NC_hydro
Solar Enthusiast
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2022
- Messages
- 177
Buladean/Bakersville.What town are you closest in WNC? I work in the area for a local ISP. Lots of creative plans providing Internet service in WNC.
Buladean/Bakersville.What town are you closest in WNC? I work in the area for a local ISP. Lots of creative plans providing Internet service in WNC.
Got it. Company I work for doesn't service that far from our footprint. Sylva, NC area 50-60 mile radius.Buladean/Bakersville.
Yeah that’s quite a ways southGot it. Company I work for doesn't service that far from our footprint. Sylva, NC area 50-60 mile radius.
Had never encountered Mtik stuff before, definitely some neat stuff. Keeping them in my back pocket for future projects. Some neat fiber options. As cheap as fiber is these days I've contemplated running some single mode from the house up to the hill since we have equipment for burying it. Then the back haul from the hill to the house would be easy without wifi signal issues.@NCislander Mtiks rock as you know. StarLink was iffy back when I first got it so i also still have a Mtik RBM33G doing load balancing and policy based routing behind both LTE and StarLink. They are cheap, fast and the OS is easy to learn. Funny many of us are into the same type of tech/topics.
You are on the right track. Step up and down converters will be needed; you will want to check the consumption of each of those before buying.So my off grid place in WNC I'm designing a small system for getting internet to the house which currently barely has 1 bar of Verizon signal. 500ft from the house we have a hilltop that gets full signal LTE from Visible(Verizon). Using Visible's lower tier service I get 20-30Mbps download and 20Mbps upload speeds. My plan is to get a used Google Pixel (probably a 6) and USB tether it to a GL iNet Beryl AX (GL-MT3000) travel router. Then use a directional Wifi AP to jump the 500ft down to the house and pick it up and rebroadcast inside the house as well as provide some wired ethernet inside the house. Sounds complicated but I've worked in IT for 20yrs+ so it's my bread and butter .
My final snag is battery/solar choice. I'm not using an inverter, I'm staying DC with some step down converters to power 2 USB ports (one for the router, one for the wireless charger for the Android phone). The Wifi AP is 24V POE with a small POE injector that comes with it. If I run 24V setup I can power that directly or if 12V I would just need to convert from 12V to 24V for that one device. The router uses <8Watts, Wifi AP at 24V/0.5A (12watts?) and then the cell phone probably another 15watts. Total power draw maybe 40watts... Would ideally like enough battery to power the setup for 48hrs due to the often cloudy periods we experience in the mountains at 3,500ft halfway up a 6,200ft. Nice sunny summer days will even have 5-6 10min rain showers frequently. Temps usually no higher than low to mid 80s in summer, most often high 70s, lows in the winter generally only a few days a winter are below zero.
I'm thinking AGM is probably going to be the route to go given the cold temps in the winter. It will be in a weather proof box, with the travel router, POE injector, and batteries with solar panels nearby. Has anyone else done something similar? Oversizing the solar will help recovery happen quicker in the periods of sun. I have seen some small solar panel kits with midnight solar charge controller that may work.
Well we have a backhoe so I like the idea of burying the batteries. Will definitely check out DIY lithium. Thanks for the tip. I’ll be able to use most of the setup even if I end up going with a direct bury fiber back to the house. $700 for 1,000ft two strand single mode isn’t too bad considering I can install it myself. A pair of 10Gtek media converters to link it on both ends only costs $72You are on the right track. Step up and down converters will be needed; you will want to check the consumption of each of those before buying.
AGM batteries are likely a good choice (unless you are buying new and intend to have this a long time whereas you might want to consider something like a Silicon Battery as they do better with the cold) - if you go with AGM, insulate / bury them best you can to make use of capacity.
When calculating your consumption, remember you have consumption for the devices you are powering plus the charge controller, and both step up & down converters. Whatever battery choice you design with will give you a temperature capacity chart to incorporate into your design. If you can swing it, I'd probably build at least 2.5 extra days of capacity into the system if the site isn't easy to get at with a small genny & charger for "those times".
Personally, I would build a DIY 280ah lithium battery using EVE cells & insulate it very well / bury the battery portion of the box. The benefits are more efficient charging and a lot more density for lower cost and longer life due to the dod considerations. I would take my chances on the cold with this because I look at it along the principles - I have water lines buried under 12" of soil sided with 8" of foam and they don't freeze - plus with all the insulation, you have some good guys to catch the heat as they discharge / recharge. And I bet you can connect the bms via bluetooth to the phone and keep an eye on things.
We have a p2p set up with starlink to get to another cabin nearby. So many nifty solutions!