An update is overdue. My apologies. COVID has scrambled life’s priorities for many and has contributed to this slacking. But that’s just a part of the issues I’m facing here. So a review of that and some solutions that may be on the horizon follow. I’ve finally caught up with several big projects that came up with the pandemic, so hope to turn my efforts back to the UMESH effort in coming months.
It’s been a little over a year since my gall bladder and I parted ways. For the better to be sure, but age has combined with recovery from that and my several physical issues to make climbing a questionable practice for me. In terms of how this affects UMESH, I either have to enlist more young climbers or start putting nodes in less favorable or easier to reach places. I have a fellow who’s been a great help, but it’s unfair to throw everything on his back when climbing resumes. If you’re interested in helping, send me a PM.
Then there’s the issue of power. While I seemed to have a practical solution at relatively low cost, when it aged it didn’t hold up well. Consumer level connectors like the USB mini just don’t protect the circuit well enough. The charge circuits on the battery packs tend to become randomly iffy, compounding things. Soon enough, power is lost and the need to climb to set a hard reboot back to life. Bad enough in the summer and just about impossible in the winter.
I bought several solar charge controllers, which seemed promising with their USB connections, in order to better manage the charging circuit. In the end, they just don’t work reliably with the low draw that charges the solar battery packs. I think these could work if I used a 12v battery pack instead of the 5v ones I’m using, but a low cost good quality source for such hasn’t been identified.
rogeroverout offered another solution he’s built and used with success in Idaho which involves hacking a small board onto a GTM that is left in pairing mode. While it uses more power, it’s very reliable in restarting a GTM. I need to sit down and wrap my head around it to better understand it.
Whatever solution turns out best, it needs to be cost effective. I need to fix more than a dozen nodes and hope to again add on to them once that’s accomplished. Sorry for the downtime.