finally, jc and i have found some time to continue planning!

jc has bought ridiculously detailed maps of spain and france. we went along the theroretical line and assessed where there might be problems to follow the line closely.

there are lots of such instances > see for yourself below! (fully zoomable > try changing to terrain mode…)

View TDE 2012 in a larger map

we will be using the same technology for tracking and communication as during the WAVE. with one big difference: i will be on vacation this time and will be able to fully enjoy 100% of the adventure, unlike during the WAVE, where i missed many things due to me working from my hotel room!

just to give you an idea of the size of the maps!
just to give you an idea of the size of the maps!

our WIP-date of departure is july 5. i’ve activated a countdown in the sidebar to count down the days until departure. i’m surprised that only 52 day are left until we leave. 1 quarter end, 6 flights to vienna, 7 visits to the french part of switzerland and uncountable meetings for me until we leave. πŸ™‚

another little project is my IEC Type 2 adapter cable which i would like to take with us for TDE2012. we wanted to take this cable with us on TDD2011 but due to missing understanding and other issues we were unable to buy/make this cable due to various problems.

i’ll be adding a page on this project soon. stay tuned. (Update: here is the IEC2 build page)

 

6 Replies to “TDE2012 – planning update”

  1. Hallo Andrew,

    vergiss den IEC-Typ 2 Adapter. Den “braucht” man nur in Deutschland …

    Gruß
    Heinz-Peter

    1. above question in english for all our english-speaking readers: “hi andrew, forget the IEC2 adaptor. you only need it in germany. grz heinz-peter”

      hi there, heinz-peter,

      thank you for taking the time to comment. i’m always glad to know people are *actually reading* my blog πŸ™‚

      i grant you that there are indeed not many IEC type 2 charging stations along our route (2 of which we know, to be exact). for us (me, to be very, very precise) it is a matter of simply having such a connector (now *and* in future). i live very close to germany – 2kms off the german border – and use my twike a lot in sourthern germany, voralberg or bavaria. i’ve been in situations where i would have had access to tri-phase electricity easily via such a connector, but was forced to get 3 single phases from 3 different plugs instead.

      therefore, yes, technically, you are absolutely right. but i think there is no real argument against liking to solve the problem of actually getting my hands on such a plug which is not pre-assembled, filled with epoxy raisin and fully configurable at a very low price (china, thank you!) and then solve the next problem how to ideally configure the plug and cable in such a fashion that it can reliably signal plug proximity and plug release states to the charging station.

      i hope this helps,
      best,
      andrew

  2. Hi Andrew,

    just follow this thread at the elweb-forum: http://26373.foren.mysnip.de/read.php?27570,342006
    There you will find the answers to your questions.

    In meantime i have bought such an adapter from Henning Bettermann. IEC Typ 2 400V/32A on one side, CEE400V32A on the other side and 5m cable in between …
    Additionally I have modified it to a “hybrid” adapter. With a small switch i can select between 16A and 32A.
    It works without any communication!

    Regards

    Heinz-Peter

    1. hi there, heinz-peter,
      thank you for taking the time to add to your last comment.
      and again, you are completely right! (& congrats for modifying the cable successfully)

      but – and i am dead-serious here – why buy if you can build & learn?

      i, myself have been following information given here and here.

      so, to summarize:
      i might not need the cable
      i possibly needn’t go to the lenghts i’m going to build it, since others have already have.
      it might even be cheaper to buy it…

      but it’s lots of fun to do it anyway πŸ™‚
      and that i think is the best basis for anything in life.

      hope this helps,
      andrew

    1. hi there, francesc,

      you’ve travelled by TWIKE from switzerland to spain already… πŸ™‚

      let’s stay in touch next week and see how we could meet en-route > two TWIKEs are always better than one!

      best,
      andrew

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