Solar Powered WiFi Part 3

A continuation of last year's Solar Powered WiFi series. In this video, I upgrade my solar panel and some of the components, and then make the whole setup more permanent.
Wiring diagram and parts list: crosstalksolut...
Amazon links to parts used in this video:
Renogy 100W 12V Monocrystalline solar panel: geni.us/I4UObxA
Renogy pole mounting bracket: geni.us/eadR0
MC4 connectors: geni.us/Om7Xy
Altelix Pole Mount NEMA enclosure 14x11x5: geni.us/2HUSO
12V deep cycle battery: Buy locally!
12 Gauge Fuses: geni.us/O56Dfn
Victron BlueSolar 75 | 15 MPPT charge controller: geni.us/SJIGQUY
Victron VE.Direct Bluetooth dongle: geni.us/KMWRqkz
12V to 24V step up converter: geni.us/QHpTw
DC Power adapter: geni.us/TAZZTn
DC Passive PoE injector: geni.us/ws29Lv
Skywalker Series Grounding Rod: geni.us/0oZOx
Direct burial CAT6: geni.us/pgrQYC
Ubiquiti ETH-SP: geni.us/wAGmxOe
Ubiquiti NanoStation M5: geni.us/tbDJihz
Ubiquiti UVC-G3-AF: geni.us/kgZo
Crosstalk Store on Amazon - RECOMMENDED PRODUCTS: www.amazon.com...
Amazon Wish List: a.co/7dRXc67
Crosstalk Solutions offers best practice phone systems, network design and deployment, and UniFi Video camera systems. Visit CrosstalkSolut... for details.
Crosstalk Solutions is an authorized Sangoma partner and reseller.
Connect with Chris:
Twitter: @CrosstalkSol
LinkedIn: goo.gl/j2Ucgg
KZbin: goo.gl/g4G58M

[@timon0x31]

I think if you just added a second panel that would make a large difference even without changing the battery. Basically the quicker you can get the battery charged the better off you'll be as the battery won't be used until the solar output is below what is needed to power the equipment. The next point is figuring out just how much the equipment is drawing from the battery so you can see how long the battery will last. So given a 35AH battery you can draw 1A for 35 hours. So you can draw about 12 watts continuously for for 35 hours if you stat with a full battery. Between the Nano Station and the G3 camera your maxing out at 12W. Add another 2W for losses through the DC-DC converter that's 14W. The Bluetooth and solar charger do't add much so let go with 15W of total power draw although it will likely be closer to 13 to 13W in real life. Next lets figure out what you need to charge the battery. Your charging rate of the charge controller maxes out at 15A so if you can push out a full 15A it will take about 2.6 hours to charge the battery, we'll round that to 3 hours. This assumes that you're not drawing any power from the battery during charging. Always figure solar based on winter days because if it will work in the winter the summer is easy. You solar panels can put out about 80WH based on PTC conditions. The 100W rating is based on STC ratings which you will never get where you're at. I would guess you'll get MAYBE 50 watts on average during the winter. I'd need to see the raw data to see just how much power you're actully producing from your panels but that's my guess. So your draw is 13W and your generation is 50W so you'll have about 37W of power left to charge the batteries. That's only about 2.64 amps, 37W/14V, so it will take about 13 hours to charge the battery. If you add another panel they you'll get around 87 watts which will take about 5.6 hours to chare the batteries. BTW, if you add a second panel run them in series. Your charge controller should handle 3 panels in series easily. Don't run them in Parallel for your application. So as you can see you limitation is not the battery but the charging source. You need to get more charging power or you'll never make it. If you added more battery that would help the amount of time you could stay up on battery only however they will take longer to charge. What would help is to move to Lithium batteries namely LiFePO4. These batteries have a much better charge/discharge curve than AGM so you can use more of the battery and charge them faster. Victron will tell you haw to configure the solar charger for LiFePO4 batteries. One point about Lithium battries, in your location you need to worry about freezing temps. LiFePO4 will discharge fine but you can't charge them if they are below freezing so you have to be able to disable the charges when the temp is below freezing. This can be done as simply as putting a relay inline with the solar panels so if the temp gets to say 34 degrees you open the relay. If your greenhouse stays above freezing all or most of the time then you could put them there and if fact I'd put the AGMs in the greenhouse as well. Make sure you run larger wire to minimize power loss. If you did go with Lithium this is a good battery to go with. powerwerx.com/bioenno-blf-1240a-12v-40ah-lithium-iron-pvc or this powerwerx.com/bioenno-blf-1250w-12v-50ah-lithium-iron-pvc This is a quick look at your installation but I think it's enough to get the idea. John

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

Awesome comment - thanks for taking the time to look at my situation and write all of that! You definitely helped make things clearer. I came to mostly the same conclusion about the size of the panel even given my limited understanding of all of this stuff, so knowing the actual nuts and bolts behind that conclusion really helps a lot. I'm going to pin this comment so that it's the first one people see - thanks again!

[@timon0x31]

Crosstalk Solutions - WOW, I’m honored. I’ve never been pinned before.

[@MikesDIYTeslaPowerwall]

John makes a good point, I would also add another panel which should be really simple with some longer rails that you can get from any solar place. Also, why in 2018 are you using a lead-acid batt? Lithium batteries all the way, Lead acid a bad choice its so in-efficient when charging and discharging which means you are losing around 30-35% while charging and then the same again taking the usable power out. I didn't take notice of your flat batt voltage that was set but remember you don't want to use any more than 50% of the lead-acid battery or its not going to late more than a couple of years. That boost converter is very efficient which is good. I would add another panel and change to Lithium by either making your own Lithium battery pack and videoing it or using a ebike pack etc. Given the amont of money you have already spent on this project i would make those changes and you should be good to go all night and for years.

[@timon0x31]

Mikes DIY Tesla Powerwall - I understand for many it’s the price. In some areas that have extreme temperature ranges although that can be mitigated by keeping Lithium batteries in slightly condition space such as a greenhouse as in this case. Lithium are being put in RVs but they go inside instead of the bays unless the bay conditioned by bringing air from the living space of the RV.

[@highfidelityinc]

Enjoy your videos. In terms of the difference between charging modes: Float = topping off the battery. Neither charging or discharge. Just maintaining the charge by keeping the battery voltage usually somewhere between 13.1 and 13.8V depending on the temperature, the battery type, and what charge controller manufacturer thinks is best. Bulk = All the energy available from the solar panel is being pumped into charging the battery as long as the battery voltage is below the absorb level. When the battery charger is in bulk mode, the battery voltage slowly increases until it hits the absorb voltage level. Absorb = The absorb level of the battery is the maximum voltage you charge the battery at. Usually somewhere between 14.2 and 14.8V depending on the battery, charge controller, and temperature and there is some type of timer to terminate the absorb mode after which the mode switches to float mode. So when your charger is in absorb mode, it is keeping the battery at the absorb level and not all the power available from the solar panel is being pumped into the battery. Similar to the float mode except you are still charging the battery. The higher the voltage, the faster you will charge the battery. But charge at too high of a voltage and you cause grid corrosion to the battery which will eventually ruin the battery. Charge at too low of a voltage and you will never fully charge the battery. If you never fully charge the battery, the battery plates will get a term called Sulfation -- that is where the plates get lead sulfate crystals forming on them which reduces the capacity of the battery. So its a delicate balance. Do it right and your battery will last years (8 years typically for my batteries). Do it wrong and your battery will be creamed in less then a month. Hope that clears things up.

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

Thanks for the comment - that helps a lot!

[@shaktipatil]

Very informative, thank you so much.

[@reza2251]

Chris, I hate ads. But I watch them on your channel because I enjoy your content and want you to make money. (y)

[@mikebiron7339]

Super cool. I made something VERY similar with my students when I was teaching Computer Science at my local Elementary School. My students helped design the system and we built it 3 years ago now. It's been running trouble free since. We have a few differences, as we are using dual lithium motorcycle batteries in parallel, and a hikvision IP camera, and cheap Chinese charge controller, with the Nano station as a LAN link back to the School. If you would like more info on our setup, hit me up!

[@michellamie]

He Mike, can you share some more info? I'm interested, we do have some issues, battery drain in Winter Period.

[@butchmacaylas6352]

I am also interested... I want to setup solar power internet for the dead spot barangay in our town.

[@mightybowo]

You guys can replace the voltage changer 12 to 24v and poe injector to one device, just use Mikrotik mUPS, I’m done with this setup n working very well.

[@ManofCulture]

Bulk is the controller pumping maximum current (limited by solar array/charge controller) into battery. Absorption is when the battery voltage reaches the "absorb" set point. The charge controller holds the absorb voltage for 2-4 hours or so--And the battery "naturally" accepts less current as it approaches 100% full. Float is just a lower set point voltage (to avoid over charging the battery bank)... Battery (and loads) accept current as needed. The MPPT charge controller "sweeps" the array (takes from 0 to 100% of available current, while logging panel voltage) every 5-15 minutes or so. Goes back through list of Current*Voltage to find the "Maximum" power. MPPT controller will attempt to hold Vmp of panel by adjusting panel current up or down as needed (guessing a "close enough" explanation--there are many ways of doing this MPPT function).. If the battery + loads need less power than the controller+solar array can provide, the charge controller simply takes less current from the solar array and lets the Vpanel rise (don't care). If the output load is more wattage than the panel can supply--then the MPPT controller simply reduces its output current as needed to keep Vmp (voltage maximum power) at its calculated value. If the DC loads exceed the MPPT charge controller output current, then the battery bus voltage will fall and the battery will switch from charging to actually outputting current to support the loads.

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

Thanks for taking the time to explain. One of these days all of this stuff will just 'click' for me (like learning Geometry...at some point, you just 'get it').

[@californiakayaker]

When I was a broadcast engineer for a station that wanted to spend ZERO on technical equipment, I found out that the clear drink party cups were perfect for waterproofing if upside down because they did not impede rf. Could put one over a sat dish receiver element and it would work. A glass bottle, exactly opposite. Have theorized it was the lead in the glass.

[@itsdouetthierry]

Hello Chris and Co, Great video. We implemented an internet solution in Mexico for a small village community and their School with a 25km uplink to a tower at 250m in altitude using all Ubnt gear, It would be great if Victron or another company would have network enabled dongle to monitor the charge and not just a bluetooth solution. That way you can connect the device to the network and monitor it all remotely

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

That would be a really great idea - I love it. They do have a separate dongle that allows you to take raw data out of the unit (I have one, but I haven't played with it), so in theory, you could output to a very low powered Raspberry Pi Zero or something and then make that accessible to the Internet (or better yet, program it to pump that data to the cloud). The only problem is that you'll be wasting more power by having to power up the Raspberry Pi...but it could work if you have excess. Thanks for the comment!

[@itsdouetthierry]

Yes we thought about that as well. But being in the element with high temperatures, high humidity, hostile to bugs and simply people potentially stealing gear, it would make so much more sense to have an Ethernet enabled device to pull the data. Especially with having the network right there! Here is a link to our tower setup if you want to see and share the possibilities. It’s really life changing to this community, especially for the local schools who depend a lot on online curriculum when the state or local governments don’t provide a solution for them. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jnOmqISVm8Zomtk

[@diavuno3835]

Very cool, I enjoy seeing videos about related topics.

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

Thanks!

[@andrewmagill]

Brilliant Just what I need! Great trio of tutorials & I love watching as it developed! Great work! :) Will keep you posted on mine!

[@N4TNA]

We use nanostations and other Ubiquiti equipment extensively in Amateur Radio Emergency Service or ARES for short. The input voltage range is quite large for these devices something like 9vdc to 26vdc. We run them all the time on just a 12v system with no problems. You are loosing a lot of efficiency in the converting 12vdc to 24vdc and it isn't necessary. If you insist on using 24vdc to power the equipment you would be better off using a 24v solar panel and 2 12v batteries in series to create a 24vdc system.

[@rocktech7144]

I dont think the camera equipment would like 12vdc. But changing the whole system to 24vdc makes much more sense to me also.

[@nismo4x4n]

The mppt solar controller doesn't shunt the extra voltage and actually runs fairly efficiently with a higher input voltage. Adding in a second panel in series would majorly help the efficiency and line loss if any. If sticking to lead batterys I'd switch to two 6volt batteries in series (cheaper, more robust and high capacity). I run 2x 280watt 24vdc panels in series to two 6vdc 220ah golf cart batteries in series ($100 each at costco) for my RV and it works really well. My mppt controller allows up to 100vdc which would make upgrading my system even further child's play.

[@Hubjeep]

N4TNA - EDIT: My cameras have 12v DC tethers as well as my AP, Netgear switches appear to be 12v too. If I can power the Ubitquiti NanoStation off 12v as you said, it looks like I should be set. Now wondering about power consumption... 12v group 27 deep cycle? - K2HUB

[@alex.tar.lz4]

I recommend you getting the Victron Energy SmartSolar 75/15 instead of your current BlueSolar 75/15 because the SmartSolar has a built-in bluetooth module and doesn’t require a $50 dongle. It will save you from buying another in the future.

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

Very cool - I didn't realize they had a model with built-in bluetooth. I'll definitely go that route the next time I buy one.

[@MitchOfCanada]

worked great I use a lithium battery solar generator from Amazon for $200 has 3 12v DC output 120v and UPS solar charger built in works great for about 12hr. powering ubiquiiti edgex via 24dc input then powers POE aps that are 24v. also have a 12v-48v inverter for RFID equipment and 48v ubiquiiti aps. even tho Injector comes with 48vdc supply it will take any voltage injection

[@fairsitetechnologies9813]

Very good vid - been waiting for this one and it did not disappoint!

[@robwalker7245]

Chris as an OLD AF mechanic make do with what you got kinda guy and a whole lot of experience in electronics/solar/marine applications houseboats etc, YOU WANT TO ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS FIGURE YOU WATTAGE NEEDS and then AT LEAST DOUBLE THAT IN BATTERY CAPACITY/SOLAR PANEL POWER TO ACCOUNT FOR CLOUDY DAYS RAIN SNOW ETC always always always you will be far happier with the results and NO DOWNTime

[@alexthecat99]

you should have gone for a full 24V setup. 24V solar panel, 24V charger, 24V battery pack and get rid of that voltage booster to obtain maximum efficiency.

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

Maybe next video.

[@jameschism2459]

The charge controller you have is capable of 24V charging. Just add a second 12V solar panel and Battery and wire them in series. Also, check out solarblvd.com for solar with better prices.

[@YamenTN]

the 12to 24v voltage booster is actualy the best choice in my opinion.even if he opt for a full 24v system and get rid of the voltage booster he would need a 24v voltage stabiliser (buck/boost) because the output voltage of the batteries would go from 20v to 29v and the POE would not appriciate that. i have a full 12v system and i lost 2 HDD in my DVR before adding a 12v voltage stabilizer here is my setup link:kzbin.info/www/bejne/l4S5pHebjZWcq9E

[@nismo4x4n]

The mppt solar controller doesn't shunt the extra voltage and actually runs fairly efficiently with a higher input voltage. Adding in a second panel in series would majorly help the efficiency and line loss if any. If sticking to lead batterys I'd switch to two 6volt batteries in series (cheaper, more robust and high capacity). I run 2x 280watt 24vdc panels in series to two 6vdc 220ah golf cart batteries in series ($100 each at costco) for my RV and it works really well. My mppt controller allows up to 100vdc which would make upgrading my system even further child's play.

[@anoniemous2136]

haven't watched the video yet, but am sure it will be interesting Edit: It was very informative, and overall an excellent video

[@brianalsum4182]

a better battery would give you better results. Also using the Lead Acid Battery if you drop it below 50% to many times you will kill the battery over the long term. Use a LiFePO4 battery and you will get better charges, better life and better life span. cool project. love you videos

[@WPAOutdoors]

Holy crap at the bear, that's awesome!

[@adventureshots6195]

Greeting from one of your fans from Bali, Indonesia! :) always great videos Chris!

[@Muzika_Gospel]

That bear though haha

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

He was a big sucker! Came back again just a few days ago.

[@danmurray4594]

As we approach a year anniversary for part 3 I'm curious how things have gone. Have you considered increasing the size of the battery and or solar panels? Is there a smell of a part 4 in the air?

[@chukslis3486]

With regards to being able to view the energy input and consumption in an easier understandable way, I suggest you wire 2 simple DC Energy Meters which would display voltage, watts, amps and Watthour of both the input from the PV and the discharge from the battery.

[@anthonymorgan9461]

as mentioned in other comments, getting rid of the dc to dc converter to get to 24v and just running 2 batteries in series would be quite a bit more efficient. Depending on the controller you may have to run 2 50 watt panels in series to do this, instead of a single 100 watt. An educated guess is that your losing 10-15 percent in the conversion currently.

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

Yes - I considered that for this setup, but ended up just sticking with the 12V battery setup and step-up converter. Maybe we'll try that for part 4. I like incremental steps.

[@TheOregonOutlaw]

@@CrosstalkSolutions One of the major issues with batteries, is knowing not just how many amps they can be expected to provide, but for "how long" it can be expected. So before purchase of hopefully a Lithium cell, speak to the engineers or do the research as to what the constant power drains will be. The camera appears to drain 65% of the energy used as shown. My experience tells me you're very close on usage VS availability. That cheap...ok... "inexpensive" HB panel added to the other might well have been sufficient when used with even a smaller 30 Amp Lithium. You'd have no concerns of early battery loss from plates sulfating or the inherit dangers of fumes or battery acid stored on the property as a bonus. Since I too am an Oregonian (even more rain here - Willamette Valley!) so I well understand the totally horrendous weather and corrosion which takes place! So every electrical contact I make outdoors is always protected with an anti-corrosion coating. A "dab" of marine grade grease allows good connection and near zero incursion of moisture. If you get bored - I'm trying to help another "old timer" to add outdoor wifi PTZ camera surveillance to a 1/3 mile track that's narrow. Any and ALL suggestions/help you can offer would be appreciated, as running wire for POE isn't practical and would be cost prohibitive for them. ~God Bless and Merry Christmas~

[@terryworthen103]

I bet if you used a motion sensor camera it would work better. So the camera only turns on when there is motion. I would like to see that. I reached out to unifi and trying to see if I can put kits together and make people happy.

[@bra1nsen]

Dig a 120 cm deep hole for the battery for temperature management

[@mikaelvia7198]

Hi Chris, Any chance you'll soon be doing a Solar Powered WiFi Part 4, using latest solar / battery / inverter / charger / camera? I'm looking to build a remote "portable" system to watch game / catch poachers on our property. I'd like to power either a Ubiquiti airMAX NanoBeam AC 5 GHz Bridge or NanoStation 5AC Loco antenna; a wifi access point; and likely a Ring camera. Thanks for all that you do!

[@kHammadArif]

plz keep trying to make video every thing on solar just because it is the future requirement.

[@ronin43]

Just add in your old Amorphous panels they work great in cloudy or overcast places the mppt should be fine with that

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

I've thought about it - I may try that out.

[@xking18]

Hey Chris, try turning IR off on the camera, it should really reduce it's power draw during night time when it's eating thru the battery power. I'm also guessing access point alone would draw very little as it does not handle any traffic except maybe broadcasts.

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

I agree it would lower the amperage, but turning off the IR would defeat the purpose of having the camera out there in the first place.

[@MitchOfCanada]

turn IR off and run IR lights on different battery then at least you have camera.

[@fd15k]

Some people already pointed this out, but pretty much entire line of Nanostation (including M2 and M5) products is rated for the voltage range of 10.5-25, so running it without the DC-DC upconverter would be fine and cut out some waste. Then others made a comment about the grounding used, and I second this - that's far from adequate for a lighting protection, and it's questionable for static given the system is fully decoupled. If anything, connecting equipment's ground to the mast itself would provide a path for the static. On the same topic, a surge protector there probably isn't necessary either, but somebody should correct me if I'm wrong.

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

Yes - you can run the NanoStation off of direct 12V, however that won't additionally be able to power up the camera attached to the passthrough port. Regarding the grounding - it's a no win situation. If I don't ground, people complain. If I do ground, people complain. So in your own setup, just do whatever you feel is best.

[@fd15k]

Crosstalk Solutions Well, have you tried running that camera on 12v ? There is a reason Ubiquiti's POE gear supports a wide range of voltages - on longer POE runs, especially with cheaper cables, there is a significant voltage drop. For example, with a load of approximately of 12W (UVC-G3-AF is rated at max 4W, but for example UVC-G3-PRO is 12.5W) and a 300 foot run of Cat 5E CCA, voltage drops from 24 down to 12.85V. It's not ideal, but it can happen. As for the grounding, it's not about people's opinions. It's about standards, recommendations and practical considerations. In the end, you were asking for feedback, and people, including me, provided it.

[@jamesmerritt5756]

In BULK mode the controller is charging at a constant current, In ABSORPTION mode the controller switches to constant voltage. Float mode applies very low current to keep the battery at end-point voltage. In BULK you will see voltage increase with current constant. In ABSORPTION you will see voltage constant and current will drop to near zero when charging is complete. In FLOAT mode voltage will be constant and current will be very near zero. This is known as three-stage charging.

hello, great videos. Most of the consumption off the camera is due the IR leds, you could try to disable it and see what happens.

[@gtbarsi1103]

I think what is key is you understand is the wattage draw of the POE injector when both pieces of equipment are powered on. From there you should be able to determine how many watt hours of battery at a given voltage is needed to supply the controller to output the required power for 24 or more hours. From there you should be able to determine how many hours of sunlight you need with a given panel configuration in order to charge up a battery that can supply the what you determined in the previous step. I suspect as others have said that going to 24v solar input, and 24v output from the charge controller is going to be much more ideal, but you can't know that until you work through the math from the charge controller's, and solar panel's specifications. I additionally suspect that out of everything your battery is probably the weakest link. Led Acid batteries are not very efficient, and as you found out they drop output voltage way before they run dry, and they off gas bad stuff. I would be looking into Lithium ion batteries as they charge fast, cycle very deep (before dropping voltage) and if managed well will cycle a lot more times as compared to led/acid. Your environment is going to be really tough in the winter for any battery and could be too cold for lithium ion. It might be possible offset the cold by putting the charge controller and other heat generating components in an enclosure with the lithium ion batteries but that is something I do not have first hand knowledge of. I live in a rural neighborhood and I really would like to figure out a cost effective (relatively cheap) way to deploy a camera or two at the two ways into and out of the neighborhood in order to catch thieves that some times target such areas. Unfortunately bringing power and ping to the places the cameras would need to be is not easy. Solar would be ideal but I am in the north east and like you we have our sunny days-weeks and our not so sunny ones, not to mention the temperature swings. Watching your videos I suspect that my general belief that it would be too expensive to deploy a solar solution is currently correct. If/when the panels, and battery systems come down in price it may be an option, but right now the best bang for the buck seems to buried Ethernet with POE. The idea of solar powered wifi and or video surveillance is cool, and we need people to keep working on cracking this nut, so please continue your work and where you are able bring in data / opinions of people that work in a given industry like you did in this video it is nice hear / see the right way and the good enough way.

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

Thank you for the thoughtful and constructive comment. We'll definitely keep at it, and I think the next iteration of Solar Powered WiFi will be a better battery, and most likely 24V straight through.

[@RogueOntheRoad]

You need to have 2 times the capacity in solar with sun daylight factored for the location. To have enough power to drive the load, camera, and charge the battery 2 times is needed.

[@Zippy1415]

Hi Chris Can you post links to Parts 1 and 2? I would like to start at the beginning of your series. Thanks for all your excellent videos :-)

[@Sparks0001]

Nice video Chris, thanks! - Would it be worth connecting an access point to the NanoStation, to extend your WiFi, so the setup is also doing something useful, rather than just a point to point connection that then goes nowhere? That would be a useful thing to try for people who want to extend the WiFi to places without any power.

[@ernestsorensen898]

I learned a lot from your videos. As I am located on northern Vancouver Island I have few sunny day, especially in the winter months. I will be setting up a system in a remote resort where I believe I will have to double up on the panels and water proofing, I want to keep the hardware simple and effective. I'm using UniFi and have one Solarmax in testing. Have you come across the tycco systems TP-SCPOE-2448 solar charger with POE? It is considerably less expensive. It seems to be a reasonable price if it

[@DJLsbVapes]

Try a Ring Camera instead, the battery version is super efficient, recharges it’s batteries off solar panels and is supper efficient only going off when really detects movement with its motion sensor, trust me would work ;-)

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

I would love to test out Ring cameras - good suggestion!

[@DerekMurawsky]

I'm looking to do exactly this for extending wifi out to my farm for things like monitoring crops and animals. Thanks for the great series! What, if anything, would you have done different from this point on?

[@MarkSeniow]

Thinking of doing something similar, but wondering if/how to possibly add a small (DIY) wind turbine to top up the batteries for those low light days. Great video btw!

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

You could absolutely do a small wind turbine - I would like to do this myself as we get a TON of wind in my area throughout the winter.

[@devon20002]

I reckon whats killing that battery since you put the camera up is the IR at night, have you tried turning that off and seeing how much longer you can get out the system as it stands? o get that you want to see whats happening at the greenhouse at night but just for curiosity?

[@1981dasimpson]

the boosting from 12 to 24 volt is a very big loss of efficiency moving to 2x 50 watt panels in series and a 24 volt battery set up would mean less wastage of power

[@robtaylor206]

You have a bear neighbor.... Great video. Thanks.

[@kevinanderson1325]

I was wondering about the little bluetooth power monitor dongle. Is there such a thing that works over wifi and can be monitored from over the Internet?

[@rocktech7144]

Just curious as to why you did not use a wifi dongle to monitor your charge controller and run it back on your wifi bridge? Also if you are pulling 150W you should be running 250 - 300 watt solar to keep up with total system demand. Just change over to 24v 250 watt panel and series another battery and you are done.

[@alec4672]

You should do a winter time update video?

[@MikeWagoner]

Wouldn't it be more efficient if you went 24v instead of the transformer? It would be another battery and a 24v panel, but would remove the transformer.

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

Yes it would - but looking at the cost benefit of an additional battery, bigger battery box, etc. vs. the wasted power by doing the 12-24V step up converter, I kept it at a 12V battery. Just seemed like too much extra money vs. what I already had, and overall, I don't think it would have made enough difference to keep that camera powered for 24 hours/day.

[@KyleTaylorOrionCUSD223]

Could you provide a quick update based on the Winter months? Here in the MIdWest we're just coming out of the "Polar Vortex" and it got me wondering how your setup is doing at this time of year.

[@vern5203]

Hi Chris great job ! Where is your link for the things you used to build this ?

[@Reedith]

Informative video as always !! - you should consider doing a weekly / maybe monthly news show (for lack of better words). just going over the new products that are coming to Market and different use cases for them !?!? Kind of like "Tech linked"- rip " net-linked " - so ws Wi-Fi nerds can have some source of news :) ? PS:// also perhaps a Discord? So that the community that watches your videos can help each other out and talk about nerdy Wi-Fi stuff and they're different use cases for the Ubiquiti products ... Just a thought :) - Thanks -Reed

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

We have a Discord! The link is on the end card of every single one of my videos...come join us! I don't think I would be able to commit to a weekly or even monthly industry news show - I barely get a chance to do live streams as it is. Good idea though!

[@ttss5726]

pro tip...… there is no reason why you need to be recording 24x7 in that area. turn the motion only on and that power consumption with go way down

[@JK-nx3vf]

Thank you for your great clip. I just wonder that in case my AP is using 48V 8W so I just copy all items list that you stated below the VDO and just change only “12V to 24V step up converter” to “12V to 48V step up converter”, OR I do need to change anything else. Please advise, and thank you in advance for your advice

[@nicolasvmoura]

Hi, Chris! First I would like to thank you for the great content you shared in this video. Secondly, I would like to learn more about the ubiquiti devices you showed in this video. How did you set the access point? I am bulding a solar surveillance system on my farm and one of my corcerns is about acessing the footage from the cameras. Also, if I would like to set, lets say, 4 cameras I would have to buy 4-pairs of the ubiquiti NS? Is there any other option to install more than one camera with less equiment required?

[@kjemradio]

Best thing I learned was this. 100 watt lightbulb = 1 amp BTW what did the electrician do when he needed to relax? He Ohhhhhhmmmmm'd!

[@aaronlizotte5247]

What are your options if you live in a rural area with no internet but you have a 4g fullbars signal about 400 ft from your house

[@RogueOntheRoad]

You should have battery capacity that is 4 times greater than the expected use in amphours or watt hours

[@RogueOntheRoad]

The reason for having battery capacity that is 4 times greater than the use needed is to protect the battery bank from damage due to excess discharge.

[@mikemcdonald5147]

sweet setup

[@fourzerofour7860]

Adding a second panel would give you enough likely for the camera and AP year round in your area. Based on the pictures in your video, it looks like you are getting most likely some partial shading during the day. Likely from trees or such. Keep in mind that if a shadow is across part of your solar panel, the output is not proportionately reduced. It's reduced quite drastically, at times nearly nothing. Even with half of the panel in Sun. Different types of panels, can get around this somewhat, however standard monocrystalline panels and polycrystalline panels on the market today unfortunately lack the capability to deal with partial shading effectively. Adding another panel in parallel will also help you with partial shading, if you position the panels correctly, so that at least one panel is in full sun at a time. I would be interested to know what the actual wattage draw of the camera you are using is. It seems to be kind of power-hungry. I have a camera that has been running all year long so far with a 25 watt panel. I do get probably a bit more sun in Alabama, but not that much more. My camera seems to draw around 1 to 1.5 Watts.

[@cjkokay]

Fuses are best at source end otherwise your cable from source to load is technically unprotected

[@steffenfrkjr1424]

try adding the old panel in paralel.

[@jrmbtr]

Would this be overkill if I were just wanting to power a UAP-AC-M (I understand that the amount of sunlight would dictate a lot of it)?

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

It would probably be overkill for a UAP-AC-M only - but that also depends on where you live, how much sunlight you are receiving, etc. The only variable you would really need to adjust would be the size of the solar panel - you may be able to get away with a smaller one.

[@neilgreene]

Damn! Don't go outside at night!

[@hhernandeza06]

Great video and setup Chris, boy that bear look scary! One question the G3 camera that you used had the IR setting to max? Maybe the load can be camera was too much at night due to the IR. Also if you use a nanostation AC should you get the same results? Other than that great explanation and I’ll put it to good use here in my by city where he get a lot of ☀️☀️ thank you for your efforts on putting videos like this one, say hello to Brandon Cheers 🍺🍺

[@MrAlekoy]

I don't know if the surge supressor uses any power, but I see no need for it. If there is a lightning strike, everything on that pole will be fried anyways.

[@jcnash02]

Aleksander Øyen has more to do with discharging static and protecting the network equip, which is a million times more likely than lighting given he has tons of trees on his property.

[@Flashpoint2]

Great video. Can you confirm if you grounded the solar panel itself?

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

I did not ground the panel itself.

[@joelcresswell9798]

Will it not become a better lightning rod if it’s earthed. Which may not be great..... it will probably have some potential to earth as it’s in the ground in concrete but not as great as a 1500mm earth rod in the ground.

[@Dr.Minken]

What about a small 100-300w Wind turbine with a MPPT, should be a good combo. :)

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

I've definitely thought about adding a wind turbine - maybe for part 4.

[@williebarnard5846]

Hi Chris. How do I make contact with you. Watch all your videos on KZbin and have a question about something I'm gonna need to do soon using a few ubiquiti products. Regards.

[@TheSolutionGerm]

Why not to use 24v panal and battery

[@SouthwestComm]

is there a device that i can use for p2p that will provide wifi access on the remote end so i dont have to add a separate access point? I have a shop about 30 meters away from my main building that i want to extend network access / internet to so i was going to use wireless to do it

[@jcnash02]

Mike Walling the nanostation he shows here works great. He has older videos about them. One for each side. Need power of some kind in the shop and house.

[@ikkuranus]

It should get 6-8hrs a day assuming a bear doesn't attack it.

[@highlights6844]

Funhaus :-)

[@sophiethecat9256]

11:24 ground

[@DaveLucre]

What's the point of powering on the nanostation with nothing connected though?

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

It's all just testing.

[@DaveLucre]

I get that, but you've cemented in the pole, attached a panel, installed the ground, got it wired up - and then it doesn't power anything useful. Super anti-climactic. I hope you make a part 4 which actually gets this working to power something useful. Mostly, (selfishly), I would love you to actually get it working because I want to do something similar at a construction site ~330m LOS from my current office soon - and I have been trying to figure out what would work for ages now. I just want a camera to watch over the construction (which starts soon) but the site won't have any power for ~6 months. Keep up the good work, loving your videos!

[@Dead_Aim556]

Are the new nano station Acs or beam gen 2 more efficient?

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

There are different use cases for each model of PTP radio. So it really depends on where they're being deployed - the environment determines which type of radio is going to be most efficient.

[@tomaskulikauskas1333]

Shouldn't we read data from left to right? :-)

[@camerong4944]

That's an odd looking TV.

[@RogueOntheRoad]

Do you really believe that Harbor Freight 45 watt panel is junk... Consider being in the jungle with your cell phone... and you bought one of those 10,000 miliamphour charger pac that has that little 3 inch x 6 inch solar panel built in... most of those produce enough current that will recharge the charger in about a week of full sun. However, that "junk" which looks to be quality workmanship and design and probably works better than its rating... could recharge a charger pac in one day or less. I repurposed a bunch of my 45 watt panels into just the 15 watt panels to sell as USB chargers that can be used to charge any rechargeable battery including the cell phone by using a cheap 30 amp charge controller which has the 2 USB ports. I'm sure you can find a good use for your 45 watt system so it won't be junk... use just one 15 watt panel to keep your toy batteries charged when they are not in use. Use one to charge your garden tractor battery in the winter when you never mow the lawn. Use the last one to keep your RV battery charged in the unused periods. Please say the HB panels are not junk... nah go ahead Just send your junk panels to me and I'll put them to work keeping a night light battery working. The only complaint I have with the "junk" panels is that HB charged a price that was about $3.00 a watt and now that they have their 100 watt systems they are about $1.50 per watt... I wouldn't call that fair Now I buy only Grape Solar panels which are now less than a dollar a watt when on a sale price.

[@nerd_fathersons5468]

A bear!!

[@nilpo19]

I'd love to see a video like this without the trash equipment from Amazon. You can usually buy quality gear for around the same price anyway.

[@matthewmeeuwen6938]

All you have to do is learn Ohm's law

[@TheGhungFu]

Any shade at all on your PV panel pretty much kills output since the cells are in series. I had a 240 watter in full sun that only had a couple of leaves on it and it was putting out about 20 watts. Just sayin'. Removed the leaves and POW! full output. I would think your solar guy should know that. NO SHADE AT ALL when you need full output. Not from foliage. Not from mounting. Not from equipment. As for "weathering", my original Siemens panels have been in service since 1994. Still near full output with an occasional cleaning.

[@SteveWrightNZ]

Quite a few errors there. Might be better to get an engineer on the team before hitting the record button. Do the maths on that battery, and at 12 watts draw (NS + camera) you are down to 50% battery capacity in 14 hours. oops.

[@jcnash02]

Steve Wright ignoring the fact that it’s charging during the day, are we?

[@SteveWrightNZ]

Ignoring the fact its not sunny every day are we?

[@greensabre9421]

Spiders and Bears and you're acting all nonchalant.

[@phiber9]

BEAR @18:14

[@SPPhotography89]

sry, this :) fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cast_Away_%E2%80%93_tuuliajolla