Kiwee News

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If you get arrested I’ll come and tie a strong kite to the prison bars to break you out

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At least the French eat better in prison than Americans do on average.

I have often flown kites as an activist, and the police don’t bother (its an FAA matter). The legal Airspace kite tradition is that the Pilot-in-Command (PIC) is solely responsible for safe operation by sound judgement. Only in the case of “menace” or undue mishap is the PIC culpable. I have often flown kites at airports as well, despite seeming legal prohibition. One simply must act like a proper pilot. Sometimes this takes a NOTAM.

In this case, the Kiwee should fly very low, and not be a hazard to helicopters. The kite should be bright colored for safety and a happy vibe. There should be Visual Observers (VOs), and the kite should come down fast if any aircraft, including drones, approaches. The unit may need padding and “frangibility” (dropped-object hazard in crowd conditions). A place near but apart from the central action might be best.

Don’t let “authorities” spontaneously take away the unit. Have a spokesperson engage dialog at a small distance, and bring down the rig IF requested. The unit can be passed into the crowd, just as video-cameras and phones are passed during protests. This is “revolutionary theatre” in a democracy, a human right. Often, both sides in a protest atmosphere coordinate with community policing, for public safety, and its all one big party.

In the worst case, French factors still apply. Devil’s Island has great wind, and the food is better than…

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So how did that go? ?

No wind :neutral_face:. No wind no wind

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That’s a shame. :slightly_frowning_face:


Have a look at kiwee electrical box. The 2 gx connectors are for linking to generator.
You have 1 car plug, 12 or 24 V DC /100W
Two USB 1 A and 2 A (inside the second car plug).
A socket connector.
You also have 2 push buttons on the other side and 3 led indicators.
And of course a 80Wh battery inside


Also, an empty component on the card that will be for Bluetooth communication with your phone. So that you can connect kiwee community all together.

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Wow that’s … I’m sooo jealous Olivier @Kitewinder
Battery management, Generation management, reconfigurable STM32, In such a neat package…
Yep, gutted jealous

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Thanks rod. Yep we have a really great electronic engineer. We made him sweat to develop that one.

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Wow, very impressive electronics integration!

Hoping initial low-volume production cost is not too high. This looks a nice product for any small renewable energy source, like other WECS or micro-hydro. The Kiwee architecture could branch out from this component, like someday offer a micro-hydro ECS or even novel solar/fire thermal gen option. Endless possibilities. There may be a larger market for multi-option generation that no single option alone would develop.

Thanks Dave. Actually we may propose a water version working with the same generator. It mainly depends on a grant we will know whether or not we got it at mid September.
Regarding manufacturing cost, it is almost OK at 600 euros. Real challenge stay to find the market. For that we bet on a organic growth from first early adopter to second generation and so on.
Other challenge is development cost. You got to sell before running out of cash. And trust me you burn a lot to innovate.

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The Wright Brothers burned ~1000USD to innovate as they did, around 10k today, so I do trust it takes “a lot”.

Seriously, I think 10k is a lot, so I am not contradicting.

10K is not even the price of a cad software…

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That’s why the Wright Brothers airplane looks so funny. They skimped on CAD :cowboy_hat_face:

Sorry that we have veered off the Kiwee News topic with venture cost and CAD notes. Maybe this discussion can move to its own topics.

I would borrow, pirate, or freeware CAD now, for any single product’s third-party manufacture, to keep costs near-zero. In the '90s, I led the design of the first public architecture design competition winner in Austin, completely relying on CAD (dimensioning long curved steel beams to be bent precisely), but in AWES R&D happily revert to paper and pencil, for greatest speed-of-conception in the vast poorly-explored configuration space. A computer interface is still lousy for that.

The kPower bet is that starving basic AWE R&D of capital will prove to pay-off in lowest-cost end-technology, particularly to beat our friendly arch-rival Makani, which I witnessed firsthand born poisoned by excess capital, and naturally CAD over-dependence. UweF needs a lot of new capital for just a 500w device, including intensive software costs. We’ll see if all the money works.

Pioneering “Rag and string” AWES require no CAD or simulation. A flood of novel ideas can be sketched, rigged, and tested fast, just like the Wright Brothers worked. Manufacturing overseas at lowest cost is a different game, and CAD is reasonable at that stage.

Hopefully Kiwee navigates its cost challenges just right.

Sorry to be such a whinging tight git
600EU sounds quite high Olivier
you can get a reportedly good esc £129 (I’m testing on a bike soon)


I’ve heard good reports on “Tiny BMS” products Similar price
https://www.energusps.com/shop/product/tiny-bms-s516-30a-16
Battery, connectors, swithching, bluetooth and casing Can probably do it off the shelf for under 600

I don’t understand Rod. 600 euros is the price for a kiwee not for the electronic card.

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WOW… OK … awesome
EVERYONE BUY A KIWEE!!
BARGAIN

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France has a high cost of living and quality of life, so prices and quality normal to them are high to us. Fortunately, the Kiwee can start high-priced in elite niches and move production overseas for future low-cost high-volume production.

There is also the abusive “Silicon Valley” model of first-to-market with “cripple-ware”, and make paying newbie users do bleeding-edge debugging, while slower companies with better design go broke. That can happen in AWE.

1EU per rated Watt would sell great.

Crack a Cad : forget that. If you are a company, you will soon have lawyers knocking at your door.
Borrow one : funny idea. Don’t know anybody that do that.
Use freeware why not but not the same quality standard.

Not sure France as a higher standard of living than USA but never mind.

1 euros per W. Impossible. Kiwee is sold with a 4 m2 pilot. You know the price of a pilot don’t you?
There is also a dedicated ESC. Rod show you some price up there. You have a battery, a brushless motor , blades, mechanics and everything.
You chapter about silicon Valley makes no sense, most company tries to deliver the best product they could at the best possible price. The reason why early bird might need debugging is more than company have to deliver fast just to avoid running out of cash.

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Bravo Olivier, you have a good feeling about what to do for the best.

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