The Comcast modem in the house could have a power backup. Unfortunately there is a device mounted outside on the cable run that seems to have no backup. My cottage house had a little blip during last snow storm and I watched my modem light change from white to orange for about five minutes.
There is an off grid community.
Some members got old submarine batteries from the US Navy, filing cabinet size.
Solar panels AND windmills so power is generated round the clock if there is some wind...
Interesting
Some members got old submarine batteries from the US Navy, filing cabinet size.
Solar panels AND windmills so power is generated round the clock if there is some wind...
Interesting
@ George
Man, That sucks.
I'm privileged to live in a city where I've had about 5 hours (cumulatively) of outage in 10 years. There is a short "switch over" between 27.6kV feed and the diesel powered backup generators (that run the common areas, elevators, and lighting in the garage. Some places have a battery stage while the engines start. Not here) but if I need some power, the outlets in the hallway have power from the backup systems...
Thankfully, we don't have to rely on them often at all.
Happy Samedi (Saturday)
Man, That sucks.
I'm privileged to live in a city where I've had about 5 hours (cumulatively) of outage in 10 years. There is a short "switch over" between 27.6kV feed and the diesel powered backup generators (that run the common areas, elevators, and lighting in the garage. Some places have a battery stage while the engines start. Not here) but if I need some power, the outlets in the hallway have power from the backup systems...
Thankfully, we don't have to rely on them often at all.
Happy Samedi (Saturday)
Our home is supplied by an underground service, and there’s a huge trunk line a couple blocks away. Haven’t had any outages that last more than an hour for some 15 years.
The wood stove is more like a stage prop…
A surplus car battery kept topped off with a battery tender might be a way to go to ensure your modem is always up and running.
The wood stove is more like a stage prop…
A surplus car battery kept topped off with a battery tender might be a way to go to ensure your modem is always up and running.
Even way out in the woods, I get OK cell-data (so different from 2009!) and can lash my Chromebook to the cell-data (heck of a lot better than squinting the web on the phone).
I can recharge the phone in the car (the car is 2001 but I have a gizmo which also breaks windows). If I considered how to charge the Chromebook off the car I'd be set IF the cellphone tower stayed up in the dark.
I do have the Comcast modem on a UPS so that the phone and internet stay up during outages. Unfortunately that UPS is about 3 years old and the batteries aren't what they used to be. They were dead by the time I got out of bed...for the second time.
Comcast has swapped out my modem for a "better" one three times in five years. I think this one runs directly from line power, but I don't really remember. It's up on a shelf in the basement so it will reach most of the house and part of the back yard. It does give me 950 Mbps over ethernet, and nearly that over WiFi if close to the box. Out in the back yard it's about 200 to 400 Mbps.
There used to be a UPS on the TV box, but it died and the unique odd shaped batteries for it cost more than a new unit. I already have 5 UPS boxes scattered in 3 rooms plus the basement.
This summer has been the worst by an order of magnitude or more for outages, 5 long ones and daily blinks of a second to a minute. Except for the blown transformer, all including today's fun were due to "tree contact." The daily blinks have me looking for a small cheap UPS just for the TV box. It is directly plugged into 120 volts AC.
We are in a cellular black hole this summer. I have phones on all three major US carriers. None work good enough here for any data service with the green tree cover we have this year. AT&T and Verizon will give 1 or 2 bars in the winter unless the trees are thick with snow. T Mobile is "no service" but works the best over WiFi, which requires the Comcast box.
I have a "2000 watt" cheap inverter generator that powers all of the stuff plus the fridge and freezer.
I saw the blown fuse on the pole early this morning, but went back to bed thinking that it would be fixed by the time I got up. Around 9 AM I got up and saw an "estimated time of repair" of 10PM, so I got out the generator and hooked it up.
I found the tree branch on the 7200 volt line before the power company got here, and showed it to them. it was in a nearly inaccessible place. They finally cleared the fault and fixed the power about 1 PM.
The power lines here were run back in the 40's and 50's randomly from farm to farm. Taps and branches were added as needed. Our power does not follow the road out here. It comes over two ridges and through two valleys to a sub station near a fracking plant, then meanders back over a ridge to us. It's the meandering 7200 volt lines that fail. Trees and other obstacles have grown and changed a lot since the poles were planted.
Comcast has swapped out my modem for a "better" one three times in five years. I think this one runs directly from line power, but I don't really remember. It's up on a shelf in the basement so it will reach most of the house and part of the back yard. It does give me 950 Mbps over ethernet, and nearly that over WiFi if close to the box. Out in the back yard it's about 200 to 400 Mbps.
There used to be a UPS on the TV box, but it died and the unique odd shaped batteries for it cost more than a new unit. I already have 5 UPS boxes scattered in 3 rooms plus the basement.
This summer has been the worst by an order of magnitude or more for outages, 5 long ones and daily blinks of a second to a minute. Except for the blown transformer, all including today's fun were due to "tree contact." The daily blinks have me looking for a small cheap UPS just for the TV box. It is directly plugged into 120 volts AC.
We are in a cellular black hole this summer. I have phones on all three major US carriers. None work good enough here for any data service with the green tree cover we have this year. AT&T and Verizon will give 1 or 2 bars in the winter unless the trees are thick with snow. T Mobile is "no service" but works the best over WiFi, which requires the Comcast box.
I have a "2000 watt" cheap inverter generator that powers all of the stuff plus the fridge and freezer.
I saw the blown fuse on the pole early this morning, but went back to bed thinking that it would be fixed by the time I got up. Around 9 AM I got up and saw an "estimated time of repair" of 10PM, so I got out the generator and hooked it up.
I found the tree branch on the 7200 volt line before the power company got here, and showed it to them. it was in a nearly inaccessible place. They finally cleared the fault and fixed the power about 1 PM.
The power lines here were run back in the 40's and 50's randomly from farm to farm. Taps and branches were added as needed. Our power does not follow the road out here. It comes over two ridges and through two valleys to a sub station near a fracking plant, then meanders back over a ridge to us. It's the meandering 7200 volt lines that fail. Trees and other obstacles have grown and changed a lot since the poles were planted.
I wonder if even the blown transformer blew from immediate or residual stress from wood-burning.
I wonder if your PUC reads citizen letters.
Consumer Complaint Procedures - West Virginia Public Service Commission
Power companies are more responsive when they have just filed for higher tariffs. My outfit finally did a half-good trim-job on my street just before the last rate jacking.
Now our companies are going for box type substations, basically the HT line is insulated cable, and the transformer is inside a box, with the HT and LT switches and fuses, protected against the weather, trees and so on.
I hope they are vermin proof.
HT cable is the big improvement, and for short runs LT cable is also insulated.
Apart from tree contact, we have issues with kite threads, and the kites themselves.
Every year some people die because they use wire as kite threads, get fried. The insulated HT cable is the big safety improvement.
Kites sometimes made from metallised plastic, also a hazard to exposed wires, enough to blow a fuse.
Here kite bouts with fighter kites, trying to cut the opposition thread, are a sort, and entertainment since childhood for many.
As in other things, some people go OCD about the kites, thread, who makes the glass coated thread and so on. Glass powder mixed with adhesive is used to coat thread.
Slit throats, faces and so on are unfortunately common here. Going on a bike, and you get tangled in the sharp thread. Some die every year.
I hope they are vermin proof.
HT cable is the big improvement, and for short runs LT cable is also insulated.
Apart from tree contact, we have issues with kite threads, and the kites themselves.
Every year some people die because they use wire as kite threads, get fried. The insulated HT cable is the big safety improvement.
Kites sometimes made from metallised plastic, also a hazard to exposed wires, enough to blow a fuse.
Here kite bouts with fighter kites, trying to cut the opposition thread, are a sort, and entertainment since childhood for many.
As in other things, some people go OCD about the kites, thread, who makes the glass coated thread and so on. Glass powder mixed with adhesive is used to coat thread.
Slit throats, faces and so on are unfortunately common here. Going on a bike, and you get tangled in the sharp thread. Some die every year.
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The transformer that blew is located right outside my house and there is no trees within 50 feet of it. It was newly installed when we had the house built in 2014.
The power company guy says that the transformers of this vintage, made offshore, encased in a plastic can, and about half the size of an old style transformer of the same VA rating "blow all the time." The old metal cased heavy transformers rarely blow unless they are leaking oil.
All of the tree contact issues we have been seeing are on the primary side (7200 volts here) of the transformer or further upstream.
This has been the "greenest" summer that most of the old timers can remember. The apple tree that I planted nearly 10 years ago has yielded about 10 apples a year for the last 4 years. This year it has well over 100. Usually I get iffy cell service in the summer, and my wife's fancy iPhone will work. This year neither can even find a signal. Trees have grown like wildfire and the tree trimming companies, including those working for AEP can't keep up.
Sometime Saturday night two large trees fell across the Comcast lines. One is about 16 inches in diameter. Someone with a chain saw removed the parts blocking the road. This means that sometime in our future we will lose phone, internet, and TV service because Comcast will not do anything until the cable is severed. It took them 14 months to replace the pole that rotted off at the ground line and was supported by the cables. Since there is no cell service here, we will all be without communication services until they get around to fixing it. The only hope is that the 16 inch tree is on the wireline phone company's lines too.
We can complain and fill out forms, and many of the neighbors have, but nothing ever happens. The power situation is bad, but I haven't even ranted about our unpassable roads yet. I can all but guarantee that someone will be killed this winter on the 1.8 mile stretch between here and town.....and there will be several days without running water, just like last winter.
About UPS batteries that cost near as much as a new unit.
Some low power units use a 12V battery.
I got a couple of those among those from a high school, discarded, on the way to trash.
They work perfectly right on car batteries.
For I while, I was happy running my computer stuff this way, to make it safe, but I do not bother anymore, because I do trust my electricity provider service.
Some low power units use a 12V battery.
I got a couple of those among those from a high school, discarded, on the way to trash.
They work perfectly right on car batteries.
For I while, I was happy running my computer stuff this way, to make it safe, but I do not bother anymore, because I do trust my electricity provider service.
A car battery is not meant to be deeply discharged and will lose capacity each time it gets discharged below a certain point. Used ones that can be obtained cheap are still a good cost effective choice.
Deep cycle marine, and trolling motor batteries are the hot ticket here. I do have an old Tripp Lite UPS with wires hanging out of it for such duty, but after over 10 years of use my Walmart sourced marine battery has lost most of it's 114 AH capacity.
Last year I got a deal on about 20 pounds of surplus LiFePo4 cells to test with this old UPS, but haven't made a pack out of them yet.
Deep cycle marine, and trolling motor batteries are the hot ticket here. I do have an old Tripp Lite UPS with wires hanging out of it for such duty, but after over 10 years of use my Walmart sourced marine battery has lost most of it's 114 AH capacity.
Last year I got a deal on about 20 pounds of surplus LiFePo4 cells to test with this old UPS, but haven't made a pack out of them yet.
UH, that depends on where it lands. It's big, weighs about 25 kg and the lifting strap broke several years ago. When it saw heavy use I did bang it around a lot. That's an old trick to start a dead car. Sometimes bubbles cling to the plates reducing the surface area. Remove the caps and beat on or lightly drop the battery until no more bubbles appear.
Memory from my teenage years, never connect a charger that's plugged in to a battery that seen heavy use (pre-oiling a newly built car engine by cranking). The resulting bang will have you running for the lake, and the caps somewhere in low earth orbit. The acid eats cotton rather quickly and isn't much fun on bare skin either.
It has also seen some heavy abuse at hamfests and other outdoor events where generator use is discouraged. There I ran everything on an inverter connected to this battery. When the inverter started the low battery beep I fired up the generator which was powering a 1 KW power supply set on 60 amps constant current. The inverter took what it needed, the battery ate the rest. I shut the generator off when the voltage across the battery reached about 14.5 volts.
The battery went through several of these cycles every day and some hamfests ran for 3 and a half days.
Memory from my teenage years, never connect a charger that's plugged in to a battery that seen heavy use (pre-oiling a newly built car engine by cranking). The resulting bang will have you running for the lake, and the caps somewhere in low earth orbit. The acid eats cotton rather quickly and isn't much fun on bare skin either.
It has also seen some heavy abuse at hamfests and other outdoor events where generator use is discouraged. There I ran everything on an inverter connected to this battery. When the inverter started the low battery beep I fired up the generator which was powering a 1 KW power supply set on 60 amps constant current. The inverter took what it needed, the battery ate the rest. I shut the generator off when the voltage across the battery reached about 14.5 volts.
The battery went through several of these cycles every day and some hamfests ran for 3 and a half days.
We once left a car battery on a charger at school on an old dumb 20A charger overnight. The next morning, the shop was full of a sulphuric acid haze.
The VW dealer down the road actually had one explode. They gave it to the school so the students could learn about what happens if...
I have an old BMW battery that can power my soldering iron for a day so that's better than scrap I guess 🙂
The VW dealer down the road actually had one explode. They gave it to the school so the students could learn about what happens if...
I have an old BMW battery that can power my soldering iron for a day so that's better than scrap I guess 🙂
I cannot resist telling the story of a cousin of mine checking a battery on a heavy duty charger.
This was in his stable at night where he used a cigarette lighter rather than turning on the light.
This shaved off his eyebrows and front hair.
This was in his stable at night where he used a cigarette lighter rather than turning on the light.
This shaved off his eyebrows and front hair.
A garage mechanic showed me a battery that had the charger leads disconnected with the charger on. The top of the battery was blown off.
More California -- this is why the grand-kids are camping out with us for 3 or 4 months:
Wildfire Season: PG&E Warns It May Black Out Customers to Reduce California Risks
The pre-emptive power shut-offs, the company’s first this wildfire season, are a response to high winds poised to hit the state
PG&E Corp. PCG -1.15% warned that it may cut electricity Tuesday to about 48,000 customers in heavily forested parts of Northern California to reduce the risk that its power equipment will spark wildfires.
Wildfire Season: PG&E Warns It May Black Out Customers to Reduce California Risks
The pre-emptive power shut-offs, the company’s first this wildfire season, are a response to high winds poised to hit the state
PG&E Corp. PCG -1.15% warned that it may cut electricity Tuesday to about 48,000 customers in heavily forested parts of Northern California to reduce the risk that its power equipment will spark wildfires.