I am new on EMLID community. I am going to buy a Reach RS+ to be used as a stand alone GPS receiver onboard ships. The most interesting aspects for my application is the wireless features, both in powering and in data transmission. I need it to work 24h 7/7. I already searched on the forum and found extremely interesting and useful threads, but I still have some doubts.
how to select the right solar panel? For my application I expect I should connect the solar panel directly to the external power input through a buy a CBL101 cable, rather than to the microUSB.
can you confirm that the external power input charge the battery as well?
I would be reasonably sure (at least in sunny days) that the solar panel charges enough the battery to operate continuously also at night. Which should be the specs of the solar panel?
Should the solar panel have a maximum power of 10W to be directly connected? Which is the maximum input amperage?
would you instead recommend to power the Reach with an external battery and charge this battery with a larger solar panel? (I obviously understand that if the ship will sail towards ah very high latitudes in winter solar panel will become useless, but typically it’s below the 40th parallel)
How to transmit data to a PC? Typical distances between the Reach and the PC are below 40m (more often within 20m).
Can I get the data directly via WiFi?
If not, reach RS+ has an internal radio modem. Can I receive its signal with a gateway (radio receiver) placed near the computer? Or I also need an external radio unit attached to the Reach via RS232?
To choose a power supply for Reach RS+, you can consider the following:
For constant operating, 7.5 watts on average is required, and 10 watts is the maximum.
Voltage of the external power input should be within the range of 6–40 V.
You can power the unit via Micro-USB or the RS232 port. If you use a CBL101, Reach RS+ will automatically turn on when the power is supplied.
I can hardly provide any recommendations for choosing the solar panel. We usually don’t recommend using them with Reach since they are unstable power sources.
It’s possible to get a position stream via TCP if the receiver and the PC are connected to the same Wi-Fi network. Wi-Fi range is usually about 50m, so you may consider using TCP in your setup. However, the Wi-Fi network range may vary depending on the particular network characteristics and local conditions, so I can hardly confirm that it will work flawlessly without local tests.
Reach RS+ LoRa radio can be used only for correction input or output to other Reach receivers. Still, you can use a pair of external radios connected to the Reach and PC for position output. The external radio module can be connected to Reach RS+ via Bluetooth, USB, or RS232.
thank you for the answer.
So just because you did not specified that, by powering through the external power input via CBL101 will I also charge the battery or now?
What is the maximum amperage accepted for the microUSB and for the external power unit via CBL101 for battery charging?
Thank you for the recommendation, we will probably test it by only using solar panel and if it’s not satisfactory we will add a power generator.
But the point is that RS+ consumes about 7.5x24=180Wh a day, which, using a solar panel, I need to provide in 8/12 hours.
So, can the battery be charged at about 20/25W?
