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| Power Failures! In the year 2020 !! |
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| GlennSprigg:
This is NOT a 'bitch', but a praise for the workers out there/here!! Two nights ago, at about 7:50pm, we lost power in most of Bunbury, 200kms Sth of Perth, Western Australia. We've had massive storms of wind & rain causing massive damage for 100's of kms radius. Now us Mere people often think we are hard done by, and we easily forget how reliant we are on Power! No TV, no Internet, no lights, no electric kettle, Laptops died so no alternative USB for Tablets or Phones, so all are flat. No info coming in as have no battery radio. Spent all the next day doing CrossWords! outside, until dark AGAIN. We think we have it hard... Our Pioneer Farmers etc had no power, EVER!! except eventually DC battery banks for lights! I soon chastised myself, after finally hearing about work-crews, on the car radio. They had 40 crews working flat out in multiple overlapping shifts. Called in a further 20-30 crews from remote regions to help. It seems that there was a 2nd wave to the storms, that created much MORE damage, and so the 'restoration' crews were called away to first deal with the immediate Safety issues for the new damage. Finally, they could get back to restoration work, and now by the following evening after dark again, they finally got the power back on. By now, it was still raining heavily, and windy & miserable, but all these guys were still working 10-12-14 hour shifts in appalling conditions. We need to be thankful to those, & the S.E.S. (State Emergency Services), FireBrigade, and numerous volunteer groups that dedicate themselves during such times. We should think LESS about what we DON'T have, and more about what we DO have!! :-+ |
| NiHaoMike:
Good excuse to put together a solar power system with backup? |
| engrguy42:
--- Quote from: NiHaoMike on May 07, 2020, 01:49:38 pm ---Good excuse to put together a solar power system with backup? --- End quote --- Well....I guess by definition, the solar radiation during a storm is pretty low, and solar won't help much. Attached is the solar radiation for Perth today. Since solar panels are rated for 1,000 watts/square meter, you can see that the actual was only down in the 200 range most of the day. And, of course, zero at night. So unless you have a boatload of batteries that you didn't use previously (when the sun was out), you're kinda outta luck. |
| GlennSprigg:
--- Quote from: NiHaoMike on May 07, 2020, 01:49:38 pm ---Good excuse to put together a solar power system with backup? --- End quote --- I guess we are 'Lucky' to not be in Tornado Alley in the U.S., where such provisions may be expected. This is definitely outside the 'Norm' for us, so we are majorly less prepared/expected!! :) |
| RoGeorge:
Yep, our whole civilization is hanging on wires. ;D Always wanted to have one of these: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/a-Portrait-of-A-F-Ioffe-b-Radio-receiver-powered-by-a-thermolectric-generator_fig9_277006654 Better pics here, in the second half of the page, titled "THE RUSSIAN LAMP: 1959" http://www.douglas-self.com/MUSEUM/POWER/thermoelectric/thermoelectric.htm#rl This one is nice, too: Maybe an old laptop, or a tablet, with nothing but an offline copy of Wikipedia wouldn't hurt, either. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Database_download :popcorn: |
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