Monday, 29 April 2019

Satellite Radio Worked Great!

So, as I said, I activated and connected up my Satellite Radio. I didn’t do anything permanent, I just strung it across the place and plugged what wires had to be plugged into what. 
   

The first afternoon, I had the antenna (that little black box thing) sitting on the roof, with its wire running out the window. 

The interesting thing is that I didn’t have to do that, just placing it up high inside the trailer worked fine.
   

That is the top of the slide-out, that stays inside because to slide it out, would put it, and my butt into traffic. 

Now, to power it (for now), I have to plug it into one of those round “12V power sockets.” 

Since I only have one, that is a problem, as most of my appliances plug either directly or indirectly into a 12V power socket. Indirectly, means that I plug my 120VAC stuff into an inverter which plugs into a 12V power socket.

So, I got this.
   

That is a Y-spliter for a 12V socket. Since my Satellite takes almost nothing for power, it is no problem having it and, say my laptop running on the same outlet, at the same time.

This way, I can listen to the Satellite Radio, as I work away on the laptop. It was fun and I was able to do it quite well. 

Despite how well it worked with the antenna inside, I will still get the radio properly installed for two reasons. 

One is that I hate seeing cables strung across the floor, not for something that is going to be a permanent fixture in my home. 

For the other, I want that antenna on the roof, so that it can get the strongest and best signal, no matter where I am. (As in, even if I am in some remote location).

Running the larger system was okay, but I am not sure how often I will run it, due to how much power it takes.

You see, when that all in one desktop is running, it takes 50Watts of power. Compare that with my laptop which, when fully charged takes around 10 Watts or less to run.

It was nice to run it and we shall see what will happen, but it seems like a bit of a power pig, to run. 

You see, this is an issue as if I am drawing more power than the solar panels are providing at any given time, then I am drawing power out of the batteries, even in the middle of the day. 

So, while I have a great deal of power, I still must be mindful and weary of what I am using at any given time. 

It is possible to get to the end of a sunny day with completely dead batteries, even with all that sunshine and all that electricity coming from my solar panels.

The Satellite radio worked great, and that was nice, as I plan to use it daily from now on. 

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive, and keep moving forward!

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