So the terrain at the Beta Site is, to put it mildly, challenging. There’s a lot of up-n-down. This means that the Starlink signal faces some terrain obstructions in terms of range. I had wanted to get one of the remote cameras at the top of the hill (“Roadtop”) which is where 90% of the gamecam pics I post is. The problem is that the range of the wifi didnt quite make it that far.

I normally set the Starlink up on the wooden deck I built out in front of the cconex. This weekend I decided to move things around a bit. Most notable, I moved the Starlink onto the roof of the conex, giving it more line-of-sight to the cameras and I moved the solar panels up there as well.

Before I did that, though, I charged the Jackery up to 100% using the Honda EU2000. Once I did that, I unplugged everything, precariously carried it up a ladder, and set it all back up. I turned the Jackery back on, plugged in the Starlink, and I was in business.

Except for one little detail. The display showed an output of about 15w, which is about average for the Starlink. But on the input side, it said it was receiving 0 watts input from the solar panels. THat can’t be right, thought I…its bright sun and there’s no obstructions. Those panels should be kicking out at least a 100w. So I checked all the connections. All good. Zero watts. So I unplugged everything and replugged it back in. No watts coming in. Spent twenty minutes going thorugh YouTube and Reddit links looking for tips. And that’s when the penny finally dropped.

You can’t put gas into a tank thats already full. The reason the Jackery was showing 0 watts coming into it was because the battery was at 100% full…as such, the battery management system shuts off the input from the panels. To double check, I disconnected the panels, put a high draw device on the battery, and when the battery charge hit 99% I plugged the panels back in. Display showed 125w incoming.

So, as the post heading says, I’m not as smart as I think I am.

On the bright side, moving the Starlink 12 feet higher did, in fact, extend the range of the wifi and I got the camera exactly where I wanted it at the roadtop. If CostCo still has them in stock, I’ll pick up one more camera and see if I can get on mounted on the alternate-entrance road.

And speaking of power, I found this guys YouTube to be wildly informative. Especially this particular video for a simple and somewhat portable PV system. 

What I have up at the Beta SIte right now is okay for the immediate short term. But those flexible folding panels aren’t as resilient as purpose-built ones, that battery is not large enough to cover my anticipated needs and contingencies, and at some point hteres going to have to be a significant expenditure to get something a little (or a lot) more serious. That’s one of the things on tap for next year. In the meantime though, this little setup is delivering for my rather small needs at the moment. But next year…different story.