Siliconemelons
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This dumb thing is going to go uppercut the Carolinas and everyone is going to wtf
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Weather
- Thread starter etoille
- Start date
SeanDoe1z1
Avatar of War Slayer
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10:1 Trump is going to drop our entire nuclear arsenal and 180 it back to Puerto Rico.
I am scientist.
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Borzak
Bronze Baron of the Realm
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Went out and ran both my generators today "just in case". In case it crosses FL and enters the gulf, never know. Nobody knows. Although the gulf water isn't as hot as it has been when we get the really bad storms that pick up power when they enter the gulf.
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Some run on natural gas, and they just put in gas lines on my street. I may have to look into that and never be without power again!
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Lanx
<Prior Amod>
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keep your gas cans in your garage, i just had a neighborhood alert a guy is skulking around stealing cans of gas.
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? Don't have any. Don't have a generator yet either. Was saying I may get one of those full sized ones that can power the whole house that run on natural gas, since they put gas lines right outside.
Honestly I don't get the point of the tiny gasoline powered generators anyways. They can't run the AC. Maybe the fridge and a couple fans at most?
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Lanx
<Prior Amod>
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gasoline ones are just for the freak storm that knocks out power for a few hours or a day or 2, enough to keep the fridge running, maybe a tv or 2 and other necessities like a sump pump.
the natural gas ones i saw were supposed to tie into your home grid and switch within 2s of an outage from what i saw.
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Oldbased
> Than U
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I'm already questioning my constant effort for gen backup.
You can get 1000watt panel+1-3000 watt turbine kits with wiring, converter,controller and batteries for around $1700 now.
That is wind and/or solar backup.
Hell they sell those hand held power banks now 20,000+mah that can do 45+ watts for $20-$30.
Advantages- no storage/upkeep on fuel
No noise to alert looters free gen/gas.
You can get 1000watt panel+1-3000 watt turbine kits with wiring, converter,controller and batteries for around $1700 now.
That is wind and/or solar backup.
Hell they sell those hand held power banks now 20,000+mah that can do 45+ watts for $20-$30.
Advantages- no storage/upkeep on fuel
No noise to alert looters free gen/gas.
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Borzak
Bronze Baron of the Realm
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My whole house generator runs on natural gas. I have another 10k watt one that runs on gas. Natural gas has been highly reliable in the past during hurricanes in my experience. Lots of people say you'll lose it in a bad hurricane. I've never lost it in several hurricanes including Andrew and Katrina. Oddly enough during Katrina friend worked in the charity hospital that got flooded and people stuck for more than a week. They couldn't charge cell phones and batteries died. They had one land line that never died. But people didn't have numbers as they were all in their phones. They didn't have anything, but the land line still worked.
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Gavinmad
Mr. Poopybutthole
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Yeah I can't remember any numbers either, so in case of a prolonged power outage I saved them all on my computer.
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Gravel
Mr. Poopybutthole
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How do solar panels fare in hurricane force winds though?
Similarly, I'd be concerned about generators in places with storm surge. Do they make them so they don't take in water somehow (like a diesel snorkel)?
My mom has solar and a generator, but she also lives in Raleigh, so those aren't issues. I'm just wondering how feasible they are on the coast.
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Oldbased
> Than U
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The 8 panels are not massively large and weigh ~40lbs each. Naturally wouldn't set up until after the storm although they are usually encased in a metal frame now that is pretty durable. Same with turbine. Average panel these days is roughly 4'x2' and generate 100-190watts depending on size/grade.
You can get them any size but these are the ones being mass produced currently and sold in high batches.
Even in high sun they are still only just hitting 70% eff though. Improved from 10 years ago but still a ways to go.
If you set it up stand alone, you could initially power things off the batteries until storm passes to set up the panels.
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Gavinmad
Mr. Poopybutthole
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I don't have any hurricane experience but I've installed solar panel racks and I feel like the kind of wind that would tear them off a roof would probably be doing so much damage to your house that the solar panels would be the least of your concerns.
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Lanx
<Prior Amod>
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my backup solution is just a 2000w inverter i'd hook up to my car and just idle it.
it's enough to power the fridge and sump pump and a bunch of other low powered devices. Now that i have the water powered backup sump, i'm not too worried really.
it's enough to power the fridge and sump pump and a bunch of other low powered devices. Now that i have the water powered backup sump, i'm not too worried really.
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I have a whole house generator attached to natural gas, and a huge regular gas one to power everything else. We lose power about once a year, many years for 3 days at a time. I don't want to lose everything in the fridge and freezer.
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Oldbased
> Than U
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I've had terrible luck with those either burning up, shorting out or not being near what they say they are.
I'm sure they have advanced in the past decade quite a bit. Used to try and use them for tools. Worked fine for recharging but not much else years back.
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Lanx
<Prior Amod>
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i can't say i've put mine through any stress test, just 10mins enough to know it did work.
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Oldbased
> Than U
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ya it peaked my curiosity. Found one on Amazon highly rated with lots of reviews and details. 2000 watt inverter( 2 1000s in one unit with 2 sets of hookups ) for $130. People have pushed it to max and it has held up well. Some even using it on solar. I need one anyways so adding to list. It isn't pure sine though.
My van holds 28 gallons and will idle at 2 liters a hour So a full tank would be over 50 hours of running.
Only issue is it has a 105 amp alt so 1250 watts/12 volt=104.2 amps so anything over 1250 watts would take all the alt and some battery discharge at 5500 rpms. Idle I think it 40 IL on the alt so anything over 480ish watts would be max load on alt. Maybe I should just got a nice 1000 watt one.
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Araxen
Golden Baronet of the Realm
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This storm was supposed to hit Haiti and be a non-factor for the US, and then decided to just go north of Haiti. It shows how much more we need to learn about Hurricane tracking. The Euro and NA forecasts are still at odds. That in itself is kind of insane. One has it trekking up the coast the other parks it right on Florida.
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