remote PWS

[Ag2000CO]

Looking for engineering/design expertise from the group.
I am thinking about putting up a remote PWS (remote is the operative word).

I have access to a location 2,400 ft from my house. There is no power but the location is wide open brush land for 100+ ft in all directions. As apposed to smallish backyard with houses/trees all around. There is a CONEX/shipping container on the site. I am thinking that I can use the CONEX as an anchor to mount everything off the ground and above the winter snow. From the road ~200 ft up the side of the mountain I can see the roof of my house siting over the CONEX. From the site trees and root tops block the direct view. I was thinking using something like, Ubiquiti PowerBeam M5 PBE-M5-300, for a Point-to-Point LAN connection. This link has the advantage of having an ethernet connection on both ends, max power 6 Watts, and is in the 5Gh band vs 2.4Gh which is really crowded here in the summer.

With all the solar panels/batteries on the market power should not be an issue IF I keep the requirement under control.

So, the question is how do I get from the PWS to the ethernet connection with the least amount of equipment/power usage?

• A vantage Vue or Vantage Pro to a meteobridge pro sound good BUT the RF link seem unnecessary with all the equipment on the same pole.

• Is there a version of meteobridge that can be wired to the Vantage Pro without a console or the RF link?

[Mattk]

Not sure you really require PowerBeam for 2,400 feet as they have something like a 20km range, something like a Rocket AC (5GHz) and a NanoAc should pull that distance in?

There's a couple of different options/combinations but it's either an RF link or Ethernet link (Envoy & WLIP)

Least amount of (solar) power would be an Envoy+WLIP and connect back to the house with WiFi then connect to the MBPro which would only need to be a Black all though a Red will work just the same.

Unsure re your comment re RF link seem unnecessary with all the equipment on the same pole? Do you have access to the inside of the shipping container? That's where I would be mounting much of the gear.

You could go the RF way but the signal may be a little weak depending on the relationship/distance of the ISS/MBPro?

You could run an Envoy+WLIP+MBPro (cabled) all in the container with comms via WiFi

You could run an Envoy and Nano together and WiFi back to house, there's no such thing as a MB without a console or WiFi

[Mattk]

Also should have included the biggest power drain will be the WiFi which is typically 24V POE @ 0.5A with the biggest issue in powering this from a solar system but there are ways to do this. Also maybe look at Ubiquiti with primary&secondary ports and/or a 12v DC powered POE with POE/LAN. There is also a combined solar controller with battery, DC and POE output

[Ag2000CO]

Thanks Matt. I'm drinking from a fire hose.

PowerBeam vs Rocket AC -- I agree. when I first looked I saw package deals of two PowerBeams for the $200 US. Now all I see are PowerBeam, gen 2 at the a price similar to the Rocket AC. Guess I should have grabbed the deal when I saw it!

With about the same power in and out, the Rocket would be easier to aim.

[Mattk]

You could also use an AC Bullet, which has quite a few antenna options? However a Bullet is limited to only a single port.

[Ag2000CO]

You could also use an AC Bullet,

Thanks for the another option. However,

1) Price: I have found again and ordered the Ubiquiti PowerBeam M5 PBE-M5-300X2 (two) for under $200US. Prices I see for other option seem to be $100+ for one. Over powered for sure if I had an unobscured view. But my view is not clear. (pun intended)

2) Power: All options seem to use the same PoE injector 24V, 0.5A. The PowerBeam Max Power Consumption is only 6W vs 8W for the Bullet vs 8.5W for the Rocket. Which of course all relates to solar panels and batteries. Money again.

[Ag2000CO]

{I sure hate it when the board times out while I am writing a longer more involved post}

While doing my do diligence I notice that the Envoy, MB PRO and NANO SD all have operating temperatures freezing and above. I live above 9,000 ft (1.75Km) in the Rocky Mountains. The plan is for a remote (meaning outside) installation. Before global warming locals bragged that they did have 14 frost free days a year. I’m just saying. (joke) The operating temperature of the MB PRO should keep thing warm.

• The Envoy (wired or not) + NANO SD have advantages. The NANO design requires WiFi which would be nice to have when working on site. Of course, the Envoy by design fits in the Davis Heavy Duty Solar Power Kit (6612) with batteries. I think with the NANO power requirement the Davis Solar Power unit is marginal. If my math is correct 315ma X 5v X 24hrs = 37.8Whs. The unit has a 5W solar panel. That would require 7+ hours of sunlight a day. I don’t think that would work in the winter. (Envoy 15ma + NANO 300ma)

• The MB PRO by contrast is a power hog at 2 watts vs 1.575W for the Envoy combo above. This would be a RF link to the ISS and could eliminate the WiFi link

I think I have identified a 24v solar system to power the link back to the house. The link requires 24v PoE. I am looking for a 24 PoE router with WiFi to get the data to the link.

Just to keep power simple was thinking to keep the 5v (Envoy etc.) power separate from the 24v PoE. That is why I looked at the Davis 6612. Looks like that is not big enough so the answer may be to use a 24vDC to 5vDC unit.

[Mattk]

Yes Davis solar power with anything more than a serial logger in an Envoy is marginal and you may want to consider a serial logger as a backup for this very reason as it takes very little power to maintain an Envoy+serial logger.

Consider this and I would stick with 12 volt solar

Envoy+Serial logger to maintain data due to low power for the higher drawing devices which can be sequentially shutdown using Low Voltage Disconnects (LVD) in a staged order so as to save as much of the power for the more important uses. The Envoy can also be backup powered for quite long periods while still maintaining operation and data logging (serial logger)

Retransmit the Envoy to the MBPro (RF) which allows longer range and better ISS to Envoy to MBPro data coms.

With 12 volt solar system there is more choice with dual regulators charging dual batteries from the same panels at user specified %'s from which you can dedicate specific batteries to power specific devices and use multiple LVD's to control how devices are shutdown as the power drops.

12/5v convertors are also more readily available in a whole range of models.

Tycon power make a whole range of DC POE's like

https://tyconsystems.com/index.php/prod ... scpoe-1224
https://tyconsystems.com/index.php/prod ... jectors/dc

You do have quite a lot of options