<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><DIV><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><DIV>AS for the Solar panels, </DIV><DIV>I have been using solar panels in the field successfully for several months now. I bought foldable solar panels, Global Solar P3. I have 55W, which was US$900, but there are cheaper (less powerful) models that ought to work out just fine. They weight about 4lbs. The only catch is that these require an external battery. I bought a motorcycle battery in country, which is smaller than a car battery and thus more portable. The solar panels charge the battery with a set of pos/neg clips (which come with the optional accessory kit), and I had the female end of a car cigarette lighter rigged to have pos/neg clips as well (this was not something I found pre-made, but it is easy enough for someone who knows about electricity to rig up). Then, all my equipment has cigarette lighter adaptors (cell phone, battery charger, computer, etc.). I can plug in anything I want that has a cigarette lighter adaptor (12V). These are widely available adaptors for many devices. I agree that</DIV><DIV> taking a multimeter into the field for trouble-shooting is a good idea. They are cheap (about US$10), lightweight, and widely available. </DIV><DIV><BR></DIV><DIV>Please let me know if my answers need clarification. </DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"><DIV>Yes, that's basically what I would have said!</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>My situation was a little different, weight, cost and humidity were big issues so I had a small Sealed Lead Acid (7 Amp hour / ~2kg) battery and 10W panel. This was just enough to charge the batteries for the Nagra ARES BB+, my flashlights (If you need them, make sure they are designed to work with rechargeables), digital camera etc. I took two 5 hour batteries for the Video Camera, and never needed to recharge them (we were mostly after audio this time). I didn't have a laptop. In other words I had a "bare-minimum" digital system. Unfortunately, the solar panel broke in the first month, so I ended up getting power from a variety of fairly bizarre sources in the remaining 4 months... that's when the multimeter came in handy.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>So I guess my first recommendation would be to have a backup system if something goes wrong.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Depending on your constraints, I'd suggest doing a rough estimate of your power consumption, and purchasing a kit of the right size like the P3 above.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>If weight is not an issue, I suggest purchasing a largish Lead Acid battery in country.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Consider a charge regulator. This will stop you overcharging the battery and a good one will also indicate when the battery is low so you don't damage it from drawing too much power. Although, I suppose if you did damage your battery, you could always pick up another one. Here's a product that is a protective housing for the battery and battery status indicator:</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><A href="http://www.whitworths.com.au/main_itemdetail.asp?cat=123&item=4190&intAbsolutePage=1">http://www.whitworths.com.au/main_itemdetail.asp?cat=123&item=4190&intAbsolutePage=1</A></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>(Apologies for not finding a better link) The better model has a cigarette lighter plug. Having a handle on your power source is good because you can move it around if you use it as a primary power source instead of as a charger. Using it as a direct power source is more efficient as you have some power loss in the transfer of power from one battery to another.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>The battery acts like a buffer. Because you'll only be charging during the day, and you usually have your equipment charging while you sleep, you need a battery big enough for (at least) a couple of nights of recharging (in case it rains etc).</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>That's all I can think of for now, I'll post again when I've finished the report.</DIV><BR><DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; ">Tom Honeyman</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; ">PARADISEC Project Research Assistant</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; ">Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; ">Sydney Unit, room 238, Transient Building F12</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; ">University of Sydney NSW 2006</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; ">tel +61 2 9036 9557</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; ">fax +61 2 9351 7572</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><A href="mailto:tom.honeyman@paradisec.org.au">tom.honeyman@paradisec.org.au</A></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><A href="http://www.paradisec.org.au">http://www.paradisec.org.au</A></DIV></DIV><DIV><DIV><BR><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV> </DIV><BR></BODY></HTML>