Diary
#31
Multiple
Tasks at Trout Lake
We - Dave
Hughes, PI, Mike Willett and a new member of the NSF project team,
Tom Williams, traveled to the Trout Lake, Wisconsin LTER site
June 9-12th to accomplish five tasks in our first visit since
the winter lake freeze-over ended.
- Inspect the damage to the Sparkling Lake raft and the
wireless equipment caused by a midnight collision between a
power boat and the raft and an inattentive fisherman in April.
- Diagnose
why the Freewave DRG115W radio, battery powered and solar panel
recharged, failed in midwinter on the iced-in raft. Make adjustments
- Troubleshoot
the problem Paul Hanson had trying to use the small World Wireless
Microhoppers to collect data from data loggers on small buoys
he deploys on various lakes throughout the summer.
- Test
the new NovaRoam 900 radios over the same ground mapped out
by our "perimeter of operation" tests of the Freewaves capabilities
the summer of 2000.
- Test
a new Range Tester we had fabricated to permit visual proof
of radio 'link' even when radio has no link light indicators
- such as the Nova Roam and Microhopper Radios.
This, and
the following separate reports we will cover the above tasks.
RECKLESS BOATING
Sometime
in the night in late April, the day before Fishing Season started
in Wisconsin, someone was recklessly operating a power boat in
the middle of the night on Sparkling Lake. They hit the well lighted
Data Collection raft and damaged it severely enough it had to
be taken from the water.
The main
damage occurred to one wing of the raft itself, the Research Station
solar panel, and some of the braces that hold the sensors. Our
large panel solar panel was very slightly bent in one place.
Tim Meinke,
the Trout Lake Station chief Tech inspected the damage, and had
everything repaired by the time we got there. He had tested our
solar panel, which seemed to be putting out the same voltage as
before. Mike Willett confirmed it was operating properly, so could
continue to be used.
Sparkling
Lake Raft Equipment
A Game
Warden had recorded the license numbers of all vehicles parked
at Sparkling Lake, and helped track down the culprit who caused
the damage. He admitted he was the one who hit the raft, which
has two conspicuous lights on it. But I guess if you have been
drinking and it's dark out, you might miss lots of things.
CHANGING
THE SOLAR PANEL ORIENTATION
After discussing
the power issues when our Freewave radio on the raft failed -
midwinter - and what the weather had been, we decided that it
was a mistake to have the panels' bottom edge directly on the
raft platform, since this allows the immediate buildup of snow
on the lower edge of the solar panel, degrading solar absorbtion.
So the new orientation will be a few inches off the platform to
allow for some accumulation on the raft without degrading the
panel performance, as well as allow wind to flow between the panel
and the raft platform, hopefully reducing the accumulation of
snow near the panel.
So Tim
Meinke was going to mount it at about a 60 degree angle to try
it for another winter. The problem is that there is not a lot
of workspace on the raft, and anything that deflects wind into
the small wind-speed sensors can cause them to give false readings.
But after
much consideration it was concluded the new location would be
all right.
New
Solar Panel Location
(Mike
Willett and Tim Meinke)
WIND
TURBINE
Mike Willett
brought along a small wind turbine generator that my deceased
Old Colorado City Communication partner had brought back from
France. According to him (Larry Fox) it was widely used in France.
Unfortunately we had neither specs nor a manufacturer's imprint
on it.
Wind
Turbine
But we
decided to try it anyway. With its' impeller blades in the position
they were, it appeared that the turbine causes less wind turbulence
than propeller driven generators. Important when wind velocity
sensors are used in the small raft space.
Tim Meinke
was going to mount it, and feed the battery with it, in addition
to our solar panel.
We won't
see results until next winter. We have some doubts about its'
generating capacity however. Mike and Tim blasted it with a blower
while it was attached to a meter. It did not generate the expected
voltage. More later.
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