Solar panel ruin radio card

I start to figure out why the solar MeshAP failed. After reviewing the software and hardware I found that the radio card died on me. I replace the radio card and everything went back to normal again.

I started to talk with David from Defacto Wireless and he mentioned when low power supply can ruin components. This is hard for me to believe but I he has some merit.

Next time I try this experiment I will reduce the actual operation for only 12 hours.

Problem with MeshAP

The open source wireless mesh software that I use is called Locustworld. I have been using this software for the last two years and it been very good. Unfortunately with my MeshAP I have a problem of intermittent radio problem. I currently reviewing the hardware and may replace a few components.

It looks like Solar Panel did keep the charge up but because I relied on the MeshAP to communicate with Wiana may have given inconclusive data.

I will repair the Solar MeshAP and restart the experiment once again.

Solar MeshAP experiment to be redone again

After dismantling the Solar MeshAP experiment I noticed that a few things were not working properly.

- There looks to be a short in the wiring.
- The battery with built in charger is not functioning properly.
- The MeshAP is giving me some problems.

Could these problems have affected the performance of the wireless Mesh connection?

Could the faulty power supply give off inaccurate readings?

The network was never tested to operate. When the MeshAP connected to Wireless Mesh it announced itself to the network and started to communicate with WIANA. No performance test were done.

WIANA is the on line system that configures and manages the open source Locustworld software that runs on a Mesh Node call MeshAP.

This experiment was design to see capabilities of solar power.

I believe I have to retest it again.

Again the same thing

On Friday the weather was the same ie sunny with cloudy periods and Solar MeshAP has come up once again around 11:00 AM for a three hour period.

I stopping the experiment as the solar MeshAP is obvious not efficient enough to continue. My goal is to make it more efficient before I start to retest.

Yet again

We had a sunny but partially cloudy day on Thursday. The solar MeshAP came up around 12:30 PM and was up for only a few hours. The battery charge is holding less and less each time the Solar MeshAP is active. Lack of Sun light is what causing the problem. On Saturday the observation will stop. I believe that everyone is getting the point that in Fall the solar activity is low and that it cannot sustain continuous operation. Even by providing efficient panels a large investment in batteries and high powered solar panels are required.

Sun came up and so did the Solar MeshAP

Well I'm reporting that the Sun did come up today in Toronto and my MeshAP also worked for a while. It looks like I had 3 hours of solid connectivity. In the afternoon we did have some clouds and sure enough the unit went down again.

I will verify that everything is working properly. On Saturday I will shut the solar panel down and recharge the battery fully.

This experiment of continuous power from using a solar panels and charging a single battery is a myth. Even though I'm using lower power motherboards and power supply the drain on the battery is way too much for this unit to handle.

Second day in a row Solar MeshAP is down

Second day in a row that the solar MeshAP is not working. Again we had a cloudy rainy day and the solar panel should have collect some energy but not enough to bring it up. Tomorrow forecast is for a bit of sun and we shall see if there is any change.