Farm Electronics Maintenance

Last weekend I replaced several of the DC-DC converters in my solar powered surveillance system.  Extended time in the extreme temperatures of their housing had made their predecessors less stable and less efficient.  The final straw came a few weeks back during a massive lightning storm.  I suspect the lightning had induced current in some sensitive components within the devices.  Anyway, after that the system seemed prone to frequent reboots, which was annoying.  

 

Before installing them I had to spend some time studying the data sheets and then soldering the connectors in the right places. The above photo shows the converters ready to go.  

Then I installed the new converters one at time testing each one for correct function at multiple points along the way.  The result of this replacement has been improved proformance of the system which mean more reliable updates about the bison.  

 In other news the bison mating season began about a week ago.  This is indicated to me by the tendency of the dominant male to softly growl at whichever female he is courting.  To the bison it's probably more like singing, but to me it sounds like low frequency growling. You can see the bull in the above surveillance photo (center-top) standing immediately behind a female.