@@extreme978 ehhh, I did take my kid to the pool. I think yellow swim shorts are acceptable. The flip flops are for the house/pool only. Can’t run/fight in them. Gotta be the man and protect the family!!
Cool to see someone else has thought of this general idea! I'm about to go on a road trip and wanted to not have to take my Bioenno AC charging brick with me (bulky and awkward.) I thought I could maybe use a 100w USB-C charging wall wart. I had an extra USB-C 20vdc power cable for a laptop that I cut the barrel connector off and added PowerPole connectors to. So far so good! I have a steady 20.4v coming in as my "solar" on the Powermini2. I can use this 4 port wall wart to charge other devices on my trip obviously so one less thing to pack. Also as an aside, I have done something similar in my shack with a West Mountain Radio Epic Powergate. I run my station DC power with an old lead gel battery and keep this battery charged directly from a 28v battery used as a back up power source for our house. That 28v goes into the Solar input on the Powergate. I wrote West Mountain and they said there was no problem doing this.
I feel that if DC is kept within the parameters of the manufacturer says, does it matter if it’s solar or some other. Nope. Sure doesn’t mess up on my testing.
@@Mike_K7CAN That's what I figured too. This USB-C / Anderson PowerPole cable seems like a useful addition to the radio kit. USB-C seems to be everywhere and powers supplies are a lot smaller than the default battery chargers. I figure the PowerMini2 does all the negotiations. Thanks again for your post!
Just got my powermini 2. The instructions with it say to only use a solar panel in the powermini's solar input. I know it works, but I wonder if there is potential for damage?
I would think the total amps / volts is what matters most. Solar pushes 21-22 volts. The alternator pushes 14-15 volts and far less amps than the solar does.
When you set your frequency on your phone, can that be done on the fly? Meaning without Cell Service? Or do you have to set the frequency when you are in cell range? W7RTA
The frequencies are set before you go. Essentially you get a 1,000,000 blop. You can "program" several blogs that you can have saved in a 'note' on your phone and cut/paste the one you need. For example, this past weekend I had all the parks for MT,ID, and WY with 40m,20m,15m, and 10m all programmed in for the phone portion. they were set at 1,000 hertz range so for example 14.225,14.226, 14.227.......14.347,14.348,14.349 14.350 but for the listed bands.
Nice Mike , glad I managed to make it in the logs.. Great to see the different setups, a mag mount will be here soon, something for the car since it will not stick to the Ford.. lol 73 VE1SK
