There are no shadows and you can’t tell where the sun is in the sky by casual observation. It’s not optimal, but this is why we overpanel. We would expect a couple of things under such skies: reduced harvest compared to clear skies, decreased delta between tilted and

backchannel: why would a 120w panel make only 15w at noon?

Why is a 120w panel tilted toward the sun only making 15w at local noon?  Here is 100% of the information you need to answer the  question with reasonable certainty:   answer sheet Short answer:  because only 15w is needed.    Longer answer:  We know the controller is restricting power harvest since it’s running the

predicting the sun’s path

Yesterday I badly misjudged when the sun would “set” behind the mesa to the south. Using the manual method I judged the sun would start to be hidden around 3:30pm; in acuality I had direct sunlight until ~5:15p. Now there’s not a lot of power available when the sun is very low in the sky

Craggy Wash BLM to Shea Rd BLM

  Shea Rd BLM, ostensibly in Parker AZ but GPS suggests it’s just inside California.  freecampsites entry.  The road leading directly off 95 is cobbly and rough, but not a beating.  After entering the BLM area (or probably just CA) the road becomes maintained.  The camping area is just past the cattle guard.     1.5

full day of mounted + portable harvest

Today I will be planning and storing for the next move. which will happen tomorrow morning.   Since it will be a homebody day I will set the timer to go off 2x/hour and will record the solar harvest.   This morning’s temps were ~40F and it will get up to ~70F this afternoon. Clear skies.  Winter

reconfigured the portables

I think I mentioned earlier that I have a 10A mppt that has been sitting idle.  It’s wired into the DIY converter project, but I haven’t been connected to shore power in 858 days at this point so the 10A has been gathering dust. theory / limitations Yes, 10A is undersized for 200w of panel:

logistics: planning next camping spot

Starting to think about the next move from Craggy Wash BLM outside Lake Havasu City to the next spot. I can’t return to Quartzsite until Jan 4th so I’ll need to make at least one more chess move between now and then. The new site must be 25mi away. Possibilities: Parker, the town between LHC

pics from a geocaching hike

Muffin and I found three geocaches yesterday. One of the benefits of geocaching is it forces you to explore areas you’ve been putting off. In this case that mean going through the pass I’ve only looked through before. One of the reasons I haven’t walked down there is the gravel is deep and exhausting to