Solar Power Update

My solar power system has had a small over haul.

Charge controller has gone form PWM to MPPT, which gives me a bit more power form my panel, and the digital system allows me to alter settings to best suit my batteries.

The cabling inside has been upgraded from 13amp cabling to 12awg, good for about 30amps. (cable between the two 6v batteries is a hell of a lot thicker, possibly 0awg, for inverter use)

On top of that safety has been upgraded with a battery isolator switch being added tot he front and a small automotive fuse box added in case of shorts.

Additionally, I managed to scavenge 6 x 12ah batteries from work which were in a pretty nice condition. this has been joined in with my other batteries to give me a bit more room over these winter months.

In the near future (new year?) either an additional panel will be added, or I will upgrade all these batteries to two new 110ah 12v batteries.

Review Biolite Camping Stove

We all like gadgets, but when this crosses over with outdoor pursuits it tends to go  either incredibly well or piss poor.

Luckily this is a case of the first, what a cracking product.

The bio-lite stove is a wood burning portable camping stove that has the ability to charge your gadgets via usb.

It takes small twigs and sticks and in return gives you a small source of power as well as all those other goodies fire gives like a means to purify water.

Whats in the box:
Besides from being nicely packaged, the box comes with the bio-lite stove itself (disassembles into two parts which slot in one another), a charging cable (for long periods where you don’t use this stove, enabling it to recharge its internal battery that’s used to power the fan) as well as some free (looks to be) recycled fire starting logs) and a fabric carry case to keep this stove from getting things dirty. Also included is a small pot metal ring allowing the stove to accept pots smaller than the opening of the stove, needed for pots the same diameter as a can of coke.

Testing

Loaded up with some old fence panel wood strips and a kettle of water the first burn began.

Initially, the stove its rather smokey, i believe this to be down to it burning off the paper I used as a fire starter, its interesting to note that after a few seconds the stove kicked off, flames shooting out and the smoke stopping instantly

The kettle contained about 700ml of outside tap water, about 4*C

Success, after 4-minutes from initial lighting the stove the device starts putting out electricity tot he usb port

Below you can see how the fan causes a vortex affect in the fire, the wood-gas giving a secondary burning

Filling full to see how big flames can get

Charging my USB battery pack

Once finally burnt out, the leftover ash was tiny, going from very few sticks to a pile of ash that could fit in cup of one hand.

Tips:
> Start fire on low fan, then go to high until there’s good flames and then return to low fan speed, I found being in lower fan enabled the usb charging to remain on for longer.
> Sometimes cycles the fan modes helped enable the USB mode.
> Don’t use sticks higher than the inside of stove as it stopped you form putting kettle on top.
> The 3 legs are stable, but look for the flatted area possible.
> After the first burn and when you go to store it away, use a secondary back to protect the orange power unit when you put it inside the stove, otherwise it’ll come out black and covered in dirt next time

Overall:
Price: 4/50 @ £90 delivered
Size: 4/5, its rather bulky
Appeal: 5/5, means having to carry no fuel and being able to charge gadgets
Bonus: 5/5, who doesn’t like the smell of burning wood and being able to cook marshmallows anytime they want.