Their series focuses on applications designed for professionals and hobbyists looking for a field workstation.  But I see the application extend to the expedition traveler – a lot of similar needs, along with a few others.  Let’s talk about finding the right laptop – the core of the system.

The Specifications: What an Expedition Laptop Needs

While the field professional needs things like a durable computer, no cables, and long battery life, the overland traveler has a few other uses for an expedition laptop – email, blogging, costing spreadsheets, photo storage, video storage, and maybe even video editing.  It’s something you want to mount in a car or at least have easily accessible when driving.  You want to take it to the internet cafe, update your emails at the campfire, transfer photos from your camera by bluetooth, drag it on a canoe with you up the Amazon river…it’s got to be durable, and rugged, and reliable.

So combining the features of a GeoPad and an Expedition class laptop I get

• rugged, waterproof, dustproof, drop proof
• touchscreen (digitizer style – read this post on the difference)
• convertible tablet/clamshell style
• WIFI
• built-in GPS (no annoying cables)
• long battery life
• at least 120 GB hard drive (for you photos and videos)

The Panasonic Toughbook CF-18

The Panasonic Toughbook is listed as the first choice on the Free Geography Tools post, but quickly dismissed due to it’s prohibitive cost (a new tablet Toughbook CF-19 starts around $3000, and then you add the options like integrated GPS).  But I disagree.  If you lowered your standards just a bit, you can find a the previous Toughbook tablet computer model, the CF-18 on eBay for around $600 USD.

It would come with a touchscreen and WIFI, and be in pretty decent condition.  Many of the models have upgraded hard drives (they came stock with 60 GB back in the day) and if you look hard enough you’ll find one with Bluetooth and if you’re really lucky, built-in GPS.

But don’t spend too much time trying to find all of that in one computer.  Instead get a model in good condition with an upgraded hard drive.  There are lots of those available.  Then jump over to CustomToughbooks.com and buy one of their GPS/bluetooth upgrade kits for $175 USD and install it.  You’ll get a modern GPS module, much better than the stock ones that came with the CF-18, and you’ll get the bluetooth as well.  The downside is you’ll need a bit of handywork to install the GPS module, but the installation documentation is available on the CustomToughbooks website and it looks fairly straight-forward.

The CF-18 is slow: Will it work?

It’s a valid point.  The CF-18 came with a 900 to 1.2 Mhz Pentium M processor, quite slow by today’s standards.  It will be happy running Windows XP, but don’t try running Vista.  I’m not sure how well Windows 7 will work but my guess is it would be too much for it.  And you’ll have to forget video editing.  Well, not forget it, but expect to take a long time waiting for your scenes to render.  Large photo editing would be  a problem too, but storing and viewing photos and basic tasks available in standard photo album software should be no problem.

For emailing, working with spreadsheets and blogging – no problem.  Mapping and GIS? Also a snap especially for field work.  Data collection, mapping, and navigation don’t need much processor speed.

Other Ideas?

Feedback, experiences, questions – always welcome!  If you’ve got something to say, do so in the comments section below.  In the meantime, take a look at some current eBay auction listings fro CF-18 Toughbooks.  If you’re keen on buying one, take a look at our article on Buying Used Panasonic Toughbooks.  It gives you some good pointers on what to look for, especially from eBay auctions.

Panasonic Toughbook CF-18 Centrino Laptop Notebook US $649.94 More Info

PANASONIC CF-18 TOUGHBOOK TOUCHSCREEN LAPTOP 1.1Ghz/512 US $500.19 More Info

TABLET TOUCHSCREEN laptop Panasonic TOUGHBOOK CF-18 GPS US $799.00 More Info

PANASONIC CF-18 TOUGHBOOK 320GB 1.2GHZ 1.5GB TOUCHSCREE US $599.99 More Info

Panasonic Toughbook CF-18 Centrino Laptop Notebook US $619.94 More Info

Panasonic Toughbook CF-18 MAXIMUM 320HD DVD-RW GPS US $895.00 More Info

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Hello. I have just purchased the South America Topographic Series 2 and I am having a few problems. I started to download what appears to be part 1 of 3. I had to stop part way through and when I tried to continue it went straight to part 2.

I have now successfully downloaded part 2. Do I need to download part 1 and 3 as well or are they the same as I’ve already got?

My second problem is that I don’t have any index to the maps or any software with them. I’ve also tried opening the .MAP files but my computer doesn’t recognise them.

Please can you help with this?

What the Maps Cover and How to Use Them

The customer purchased Series 2 of the South America map series so there was no need to download the other Series 1 and 3.

• Series 1 covers latitudes 12 North to 4 South
• Series 2 covers latitudes 4 South to 22 South, (this is the one he purchased)
• Series 3 covers latitudes 22 South to 56 South.

To index the maps you need to have software such as OziExplorer (http://www.oziexplorer.com) or Fugawi (http://www.fugawi.com). But really, as I’ve noted in previous posts, download and get to know OziExplorer.  The .map files are created by and for OziExplorer.  They are really just text files that contain all of the information to place the images of the topo maps in the correct coordinate space.

This software will read the .map files and georeference them, index them, and make it easy to navigate, view, and zoom between the maps. It will also add GPS capability to them (only useful when you’re actually in South America.)

Back to the Title: Who Needs Topo Maps of Brazil?

I received a final email, and here is what he said:

Thank you very much for the very quick response. I’ve been living in Brazil for the past 3 years, visiting here for 6 years altogether, and it’s almost impossible to get a decent map. I’m trying to run a paragliding guiding business so I’m hoping these will be very useful.

According to Steve, it is hard to find good detailed maps of Brazil.  Hopefully the packages we sell are use to him.  I took a look at his paragliding website, and wow does it ever look like fun! So on a side note, if you’re going to Brazil, check out his site and look him up.

Steve can be found running his paragliding business XCBrazil.com in Bairro de Lourdes, Brazil.

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Here is a copy of the emails so that you can also benefit, edited for clarity:

G’day Robin,

One question I have is the maps I have looked at so far don’t have the english translation in red as have the maps on the website. It would be very handy to have the translated version if possible.

The English translation only works within OziExplorer. OziExplorer has a names feature built into the software that will load a database of names and place them on the map at the correct coordiates. The coordinate and name information is all stored in the database. This database is included in the download.

Download OziExplorer

If you purchase one of our map sets, make sure you’ve got OziExplorer.  It will add huge value to the maps. You can download a trial/demo version here at the OziExplorer website.  After you install it you will have 2 options to run – either the shareware or the trial. Choose the TRIAL version. You should be able to use all the minimum features to view the maps with the names. For full functionality you will have to purchase the software from them. The email chain continues:

G’day Robin, I’m still having trouble with the english names coming up. I have the latest Oziexplorer ( 3.95.4s ) installed and get the maps up OK but then I’m not sure what to do next to bring up the english translation. Hope you can help. Kindest regards.

Using the Names Feature in OziExplorer

In OziExplorer on the menu bar on the top is an icon called “Name”. Click it and a side pane opens up. Click the “load” button and navigate to the south american .names files that came with the download. It defaults to installing the names files to c:\oziexplorer\name search.

1. Select the country name file that you’re interested in, and load it.
2. Load the map you’re interested in looking at.
3. On the Name sidebar, check the “On Map” box. This will filter the list of names to only the ones that are on your map. The names list is really long, since it’s for a whole country.
4. To display the names, press the button on the names sidebar that has a while empty circle in it. The names will plot on the map.

There’s also a really detailed help section on how the names work within OziExplorer – it’s worth your time to give it a read and understand how all of this works.

Also note that the names files have different types of information as shown on the Feature Code pull-down.  You can further filter what shows up on the map by selecting a specific feature code, including Cities or Towns, Administrative Regions, Hydrographic Features, Vegetation, or Roads and Rail.

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You’ve got the hood open to your car, you’ve just done some electrical work of some kind and the batteries disconnected.  Now it’s time to reconnect them, and you want to make sure you continue to work with the best and safest practices.

The Short Answer

The short answer?  Connect the positive first and the negative second.  This way you eliminate the risk of creating a short while you’re connecting them.  If you want to be sure then read below for the caveats – there are situations where this doesn’t apply and/or you can damage equipment.  In the meantime, for most of us, here’s an explanation of why:

Short Circuits in Car Batteries are BAD!

Imagine you’ve connected the negative first, and now you’re on to the positive side.  You slip the battery clamp over the positive terminal.  Maybe there’s a tiny spark as your radio memory draws that tiny bit of power.  But no worries, that little spark has so little current running through it that nothing happens.  Next you take your half-inch wrench or 12 mm or whatever it is wherever you live.  You start tightening the clamp tightly to the post.  As you turn the wrench around it comes close to the body of the car and suddenly the wrench slips off the nut and slams against the body while still touching the the positive terminal.

Don’t try this at home kids!  If a circuit is completed (it might not due to the insulative properties of the car paint) but if the circuit is completed you’ll have a great spark show on your hands, and the point of greatest heat will loose.  You could melt a hole in your car body, you could melt the battery post (most likely being the softest metal), you could melt and deform your wrench, and of course you could burn yourself.

For most of us, I think we can agree this situation sucks.  If you had not connected the negative terminal first, then the body would not be connected to the battery system, and the short would not have been possible.

Connection Sequence of a Car Battery

The car body is connected to the negative terminal, the negative terminal is connected to the positive terminal (and in between has harnessed the electrical potential in the battery), the positive terminal is connected to the electrical system, and each item in the system is connected to the car body.  This is a complete circuit.

In the short circuit example above you actually “shortened the circuit”.  You cut out the electrical system, and just connected the battery straight to the body.  If the negative terminal was not connected, then the circuit would have remained incomplete, and you would not have had a short.

Clear?  If not, ask in the comments section below and I’ll try to clarify.  And the moral is connect the positive first, then connect the negative. Go ahead and slip with the wrench all you want when connecting the negative – it’s already connected to the car body, and you won’t create a short circuit.

The Caveats

Here are a few reasons why you might connect the positive terminal first rather than the negative terminal.

1. You’ve got a positive ground vehicle.  Like an older Series Land Rover – yes you know who you are!  The electrical systems in those cars are backwards to most of the rest of the cars in the world.  Yes, the English had their reasons.  If you’ve got a positive grounded car, then just do it in the opposite way.
2. You’ve got equipment that needs the ground to be connected last.  There are some pieces of specialized electronics (poorly made I’ll admit) that need to be connected in a certain order or they blow internal fuses.  If you’ve got them, you probably know all about it and you also probably curse yourself for not spending a bit more on a better engineering product!

Any more?  Leave a comment below if you know of any!

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How Are Amp Hours Determined?

Battery manufacturers complete tests on their batteries to give them an Amp-Hour rating. A typical time period for a test is 20 hours, but it varies – batteries are tested over different periods, such as 24 hours, 75 hours, even 100 hours.  But as you’ll see below, a 100 Amp-hour battery tested over a 100 hour period (i.e. 1 amp drawn for 100 hours) will not have the same capacity as a 100 Amp-hour battery tested over a 20 hour period (i.e. 5 amps drawn for 20 hours). It turns out that if you drew 1 amp continuously from the 20 hour test battery, it would last for 110-120% longer than on the 100 hour test battery. I’ll (try to) explain that later.

Let’s Do an Example Calculation

Suppose you have a 100 Amp-hour battery, tested over a 20 hour period. 100 Amp-hours divided by 20 hours = 5 amps. That means that the battery manufacturer claims the battery can sustain a 5 amp load for 20 hours until the battery is completely dead.

That’s great, but now put it into realistic terms. For starters you don’t want to drain a battery to it’s completely flat, empty, dead state as it will significantly reduce the life of the battery. A good rule of thumb (battery type depending) is that you should only drain a battery down to 40% of it’s original capacity, or in other words you’ve only got 60% of the battery to use. This number should be stated by the manufacturer in the documentation.

Back to the 100 Ah, 5 Amp load example: We said you had 20 hours of time when drawing 5 amps, but in fact you only have 60% of that time, so 20 hours x 60% = 12 hours.

Up until now, what we have said is true because we have used the same amperage over the same time period at which the battery was originally tested (20 hour rate). So what if you took your 100 amp-hour battery, but wanted to draw 10 amps from it until it was at the safe discharge level (60%)?

Do the math: 100 Ah / 10 Amps x 60% = 6 hours, right?

Wrong.

The More Amperage You Draw, the Lower the Battery Capacity

That’s right, the effective amp hours available drops with the more amps you draw.  All of a sudden that 100 Amp-hour battery is not what it says it is. Ok, back to the numbers, lets try to keep this clear:

That makes 100 Ah x 90% = 90 Ah / 10 Amps draw = 9 hours x 60% (max safe discharge number) = 5.4 hours. And that’s quite a difference from the 6 hours you thought you had.

Where Did I get the 90%?

I’m going to stop here and leave you hanging – except to say that there’s a relationship defined called Peukert’s Equation, and that’s where the approximate 90% comes from.  The Peukert Equation quantifies the the above phenomenon so that you can predict how much time you’ll actually have on a battery given a specific discharge rate.

What’s Next – How About A Helpful Tool?

My guess is that if you’re still reading this your about ready to start figuring out how many batteries you need, and you could really use a little help with the calculation.  You might have gone to the Wikipedia site above to investigate what Peukert had to say, but exponents aren’t really your thing, and you can’t find your calculator anyway.

If I’m right, then why don’t you stay tuned – subscribe to our or RSS Feed or subscribe by email and wait for the calculator to come.  Hey, if you want it, why don’t you ask for it below in the comments section – the more people who ask the faster we’ll write it!

And if you have something else to add, you can either write it in the comments below, or submit an article to us for submission on this site.  If you have your own website and you want some traffic it’s a great way to build a link.  Check out our article submission page and find out more.

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His application was for a solar installations where capacity is usually important, along with a typical requirement for 24 volts which is a common voltage on solar panel systems.

He describes how to do it using a matrix – I had to take a pencil to write it down to follow what he was saying. Then I had to think about it for a bit, so I figured some you might have had to think about it for a bit too…hence this article.  I’ll try to give some more detail to break it all down.  Here is what he said:

My need was 24VDC power with 200 amp hours.

I purchased 4 each 12VDC AGM 110 amp hour batteries. Picture the 4 batteries in 2 rows (R) x 2 columns (C).
1) R1C1 positive is connected to R1C2 positive.
2) R2C1 negative is connected to R2C2 negative.
3) R1C1 negative is connected to R2C1 positive.
4) R1C2 negative is connected to R2C2 positive.
5) R1C1 positive and R2C1 negative provide 24VDC power with 220 amp hours.

I take the R1C1 positive and R2C1 negative and run through a 24VDC Photovoltaic Charge/Controller which is connected Solar Panels with output to my various 24VDC devices including Programmable Controller, Instrumentation, and Spread Spectrum Radio.

Like I said, you need to draw it out.  And for your benefit, I’ve done that (click to enlarge):

On the left is what Larry describes, and on the right is what I would have done.  I’ve gotta say, Larry’s way is WAY better.  Less wires, less complex. So let’s talk about it.

“My need was 24VDC power with 200 amp hours”

24 volts from 12 volt batteries: if you read our last article then you know that when you connect batteries in series, the voltages add together.  So Larry took two of his batteries and connected the positive and the negatives together.  Then he did it for the other pair.  On the diagram, each pair is vertical – the negative of a top battery is connected to a positive of the battery directly below it.  And so now there are two 24 volt battery banks, side by side.

On to the second criteria, 200 amp hours.

It’s pretty tough to find an automotive battery that stores much more than 100 amp hours.  In this case Larry found some 110 amp hour AGM batteries.  But how do you get 200 amp hours?  I describe this in detail in the last article, and if you’ve read it you know that if you connect batteries in parallel the amperages add together.

And so he added the amperages of the two battery banks together by connecting the positives on each bank and connecting the negatives on each bank.  Presto, 100 amps plus 100 amps is 200 amps.

Lastly by taking a lead from the positive and a lead from the negative, he’s got a 24 volt system, with the full capacity of 200 amp hours in reserve. On the image above you’ll see what I call “our method”.  While it does the same thing, it’s more complex, and after seeing how Larry does it, I’m converted.  See if you can follow the differences – but really, they each do the same thing.

A few paragraphs ago I mentioned the AGM batteries that Larry purchased for his application.  AGM battery – what is that?

What are Advanced Glass Mat Batteries?

AGM stands for Advanced Glass Mat, and is a type of deep cycle battery.  Battery types is a whole other article that we need to write, but if you are reading this and you care to contribute, go ahead and leave a comment below.  Hey, if you want to write a full blown article and give some good detail on what an Advanced Glass Mat battery is, go to our article submission page and do so – we come with benefits!

Has this article been of interest to you?  There’s more to come, so in the mean time stay tuned in and subscribe to this website – subscribe by email or subscribe by RSS.

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On our post about installing a 24 volt battery equalizer, Parker Sharpe asked in the comments section how to wire two 12 volt batteries to make 24 volts.

The Short Answer

Connect the negative terminal of one battery to the positive terminal of the second battery.  You will be left with two battery terminals free of the total four.  One will be positive on one battery, and one will be negative on the other battery.  Take the free positive terminal and connect it to the power lead on your 24 volt device.  Connect the negative to the ground connection of your 24 volt device.  That’s it!

The Longer Answer

It is called wiring the batteries in series, as opposed to in parallel.  Here is the difference:

To connect batteries in parallel, connect the negative of each battery to the negative of the next battery.  The same goes for the positive terminals – connect the positive terminals together.  Here’s what you get: the combined voltage of the batteries averages out, but the combined available amperage is additive. For example, two 12 volt batteries connected in parallel gives a combined average voltage of 12 volts.  And if one of the batteries is capable of delivering 400 amps and the other can deliver 600 amps, the combined amperage is 1000 amps.

What does the combined average voltage mean?  Here is another example.  Say you have one 12 volt battery and one 6 volt battery.  If you combined them in parallel you would have a combined average voltage of 12+6 / 2 = 9 volts.  And most people will be connecting 12 volt automotive batteries together.  So the combined average voltage is 12+12 / 2 = 12 volts.  Get it?

Why Connect Batteries in Parallel?

In the examples above you keep the voltage the same (you don’t normally connect batteries that are not of the same voltage), but you get more available amperage.  This translates into the ability to do any of the following:

• run your equipment longer (i.e. car stero)
• run a more powerful piece of equipment (i.e. a large starter)
• run equipment at colder temperatures (say starting your car in the middle of winter).

Why Connect Batteries in Series?

And this leads you to the next question, why connect batteries in series in the first place?

Since the voltage is additive when you connect batteries in series, you will be able to run equipment that is designed with a different voltage.  The example that Parker asked about was for his 24 volt troller motor for his boat.

A lot of marine equipment is often 24 volts.  And this presents a problem for boats that have a 12 volt starter on the main motor, and the owner has purchased a simple trolling motor that came off-the-shelf for 24 volts.  Now you have two systems on your boat – a 12 volt main system for your main motor and boat accessories including the charging system, and a 24 volt system for running the trolling motor.

All of a sudden the whole problem gets a lot more complex.  The question is how to connect batteries in series and parallel at the same time?  The short answer, is no you can’t.  The soluton is another article.

But in the short term you can use the brute force method: buy two 12 volt batteries, connect them in series to make 24 volts, and run your troller directly from them.  Eventually the troller will drain the batteries, and you’ll have to quit, go to shore, hump the batteries back home, connect the to a charger to recharge them, and bring them back to the boat on your next fishing trip.  What a hassle, but it would work (make sure you’ve still got your main motor to get home or else bring a paddle!).

Has this article been of interest to you?  There’s more to come, so in the mean time stay tuned in and subscribe to this website – subscribe by email or subscribe by RSS.

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Under this arrangement, enterprise and industry-specific organizations can acquire Getac-branded rugged notebooks, convertible/slate tablets, handhelds and in-vehicle solutions through HP’s direct sales teams and channel partners.

Getac products have met the challenges of military, field service and sales force, public safety, utilities, transportation, telecommunication, construction, heavy industrial, mining and refining applications for nearly 20 years. Getac rugged notebook computers, tablets and handhelds are strictly controlled and monitored from the design, manufacturing, and quality assurance, to service flows.

“Our continued innovations in design and manufacturing has provided Getac with one of the largest and most competitive selections of rugged computer solutions,” says Jim Rimay, president, Getac, Inc. “The combination of Getac’s rugged and reliable computers, along with HP’s reputation, vast distribution channel and HP Financial Services, will allow the companies to increase penetration in specific markets.”

The arrangement allows the customer to acquire a high quality product and at the same time reduce procurement costs and simplify sales processes by purchasing Getac products directly from HP

For more information about Getac visit www.getac.com

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