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Ask Slashdot: Suggestions For Taking a Business Out Into the Forest?
An anonymous reader writes: I'm a huge fan of primitive survival reality TV. I am also self-employed in web troubleshooting and hosting services. I have to be available 24/7, but a lot of my work is just being online for a few minutes at a time. I often think about taking my business 'outdoors', camping, 3-7 days or so at a time — but staying online. Has anyone had experience with this? How did you do it, in terms of internet connectivity and portable power? Satellite internet or long distance Wi-Fi antennaes and a very tall pole? I've looked at some portable power stations with solar attachments, but the idea of hand-cranking to recharge if it's overcast isn't fun, after all, the point is to relax. But I'm willing to manually recharge if it's realistic (would prefer pedaling though!) I happen to have a Toughbook CF-52 (I just thought it was cool) but I may need to replace that with a more eco-friendly laptop as well. Thanks!
A lot of areas are covered by cellphone data service. So if you go to such areas you would likely only need a cellphone with tethering, laptop with as long run time as possible and a solar charger.
Basically you would charge our phone with the solar charger and have your laptop off until needed.
These guys did it:
http://www.engadget.com/2013/0...
They're in Boston now, I talked to them about it for a while and they're two very awesome people. There are many other articles out there about their time living in the woods while developing their projects.
I spent 3 winters living on a motorcycle, camping in the deserts of CA, NV, AZ, and UT, and working from there. A USB LTE aircard with Verizon (they really do have the widest coverage) and a small external antenna did the trick, even in some VERY remote places (Find Escalante, UT on a map and follow the Hole in the Rock Rd 30 miles south to the turn-off for Peek-a-Boo Gulch. Yup, I worked from there for a few days). I had an iPhone app that showed where I could find service and which G it would be (aptly named "Coverage").
Can't help you with charging because I had an inverter plugged into the bike. I suppose you could accomplish the same with a very small generator if you plan on getting somewhere and then staying stationary. It's hard to beat the energy density of fossil fuels.
Depending on what part of the country you're in you can get out to some pretty remote places deep in National Forests and on BLM land with a vehicle. They also usually allow "dispersed camping" just about anywhere you please for a few weeks at a time. It's not the same as heading out on foot with nothing but a backpack but I would do that on the weekends, launching from wherever I happened to end up with the bike on a Friday.
Regardless of what you figure out for charging, a smaller laptop with less moving parts will be much less power-hungry. I used a Macbook Air.
Most laptops are pretty power hungry (7-10W). Can you work web and iOS app-only? The iPad air sucks less than 3W when running. Which means you can work pretty long without needing to recharge. Obviuosly a macbook air if you need a laptop or a MS Surface is fairly power-efficient if you need a windows machine, and they'll burn closer to 5-6W. Grab a solar charger (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00G6CDTGS) and a Biolite stove (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BQHET9O/) for recharge and cloudy-weather just-in-case charging.
If you're close enough to civilization for mobile/cell data, that's your best bet (and where the iPad would really shine, tho the Surface 3 has an LTE version). If not, there's more costly solutions like Iridium Go! (http://www.bluecosmo.com/iridium-go/rate-plans $125/mo for unlimited data, but at 2.4kbps rates...you're just telnetting, right?), but still fully portable.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
There's an outfit on amazon/ebay that sells 18v "Allpower" solar panels with an array of adapters to use with whatever brand laptop you have for reasonable prices. They just unfold, and then plug right in to your laptop. On a modern laptop, you could probably get away with running/charging a laptop on a 21w array for $90, but they make up to a 28w array for $130. Modern Haswell/Broadwell laptops run at about 15w with the display at full brightness. There's a 14w array too for $60, but if you're seriously considering buying a device like this you probably want the ability to run and charge at the same time, and it's unlikely you'll find a place that allows you to put the panel in full sun and comfortably work on the laptop. With 18v, you'll never fully charge the battery (you need 19-19.5v to do that) but it'll satisfactorily charge your laptop to about 93% very reliably.
Of course, if you're stuck in a rainstorm for three or four days and you wear down your laptop battery, you might have trouble getting it charged back up until the sun comes back out. But with modern 15 hour batteries in laptops you should be able to squeak by for a day or two of normal office work.
moox. for a new generation.
I live on a boat and work full time online. There are many of us. We're in the same situation, even though it seems different. There are heaps of resources online. Looking at the quality of the responses here I would encourage you to just go and see what people on boats have been doing. Far too much to cover in a single reply.
However...
- LTE/4g with a high gain antenna is by far your best bet. USB or ethernet, not a hotspot. Don't waste power on local wifi
- Long range WiFi is a pain in the neck
- Forget about satellite. I have it because I have to. It's terrible and obscenely expensive.
You don't have to worry about a bunch of other stuff sailors have to deal with like desalinating water and non-cell based comms. You'll find it really not a problem to pull off what you're trying to do. And you can get really remote with a carbon fibre poll and high gain antenna. Make sure you put the USB modem at the top of the poll so the RF cable to the antenna is short and the USB cable is long.
And as for power generation - spend 95% of your effort trying to reduce power consumption. That means not just what hardware you choose but changing your behaviour and how software is configured. And get a Honda eu1000 generator + lithium battery, with a high efficiency solar panel and MPPT controller. Don't use an inverter to power the power supply for your laptop. Get a DC/DC converter to go from the main storage battery to your computer. Personally i'd not worry about solar if you're only going for a week. The gasoline to run you for a week will be like half a gallon or a gallon.
Oh, and go to a sailors swap-meet. You'll find old charge controllers, solar panels, generators, inverters etc. Also pick up some blocks and rope while you're there, it'll be useful for rigging up your site.
Good luck, I hope you go for it.
OP here. I actually appreciate your pointed, from-the-gut response.
I miswrote that line. A lot of my work is being online for a few minutes at a time - communication, to troubleshoot issues, or to download something (like a website), which I then work on offline for a longer period. On average I work the same number of hours per day as most people.
However, this time spent online is really not relevant though, since when I think about it, I really would prefer to have constant connectivity while out there - while there would be periods I wouldn't really use it to move a lot of data, my response time to requests is quick, and I wouldn't want to compromise that by very much.
Certainly not running my business on autopilot - I've been doing it for 7 years, it's solid, I love the business, my clients, and the work. What I don't always love is the scenery from my living room.
Pick a spot where you have mobile phone coverage and you have solved your internet problem and you would be amazed at how much laptop time you can get out of a couple of charged car batteries and an inverter. If all you are doing it running a phone and a laptop you will get a week no problems.