Monthly Archives: June 2011

Technology, VMWare

ESX 4.0 and USB devices

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I’m having trouble getting USB to work on one of my ESX 4.0 hosts.  I did a bunch of research and found that in the initial release of ESX 4 USB was ‘supposed’ to work but didn’t.  All the posts I read indicated that this was fixed in subsequent releases so I went about the task of upgrading my host to the newest release.

After quite a bit of fiddling I was able to get Update 3 installed.  After this I still have not had any luck getting my USB device to connect.  I’m tryinmg to connect a Serial to USB adapter so that I can connect to a Cisco console cable, or other serial devices.  I do have it working just over the regular com/serial port onboard, but I want it to work via USB so that I can more easily move the connection around to other boxes/laptops/etc.

Much of the info that I read dealt with USB HDs so perhaps they work but not these other types of devices/adapters?  If anyone has any ideas I sure would appreciate it!

Ham Radio, Solar, Technology

DIY Solar Power – The Results

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Now that is has been a full 4+ months since my previous post I’ve finally made some progress  with my solar power supply.

I have picked up several pieces that are key to getting a fully off grid low voltage power supply.  I was able to get a Kyocera KC50t Solar Panel,  a Xantrex c35 Charge Controller, a DC breaker box and breakers, interconnect wire, and mounting hardware.

Xantrex C35 an breaker mounted
Xantrex C35 with Baby Big Box DC Breakers

I mounted a piece of 1/2″ plywood to my garage wall as a backer board, and there I mounted the DC breaker box along with the Xantrex C35 about half a foot above that.  Then onto the wiring from there.

Wiring together all of the components took longer than I had expected.  Due to the distance of my panel from the electrical components I needed 10g wire. I was actually right on the cusp of needed 8g wire and the cost jump was double, so I was happy to be in the 10g range.  After some effort I finally got everything wired together.

So now I have 10g leads from my battery pair to a DC breaker in the box as a cutoff.  From there more leads went to the Xantrex on the battery terminal and common ground.  Then another lead from the PV Array terminal and common ground on the Xantrex to another DC breaker.  From the other end of that breaker was my long lead up to the roof where the panel would be mounted.  Also I have incorporated a ground wire interconnecting all of the pieces together with a grounding stake that is just outside my garage.

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