Unfortunately the whiteans got into the wooden battery boxes
Those battery cells have a weight of nearly 800 kg!!
Now the car is stuck because of the broke clutch plate
You can see the gearbox has been removed to get to the clutch plate, and that all in the wilderness of the rain forrest
Watchmen`s office
We had to move the batteries to another place to keep the transmitter running
To be in the rain forrest means to be in the heavy fog of the clouds
We
have got new solar panels to replace the stolen ones and got even a new battery!!
On Thursday, August
16th 2007, we went up to the transmitter site. The old battery was finished completely. We
had to reset the solar controller to be able to start the generator. But because the
batteries had such low capacity left, the whole system collapsed again at night!
Up to now the way up
had been much too slippery to get right to the sight because of the heavy rains this year.
But now we had no alternative: We had to bring up the new batteries already waiting at the
studio since early this year
The director decided
to hire a driver with his Landrover to bring all the heavy batteries.
Therefore we packed
16 Cells of the new battery into his car and he took off with us heading the transmitter
site.
Unfortunately he
forgot to take his snow chains on the trip we badly needed on the steeper section. The
tires slipped and the car did not move on. He tried it several times again, but finally
the clutch broke and he had to park the car just across the way. Someone had to watch the
car until we could come back the next day with a new clutch plate!
We returned to Moshi
by foot until we got a lift home by the director.
On Saturday morning
we took of wit the studio box car with another set of batteries and its Acid drums. When
we arrived at the car in the rain forest the technician, who came with us, started to take
the car apart immediacy, to replace the clutch plate.
Unfortunately it has
not been possible to get up the second bunch of batteries, because of heavy rains started
right after the first one was up and we had to take them back to the studio.
After some days this
driver refused completely to bring up the rest of the batteries, because he worried about
the safety of his car.
Another driver with
another car got hired, and he managed to bring up all the new battery cells and take the
old ones down.
Here is a short
video about one of the trips
Here is a short
video about returning the solar plates
Now the transmitter
is on air again with 100-200 Watts, without any problems!
Thank you Mission
One World and the many donors collecting all the money needed for the spares!!
Back on air!!!