Hmmm, I guess it already is a holiday, today, Presidents Day, but tomorrow is a good day, too.
Some might think I have been on a long holiday, already, but the hiatus has been a combination of clunky WordPress blogging platform and sharing my internet tower with school kids and work-at-homes. I have been to the peak of my hurricane-battered roof and moved my antenna higher and rotated it to a different tower. This has resulted in improved internet speeds, except when it rains. It rains for all of February.
Back to my holiday, Black Ice Day. Today’s storms will transition to 20 degrees in the morning, with perhaps a little “wintry mix” or snow overnight and frozen roads to start the work day. And this is FLORIDA, for crying out loud!
Checking with contacts around the country, Paul is near Houston. It is 18 degrees at noon and the power is out. Somebody said the windmills froze. He does not have backup power. He does have a fireplace. Bundle up, buddy.
A Texas Covid vax storage site lost power and backup failed, causing a mad rush to use the stuff up before it spoiled.
I have not heard from Daryl out in Texas for a while. I suspect he will be fine. His solar and battery backup system is awesome.
Bruce is in Pennsylvania and pretty much stays snowed under. He says they would welcome Global Warming to visit his state, this year. He has offered a parking spot at his house. He has solar and a big generator. Good thing. What he really needs is a snowplow for his roof. Bruce is going to give us an overview of his system, soon. Watch for it.
Courtney is to the left of Raleigh. Yesterday he told me the grid had just come back on after a two day break owing to ice. Courtney bought several of those mobile solar generator trailers I told you about in the Turbo Beast adventure. He has been stripping his down for components to build a world class backyard system. The problem is, it is not wired up. Luckily, he had one trailer left intact and he plugged that into the house. Under gray skies, the solar didn’t handle it all, but the automatic generator kicked on a couple of times to top up the battery bank and life was good at Casa Courtney. I hope he didn’t leave the porch light on all night to taunt the neighbors. That would just be mean.
My neighbor Brad finally got the ok from our 3rd world power co-op to turn on his solar power system. I don’t think he’s worried about ice taking out the grid.
And me? Think I’m worried? I recently added another 1100 ah of battery and an automatic diesel backup generator to what I already had. There’s a stack of 10 panels I’ll be adding to the array when I get to it.
And where John Kimball and Sun Electronics are based in Miami, it is a bone-chilling 81 degrees. And sunny. Hardly seems fair. He has a warehouse full of solar and backup power gear, but it doesn’t seem like he needs it this week.
Maybe by now you’ve gotten the idea that it might be a good idea to have some power backup. It is. Some of the examples presented here have been a bit pricey, but it does not have to be. It comes down to budget and level of comfort that you require. We get a little spoiled here in the USA.
I was perusing the ‘net for some info on tubular batteries one day and came across an entry in a forum: “I have two lights and a fan…” Wait a minute! I was thinking tubular batteries were all the 2000 pound monsters I have, but apparently there are small ones, too. This guy was not talking about small power for a camper or boat. This was power for his house in India! 2 lights and a fan powered by a solar panel and a battery was probably a real mind blower to his neighbors.
If he can get by every day with that, you might find it very helpful for a few days when the grid is down. Of course, you’ll want more. No gas stove? Coleman and others offer a one burner butane stove to fix your dinner. It costs $20 at any place that sells camping gear. You may already have a grill and that works, too, but don’t bring it indoors. The fridge? Oh, come on! It’s snowing! Well, during the warm months, after a hurricane, I have connected an appropriately-sized inverter to my car and powered the fridge intermittently to keep the foods from changing colors. The bigger inverter in the car can also run the microwave or Mr. Coffee.
Once you get a little power backup you can build on it. Last summer I was in the doghouse, having spent a bunch of money on bigger, fresher batteries, but then we had a week without the grid after a ‘cane. Suddenly it was all ok and there were no complaints when I bought more! Sooner or later you will need backup and I guarantee that if you are the only one to keep the lights in the neighborhood, you will be a hero in your house. Call Roberto at Sun Electronics and he can fix you up for a price that won’t make you cry.
Please don’t leave the porch light on all night during the outage. That would just be mean.
–Neal