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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!
Depends on your location and camping requirements. When I camp on the AT I get fine cell service. I put my phone on ultra-low power mode and it lasts for a few days. If a keyboard is needed I'd go with an low-power solution like a windows convertible tablet and keep it sleeping in airplane mode most of the time.
If you are car camping its as easy as idling the car for an hour every day to charge everything up. If you are serious about making a semi-permanent camp, a generator trailer towed by an ATV is a good solution.
Camping is artificial rules... make them up to suite your enjoyment.
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.
Please don't be one of those damn people with generators in a rustic campground (those without electrical hookups).
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.
If you go hiking for a few days at a time that is different than finding a campsite and putting an RV on it for a few days.
Say you have a vehicle (such as an RV, a van or even a 4-wheeler), then satellite internet is probably the cheapest and easiest route to go. You use an auxiliary battery and if it drains, you start the vehicle for a little bit. You could even outfit a van/RV to have a 'command center' with a good display, keyboard, mouse and everything else you need to work comfortably.
If you go hiking, then you're looking for a portable dish, receiver hardware, power, laptop etc. not to forget your own survival needs (several kg of water, food etc) things get heavy and I wouldn't recommend it unless you also take along an army platoon with a designated comms carrier.
High-power wifi from your camp site etc. is possible but may also be illegal unless you have the licenses to do so everywhere you go and even then reception won't be great if at all possible 30-60 min. into your hike (trees, hills etc absorb the signal greatly)
Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
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.
Aren't you simply moving your stress outdoors, when working to stay connected and available 24/7 while "relaxing" in the woods? I sympathize with your desire to work and simultaneously to relax. I personally work in a separate building on the same property as our home, but with a different address and facing the main drag with a customer entrance. I can relax in my home and work in the shop as needed. There are no vacations for us, just breaks from work that need to be taken advantage of. If you can achieve a greater degree of relaxation outdoors, successfully and affordably, I salute you.
someone doing sysadmin or coding while camping can't be as bad as yahoos with battery TV or "boom box" stereo or even having headphones but volume cranked up too loud
Your question is bizarre. You talk about being really into the whole survivalist thing, but the infrastructure necessary to hold down a tech job while in the deep wilderness living off your wits is a complete non-starter. (Pedaling for power? Seriously?)
Simply put, your biggest problem is power. (You'll need a LOT less power if you can figure out how to work with a tablet and bluetooth keyboard instead of a full laptop.) That means you are going to need a "base camp". That base camp will need supplies of food and fuel, and a large sunny clearing to collect power whether you are there or not. You can periodically return to swap out batteries/machines and pick up fresh supplies of food and fuel.
You'll need to (obviously) work within an area with cell phone coverage. But there are plenty of fairly remote places that fit that bill, so it's not a big problem.
Discard any idea of hunting for food or cooking with a fire... if you are hungry and in the middle of hunting something or gathering much-needed wood, you are going to get even hungrier when, inevitably, your phone starts to ring with a new problem. You can certainly go several days without seeing another soul, but "living off the land" is just not going to work.
Also consider what you are going to do in bad weather. I'm guessing that once your phone rings, it means something is broken. You'll need to start working pretty quickly, and likely will not have time to make camp if you were in transit at the time. (Please don't say it's realistic to work outside in the middle of a rainstorm, no matter how tough your gear is.) Do you really want to be holed up in a tent (or lean-to, cave, whatever) for days on end when the weather is bad? No, you don't; that's boring as $hit.
Really, if I were in your place, I'd have a base camp (at a regular campground) with a pop-up camper and small and quiet generator (and secure locks!) and go on hikes of one or two days (those small lithium power packs and an iPad would work great!) when the weather looked good. It ain't "roughing it", but trying to get work done in lousy weather when you are hungry and tired is just silly; your work will inevitably suffer as a result.
I have an off-grid cabin on a mountaintop in the middle of nowhere. It's not a survival campsite, but it's quite remote. I can work from there if I need to, and I sometimes do. I have rainwater collection, solar power with plenty of storage, and line of sight to a cell tower on another peak several miles away. Full 4G data from all providers - but only once you're up on the peak, not on the way in. This is a reliable and comfortable way to work from a wilderness location. But this kind of system does not work for survival camping, especially moving between locations. Reliability requires a fixed location with line of sight data service, and a fixed solar installation. If your priority is primitive camping, I don't think this can be achieved effectively. But if your priority is to experience isolated wilderness while definitely staying connected, a small cabin (even a primitively constructed shelter) at a carefully chosen location can work just fine.
I am a geek attorney, but not your geek attorney unless you've already retained me. This is not legal advice.
I have multiple batteries for my laptop and cell phone. Typically, what I'll do is bring as many batteries as is feasible (usually three for my laptop and four for my phone) and fish while writing software. Fishing requires very little active concentration, and it's nice to be able to write code while outside. Most of my trips are not very far from my car though.
Occasionally I'll go on backpacking trips that aren't car-accessible. I have not yet tried to work from one of these trips. I've been looking into the Goal Zero Voltage Inverter and their lightweight solar panels. If I do go this route, I'll likely start out with the solar panel + phone recharger, see how that works, and then get the more expensive voltage inverter and battery. I think it really depends on if you'll have a car available or not. If you have your car, you already have a power generator and the ability to haul heavy stuff.
I own my own software company, so as long as I'm decently responsive I can work from wherever. I kind of agree that for most people going out into nature is a way to not have to focus on those types of concerns. For me, I like being able to work from wherever in the event that I have to pack up and get out quickly.
I think I will get a portable solar cell phone charger, so I can charge my phone from wherever. I live in New Mexico, and the sun in always shining here. There are times when I forget to charge my phone enough, and I'm sitting in my car with the car running so my phone would charge. It would be nice to throw up my solar dash mat, run a wire into my glove box, and put my phone in there while I go inside someplace to do errands.
"I want to do this thing. Please help."
"Don't do that thing because I wouldn't."
Not very helpful, and it also isn't in the spirit of Ask Slashdot.
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.
Vacationing 5 days a week and working on and off?
Working 5 days a week vacationing once every few months.
I think we're the ones who are 'missing the point'.