No electricity!

[Krumlink]

Well I have been without electricity for 3 days now and they have not even started fixing the damn power lines. We had a major storm with winds 60-70 and it peaked at 126MPH. I am writing this on a school computer. At home we have running a portable DVD player connected to a 500watt power inverter. I managed to solder with it suprisingly.


I also lost 3v0's phone number (send it to me PM)

 

[mashersmasher]

ike that sucks. if i had no power for a few days well... have you ever seen mad max?

 

[Hank Fletcher]

My parents got hit with the same blackout on the other side of the river. Kind of makes you realize how much you're under the thumb of both power suppliers and the market sharks controlling them. It's no coincidence that Enron: The Smartest Guy in the Room was on TV all last night.

Being an independent electronics enthusiast, you might consider getting involved in the production of electricity, and the management of the same. There's a very healthy future for people with those kinds of skills, and who are sincere about using them to the benefit of their countrymen and market place. Also, it would put you one step closer to keeping people who do not have your best interests at heart from profiting from your misfortune (i.e. raising electricity prices during artificial blackouts because "demand" is higher than "supply").

 

[3v0]

Be thankful it is not 20 below outside. We were without power for a few days the winter prior to last. No fun. Neighbor sold us wood that we burned in the fireplace.

 

[Bob Scott]

Be thankful it is not 20 below outside. We were without power for a few days the winter prior to last. No fun. Neighbor sold us wood that we burned in the fireplace.

My power also went out for 4 days during a wind storm the winter before last. Dec15. We used candles for lighting and burned wood in the fireplace for warmth. Since fireplaces are notorious for being inefficient, the temperature in the house only rose to about 55 degrees F.

We breathed so much smoke I still can't stand the smell of candles anymore.

Krumlink: at least it's June.

When the power did finally come back on, the furnace turned back on too. The temperature rose and rose. Then I looked at the thermostat. Temp was 80F. The power glitch of the hydro power turning back on had locked the furnace controls on. If we had not been there to manually reset the power to the furnace, the house may have burned down.

 

[rjvh]

at least here the power is cut of on a more regular basis so you are prepared for it (5 times a week +/- 7 hours if it goes)

still its a pain if it hapens now in the night which are humit because of the rainy season
so you fan is not working anymore

also the contend of your fridge can have some problems if it is not deep frozen yet in this climate

I had to chuck it away ones and thats realy a waist

Robert-Jan

 

[Krumlink]

Well I used up the last of my giant batteries (12VDC 18AH) running my TV and my xbox 360 for about 2 hours. At least I know it works. I was playing Mass Effect with it too, which is an amazing game. They say no power until Tomorrow night

 

[HiTech]

What else can I say but:

**broken link removed**

**broken link removed**

I have a 5kw industrial rated genset that can run 15+ hrs. without shutdown. Actually it could prolly run 24/7. Unfortunately it's gasoline powered.... someday I'd like to sell it and get a Winco tri-fuel model or a Gillette that's powered from natural gas. I also have an inverter with two group 31 deep cycle batteries.

 

[mneary]

I'd hate to see the fireworks if any of that tack fell on the battery bank!

 

[3v0]

I'd hate to see the fireworks if any of that tack fell on the battery bank!

I was thinking about that too. Figured there must be a cover that was removed for the photo.

 

[HiTech]

That's not my set-up... just an internet photo of a Trace Engr. inverter with a boat load of Trojan batteries. Sam's Club sells Trojans for fairly cheap and nothing beats them in performance. Trace is a brand that is top shelf quality--- liken it to Tektronics or HP lab equipment. And yes, those equine trinkets hanging there make for a potentially dangerous event ... even if their is a ventilated cover for that box.
My inverter is an industrial monster pulled from a shop. Not as efficient as modern-day units are at 90%+ but it's bomb-proof kin design and construction. That darn 19" rack mount box weighs about 50lbs.! The Group 31 battery yields something like 225amp/hrs. It's a nice system to have for power during night-time sleep versus hearing a genset roaring away -- save that for daytime hours.

 

[Krumlink]

We have power back hooray.

 

[Krumlink]

And I fixed the WIFI

 

[bryan1]

Well Krummy,
This xmas will celebrate 5 years off the grid with no power cut outs, and I reckon our initial cost would workout cheaper than being ON the grid. In the future our solar/wind array will be at a point all the extra power will be going either into heating water or powering an aircon.

As shown in the post above getting a cheap backup supply aint that hard if you try.

Cheers Bryan

 

[mvs sarma]

Well I have been without electricity for 3 days now and they have not even started fixing the damn power lines. We had a major storm with winds 60-70 and it peaked at 126MPH. I am writing this on a school computer. At home we have running a portable DVD player connected to a 500watt power inverter. I managed to solder with it suprisingly.


I also lost 3v0's phone number (send it to me PM)

Oh! What a problem. feel for the troubles al, of you are facing Krumlink
Hope that things would return to normal soon and the people at large can be able to manage their lives, with all the trouble they had faced.

 

[Hero999]

That's not my set-up... just an internet photo of a Trace Engr. inverter with a boat load of Trojan batteries. Sam's Club sells Trojans for fairly cheap and nothing beats them in performance. Trace is a brand that is top shelf quality--- liken it to Tektronics or HP lab equipment. And yes, those equine trinkets hanging there make for a potentially dangerous event ... even if their is a ventilated cover for that box.
My inverter is an industrial monster pulled from a shop. Not as efficient as modern-day units are at 90%+ but it's bomb-proof kin design and construction. That darn 19" rack mount box weighs about 50lbs.! The Group 31 battery yields something like 225amp/hrs. It's a nice system to have for power during night-time sleep versus hearing a genset roaring away -- save that for daytime hours.

What bus voltage does that thing use?

Are all those batteries connected in series, parrallel or banks of series batteries?

 

[HiTech]

Most Trojan's are 6v and of course you wire two in series for 12v. The reserve capacity on them is phenomenal!! They make 8v and 12v models too. https://www.electro-tech-online.com/custompdfs/2008/06/productspecsguide_0408.pdf

Trace Engr. is a super quality inverter/charger. Very $$$ but it lasts a lifetime and then some. Statpower's (now Xantrex) pure sine wave unit is also a very good performerm but Trace edges it by a good margin.

 

[Hero999]

I've never seen any large 6V and 8V lead acid batteries before. Most are small and only used for things like alarms.

I'm surprised it's only 12V, I would have guessed 48V, I bet the current draw is huge.

 

[HiTech]

Current draw is what this is all about!! 12vDC in.... 120vAC out at power levels in excess of 5Kw and well beyond that. You should see the battery banks used by telephone companies!!! I toured a Verizon battery room years back. An entire floor of a fairly large building of nothing but batteries and 19" equipment cabinets with DC chargers/switchers. Banks of batteries are switched out periodically to evenly exercise the banks. The buss wire is made of solid copper buss bars, not much wire there. A tech dropped a sizeable screwdriver across the buss bars once and it literally vaporized the screwdriver's shaft!!!

**broken link removed**


Check out this bank of deep cycles --- what's with those beverage bottles precariously lying about?? Oh, wait a minute... it's in Mexico where they're used to Montezuma's Revenge from the bad water there. Don't employ that tech. in your company!!!

**broken link removed**

 

[mvs sarma]

Yes, HiTech,Nice Photos. I maintained similar but smaller (2750AH) batteries Indian Telecom scenario for a decade almost, out of my 39 odd years of telecom service