EEVblog #632 - Solar Roadways Are BULLSHIT!

[EEVblog]

If you want an idea of Scott's personality type, it's right there...

It helps to believe:

[Fungus]

If you want an idea of Scott's personality type, it's right there...

[Fungus]

If you want an idea of Scott's personality type, it's right there...

It helps to believe:

This guy doesn't mess around. He's hitting those government types hard on every front.

[kalleboo]

If they just hadn't plastered a huge flag and SOLAR FREAKIN ROADWAYS on the wall, they may have been able to afford a netbook...

If you want an idea of Scott's personality type, it's right there...

The huge flag reminds of of that "True Americans" post. Wait... huge flag... true americans... was that a sockpuppet account?

[nctnico]

LOL!
Some kids trying to beat up the panels at night!
https://twitter.com/ytgadgetaddict/status/783561463021436930/video/1

Some parenting needs to be done. I always tell my kids that breaking stuff is what utter morons do.

[EEVblog]

Some parenting needs to be done. I always tell my kids that breaking stuff is what utter morons do.

The problem is kids don't mind being morons, nor being called that.

[Fungus]

LOL!
Some kids trying to beat up the panels at night!
https://twitter.com/ytgadgetaddict/status/783561463021436930/video/1

Some parenting needs to be done. I always tell my kids that breaking stuff is what utter morons do.

Have you seen "Jackass"? It was very popular.

I hope somebody has a recording of today's attack. That guy didn't wander over to check out the pretty lights or anything like that. He literally ran into view just to jump on them as hard as he could. The only thing going through his mind was "I'm gonna smash this!"

[nctnico]

You'd need to put it into the right words ofcourse depending on the target audience 

[EEVblog]

I hope somebody has a recording of today's attack. That guy didn't wander over to check out the pretty lights or anything like that. He literally ran into view just to jump on them as hard as he could. The only thing going through his mind was "I'm gonna smash this!"

Check my link above, someone on twitter captured video of teens trying to smash it with a skateboard.

[abaxas]

Who cares. Cool but useless idea that reminds me of this....

[hans]

I have set up a live stream mirror that basically transcodes to Youtube for archival purposes .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH1MQFyOnos&feature=youtu.be

I believe you can watch up to 4 hours back in history on the live video. But as far as I can now see, the stream isn't very stable. Dunno why really, probably some issue with my ffmpeg params. It is what it is for now.

Maybe we'll see them arrive to "repair" or "diagnose" some panels if there really happened something last night.

[firewalker]

The leds are not visible during daylight. Surprise surprise! 

Alexander.

[SeanB]

My bet as to what might break a panel is a somewhat above average 9 even for the USA) woman, wearing a nice fashionable pair of narrow point stiletto heels and who walks across the panels while yakking on the phone. My bet is the heels will crack the glass on an edge, and the panel will shatter.

[LabSpokane]

I thought a big thing with these tiles was the ability to have them communicate and generate large scale pattern etc. But the animation on them seems to be totally independent per tile.

Yes. As near as I can discern, the only smarts in the system are in the uC in each tile. When all are powered up at the same time, they all have the same pattern. Then either by accident or intent, the clocks seem to drift and one gets the seemingly random display of light patterns.

The working tiles have only two wires. Maybe they are sending data on top of that line, but I doubt it.  Each panel has eight terminals each for a reason.

[Fungus]

The leds are not visible during daylight. Surprise surprise! 

Well, it's just a prototype... right?

[firewalker]

Right!!!


Alexander.

[drussell]

My bet as to what might break a panel is a somewhat above average 9 even for the USA) woman, wearing a nice fashionable pair of narrow point stiletto heels and who walks across the panels while yakking on the phone. My bet is the heels will crack the glass on an edge, and the panel will shatter.

No, I think that is highly unlikely.  The glass will be a lot stronger than that.  There are many glass floors on skyscraper towers, etc. and they don't break...  It is a question of when you get road debris, gravel, etc and then drive over it with a 5-ton (or even heavier) truck, do they hold up?  What about a rock or other debris falling from a truck?  Can they take the kind of constant pounding that a road (or even a pathway) get on a daily basis? 

I think they would scuff and become rather opaque quite quickly even if they don't often shatter in real use.

[f4eru]

Boah ! I love this slide
Solar roadways will soon be everywhere !
After the playground, the patio, the surrounding of the pool, they will equip a Saturday night fever sports court !

Were will it stop ? At the airport ? The AIRPORT  ))))
I will not take a plane that has to land or take off on a glass runway.

[Fungus]

I think there must be some sort of data display in the green box. People keep on stopping to look at it.

[LabSpokane]

I think there must be some sort of data display in the green box. People keep on stopping to look at it.

That is the kiosk. It has a slide show that is duplicated on the City of Sandpoint website.  It's simply an all in one PC in a box. No interactivity.

http://cityofsandpoint.com/visiting-sandpoint/solar-roadways#ad-image-7

Scroll down to the "virtual kiosk."  They are identical.

[EEVblog]

My bet as to what might break a panel is a somewhat above average 9 even for the USA) woman, wearing a nice fashionable pair of narrow point stiletto heels and who walks across the panels while yakking on the phone. My bet is the heels will crack the glass on an edge, and the panel will shatter.

No, I think that is highly unlikely.  The glass will be a lot stronger than that.  There are many glass floors on skyscraper towers, etc. and they don't break...  It is a question of when you get road debris, gravel, etc and then drive over it with a 5-ton (or even heavier) truck, do they hold up?  What about a rock or other debris falling from a truck?  Can they take the kind of constant pounding that a road (or even a pathway) get on a daily basis? 

I think they would scuff and become rather opaque quite quickly even if they don't often shatter in real use.

And lets not mention silicosis on a mass scale:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicosis

[EEVblog]

Were will it stop ? At the airport ? The AIRPORT  ))))
I will not take a plane that has to land or take off on a glass runway.

Yup, they have seriously wanted to put these on airport runways from day one, because, you know, LED's for landing strips

[nctnico]

Is that green box made from wood? Why didn't they use a proper monitor for outside use? 

[EEVblog]

I have set up a live stream mirror that basically transcodes to Youtube for archival purposes .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH1MQFyOnos&feature=youtu.be

 

[LabSpokane]

Is that green box made from wood? Why didn't they use a proper monitor for outside use? 

No it's all metal. Suitable for outdoor use - just ugly IMO. I have no idea why the cabinet was not placed near the building.

Note: there is no kW-h display at the kiosk at this time. The net meter is located inside the adjacent building.