Solar trailer build

[Nealh]

Gone are the days when I rose from a tent with a hard frost on the ground.
I remember four of us one year waking up in Harrogate in the new year during the 80's, over night must have been -6 or so. The lady where we camped refused to take any payment saying any one brave enough to do so was welcome to stay for free.

 

[matthewslack]

Day 3 ends with a little bit of good honest trespass. Really nice field corner just off a layby, too good to pass up.



110 miles, 985Wh consumed, 905 generated . Same cat and mouse game with the sun. A bit low on battery, which is why I had to stop, to get an hour of good charge with trailer tipped up. Shimano battery hardly used today, but very low. If I get bright skies tomorrow and ride gently it might just make it!

According to AA route planner it is only 120 miles from here, so in two days that is easy.

This time I took the old A6 over the real Shap summit.



First mechanical failure at Gretna, repaired by a patch of grass. Is this THE green?



The tiny bolt securing the rack to the frame down by the qr for the rear wheel sheared. A squeak appeared after an emergency stop for a tiny dog on a leaf that got too close, rode on a bit thinking it was the forks squeaking, but no. Bodged with a support block of terminal block and much insulation tape. About 90 miles later, sound as a pound.

Two great shopping experiences today. Best was an amazing shop since 1793 in Penrith town square. Best Cumberland pasty, mixed seed bread loaf and high choc content Tiffin ever. Greggs - go sit in the corner.



And then in Carnforth, later on for events Ng supplies, my favourite smaller supermarket, Booths. Such a change from blandness of Tesco and yesterday's ear shattering din/music? in the Asda right by the canal in Glasgow.

Sun going down.

 

[guerney]

I've walked to North Wales and back - it always gets troublingly dark and rainy/snowy as one nears Snowdonia. When I lived there, high likelihood of death by exposure was only a bus ride and the wrong walk away (not all the time, just in winter).

 

[matthewslack]

Early start as forecast was for grey skies. But all blue here, so off we go!



Leave no trace will be true in a couple of hours:



To Runcorn bridge and beyond!

 

[matthewslack]

Oh! what a beautiful morning...

Another good frost last night and so cold batteries. The Shimano on one bar last night woke up with none, so the half full solar battery and blue sky are unusable a ntil it gets a small charge.

Out with the emergency battery, back on the road, mindful that this is England and Sunday, so most places not open until 10am.

And then 2km in, flat rear tyre! Awkward d access, especially with yesterday's rack repair, but mended OK. Tiny thorn hole, no residual thorn

Finally in cafe under a famous landmark with troublesome battery charging the old way at 150W and trailer charging the solar battery at about the same.

Breakfast, and then onward!

 

[matthewslack]

End of day 4. One of those days! An early 7:30getawsy became leaving Preston bus station cafe at 11:15, by the time a rejig of the rack repair was done.

No more breakdowns and good solar conditions. Once against matching consumption to generation by judicious use of level 2 assist and watching the voltsges.

Slow going to the highlight of the day, the old reborn Runcorn to Widnes bridge. Great bike lane on it, and you get to stop and marvel at the intricacy of the metalwork, unlike in a car.





There are good cycle lane connections on the Runcorn side, possibly the other side too, but for non-local riders passing through, the signage is woeful. I wanted the easiest route to Frodsham when I left the bridge, no chance of working that out from the little blue signs.

The approach from the north is even worse. This is a major turning point from north to North Wales, over an iconic bridge. There is a need to be gathered in and funnelled to the crossing. But no, really hard to negotiate the major roads to get onto the bridge.

Also today, I learned that no cycleway access restrictor is to be feared:

If I can't go through, maybe under?



Or maybe piece by piece?



These really are the limit. No one on a bike got through without a struggle whilst I was there. Even a Deliveroo rider came by with bag on his back and had to squat to get the bag through! Crazy. That's an innocent bystander, not me!

Now I have got used to packing and unpacking, it only takes a few minutes each side, and with the wheels off the heaviest bit is the main trailer at 18kg, so manageable.

In all a slow day, and a shortish one too. 74 miles, but the tired legs and good sun show in the consumption of 12.6Wh/mile for the 62 miles since Preston. 761 consumed from the solar battery, 20 from the rejuvenated Shimano one, and at least 655 generated. A fuse was out during the morning shenanigans, so two hours worth of gen not recorded. Two bars of the emergency battery used to get to Preston.

Silver linings are that it is only 65 miles or so to go, and the forecast of dull then rain tomorrow is now sun followed by bright skies.

This may end well!

 

[guerney]

You'll arrive in time to dodge the tornados

Gwynedd farmhouse damaged and lambs 'lifted into the air' by tornado

Winds of almost 100mph hit the village near Machynlleth on Wednesday

www.dailypost.co.uk

Machynlleth farmer says tornado lifted lambs into the air

The owner says she was left in tears and at least £100,000 of damage has been caused.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[matthewslack]

Day 5, dry, no frost, sun visible through thin cloud, 18W from the panels at breakfast.

Forecast is dry until about 2pm, so should have arrived by then 40mph winds from11am! But I'm going west and it is the East Wind.

Stocktake of battery states:

Shimano battery after 50minute charge yesterday, of which 20Wh approx used, about 100Wh minimum.

Emergency battery, three bars showing: at least 240Wh.

Solar battery at 37.7V. About 70% so 330Wh.

Total 670Wh with 65 miles to go and about 5.5 hours riding time, charging at at least 40W. Plenty!

 

[guerney]

Forecast is dry until about 2pm, so should have arrived by then 40mph winds from11am!

You're lucky that Wales and the route to it, is full of increasinly bigger and heavier rocks, should you need to add weight to your solar trailer.

 

[matthewslack]

Day 5. Arrived! Story later.

More generated than used, 702km, all good.

 

[guerney]

Now that's a proper test drive! What's in store for V2? Folding solar trailer, to get through those fattist and tallist gates in post #66? Are you going to solar cycle back?

 

[Nealh]

A great effort for spring and towing as well.

 

[matthewslack]

Day 5 was really easy as I had bright conditions so plenty of energy, and a significant tailwind, so didn't need much! Up to 30mph wind from back left most of the day, no stability issues which would partly be due to the 35kg or so loaded weight of the trailer.

The A548 first part of the day is a minor A road with much shoddy surface, but from Prestatyn golf club to Bangor is tremendous route 5 cycle way along the coast. From there just a few miles inland to journey's end.





No impassable obstacles once past the golf club. There was an unlocked gate which bypassed the only problem, and had it been locked it was only half a mile to rejoin the R5 later on.



A very long narrow section by the tunnels where the blue pipe buffer earnt it's keep!



And the first set of bollards lower than the trailer.



A slow day because I could afford the time for long conversations with interested people along the way. Very low consumption until the end, when I took an unnecessary hilly diversion because there was so much battery available! 59km on 207Wh, 3.5Wh/km or 5.7 per mile. In the same time I generated 315Wh. Rather heavy use later when the hills arrived.

I am very happy with the experience and the outcome. I lost my glasses, had a bolt break, a puncture and needed a brief 'technical' charge to keep the Shimano battery alive. I now have a total of 8 days knowledge gained of managing energy and weather variations to keep running on the sun.

I changed nothing from test ride to this journey as nothing went wrong. I would have fitted a wider range cassette and new chain, had the tools arrived in time, but they didn't, and I was not going to risk a bodged effort without the proper tools the night before. I could have used the 42T gear instead of my 34T on a few occasions, so that is first job when I get home.

I'll be riding home starting in about 8 days time, and happy to answer questions, but I'm going to be on holiday from online until then!

Thanks for the support and interest, have a good Easter break all.

 

[Nealh]

Are we going to see later an even more exhilarating solar record ride of JOGLE and a return LEJOG attempt for the wild solar camper ?

 

[guerney]

JOGLE

Says it's tracking Angela running from Land's End to John O'

Live Tracking

TRG JOGLE - Live Event Tracking

live.opentracking.co.uk

...like that guy who went naked to his doctor, wearing nothing but cling film. Doctor says "I can plainly see your nuts!"

 

[matthewslack]

Today I set out on the return journey. Beautiful blue skies most of the day, flat, the only challenge a headwind. So much generation that I was able to sit in level 2 assist more or less all day at modest speed against the wind and the battery just sat at full. Only the last hour with light cloud and lower sun angle took anything out, and that is being replenished at 72W just now. By dark it will be close to full again.



Just as well it was nice conditions as I am a little under the weather, and may end up needing all of the 7 days I have available to get home.

'That gate' was well and truly locked today, so a dismantle and reassemble got me through, with a whole bunch of amuse d helpers!



Tomorrow, back over the Runcorn bridge, and then left to see what the TPT is all about.

118km, energy numbers will have to wait until I download the data logger as the display scrolled over into negative numbers.

 

[guerney]

The weather looks fine for days... you should introduce a handicap of some sort perhaps, because there's no chance of encountering perilous invisible Welsh dragons aka tornados running temporarily amok this time round.

 

[matthewslack]

The weather looks fine for days... you should introduce a handicap of some sort perhaps, because there's no chance of encountering perilous invisible Welsh dragons aka tornados running temporarily amok this time round.

I am handicapped by a certain v.i.r.u.s, so need all the fair weather and advantage I am offered!

 

[guerney]

I am handicapped by a certain v.i.r.u.s, so need all the fair weather and advantage I am offered!

Long distance is bound to cure long covid, stands to reason as they are both long and will cancel each other out, leaving distance covid, which is the best kind of covid, because it's best enjoyed at a distance.

 

[matthewslack]

Day 2 started early, no alarm just wakefulness and light at 6:30 and kettle within reach of sleeping bag.

Another blue sky day, unlimited power from about 10am until 4pm, a bit of battery used at the end of the day, bur replenished by a good spell with the trailer pointing at the sun.



The value of that charge is considerable: when I stopped, the afternoon figures were 549Wh used, 476 generated. After the tent is up and a cup of tea, gen is now 560Wh.

The morning figures were 467 and 462 respectively, giving totals for the day of 1018 used, 1022 and counting generated.

Distance was 65km in the morning and 69 in the afternoon, total 134km, 83 miles at 7.6Wh/km, 12.2Wh/mile. Higher than usual because I cruised in level 2 all day on account of the v.i.r.u.s.

Two great cycle path sections. First, the Route 5 Greenway all the way from West to east across Chester. Once on it, no barriers, the best smooth cycle way surface I have seen, and really well integrated into all of the parts of Chester it touches. Other councils could learn a lot from this.

Then the middle part of the Trans Pennine Trail from s few miles after the Runcorn bridge until almost the A59, where zI go right for Preston. Frustrating trying to connect from the bridge, but once on it, almost as good as the Chester one. Nice dandelion lawn for lunch.



One of those frustrations was an inviting part of the TPT along the bank of the Mersey, which had a brilliant zigzag stepped section too tight for my trailer.



Another was an extreme case of silly sign placement. Sign on a lampost on the adjacent road with trees in leaf between.



Tomorrow will be harder as not so bright in the forecast, and I have the Lake District or Shap to tackle. It might be a slow and short day, moving to a six day schedule just to give myself a gentle time.