Incidentally, 0.5 Amps is what the Iridium satellite phone draws when it calls me with new data. Power is something in Watts (40 W Light bulb anyone?) and you have to multiply voltage by current draw (0.5 Amps anyone?) to estimate the power needs of the device drawing 0.5 Amp current at 12 Volts. Data are still collected every hour, but I save 20% of total power. The station did take the new software, restarted itself, and works making one data call each day instead of three. Scary stuff, and my little sister Christina Parsons can attest, how nervous I was, when I uploaded new power-saving software that I wrote from my attic at home to the station in Greenland. Time will tell, if I made a mistake in either my power budget or my computer code that gives and takes power to a range of sensors. The station now uses the car battery, but how long will this last? Quick answer is … a day, if I am dumb. The flat line at 12.5 Volts tells me that the sun is down. Lets ignore a small temperature effect and details on how much electricity we draw at what “amperage.” Instead, lets focus on the regular up and down of voltage for the last 60 days and how it suddenly went flat. As I use electricity, the voltage goes down. … whenever the sun is up, the solar panels recharge the battery and the voltage goes up. Voltage at Ocean Weather Station on Petermann Gletscher.
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December 2022
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