Power cuts

[Tizzie]

We suffer from periodic power cuts, sometimes we are given warning. Either way I get our one burner stove out , boil water and put it into all the flasks we have. The last one we had started in the morning, as a trial the following morning I poured it into the bathroom basin to see if it would be warm enough to have a wash with and it was. Also we have appliances which are battery or mains powered, we make sure that these are charged up all the time. We also have a portable power station , I believe that these can be purchased quite reasonably.

[Arzosah]

Those are good flasks, Tizzie! Why do the powercuts happen, especially with warnings, do you know?

Interested in what you mean by a portable power station too, is that a form of generator?

Got to up my electricity preps for this winter.

[Yorkshire Andy]

The powestations are these kind of things Arzosah

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/5-in-1-power- ... ssor-a67hy


http://www.amazon.co.uk/IOGEAR-GearPowe ... B00COQIWW6


depending on what you want to use it on....

personally i favour my ghetto set up of BIG camping leisure battery

over the power station i listed which is (17ah) the battery i have under optimum conditions is 110ah best part of 93 ah more capacity (well its more complex that that both units should only be drained to 50% rated capacity to prolong life...


I also worked out that its MUCH more efficient to use 12v appliance chargers over going via in inverter


heres my basic set up


mains inverter

12v adaptor


charger



(note charger only on top of battery for photographic reasons battery charger should be kept away from battery ((hence long leads)) to avoid any risk of charger igniting hydrogen gas released during charging))



i also have my power box which i posted here


viewtopic.php?f=38&t=8297




as for why power cuts happen could be one of many factors such as.....


Over head line fault (broken insulator or trees blown onto lines/ bringing them down / rotten power posts)


underground cable faults corroded cable leading to heating especially in old pitch bound cables

Bob the builder / Worzal Gummage digging holes with JCBs without checking or Worzal hitting overhead lines with a crop sprayer boom

Cable theft

Transformer faults (they can and do go bang and catch fire)

overload of lines (too many houses added to old antiquated distribution network which then trips out when too much demand is placed on it)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_kLqxyfdMk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4jZBy5DMX8

bit of bad language in this one below but:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhq-biENbOY


this type of fault happened at the end of our street a good few years ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkDCS8xeobg

[Plymtom]

I often see those power stations thingies at Aldi or Lidl.... interestingly I've also seen a rather substantial pile of them at the tip a few times, whether that be people don't know how best to use them or that they don't go the distance I don't know, I'd rather if possible go for something which you could change the S/L/A battery as and when it died if there is such a beast.

[Yorkshire Andy]

remember watching someone dump one on a campsite.. asked him what was wrong with it... *~#king thing wont charge back up (he was charging it on the campsite toilet block whilst he sun bathed and run a little 12v tv off it on an evening....)


so i offered to take a look when i got inside there was just a hollow box a small SLA and a very basic PCB which had a dry / heated joint on the charger input (jack plug wire to casing) blob of solder later i had 2 tins of lager thrust into my hand and apparently a very happy wife back at his tent as she could watch eastenders

[Arzosah]

Andy, you're a star! Tizzie, sorry for the hijack ... I need to devote enough time to this to actually understand it I hope I'm not doing it the day after a power cut ...

Andy - are you recommending the one you linked to on Amazon?

[Tizzie]

Please, there is no need to say sorry. The portable power station I have is a fiamm-gs the purpose is to solve problems linked to the lack of electric. For example if a tool was needed outside to complete a job and there wasn't access to electric then it would be taken out and the plug of it put in, switched on and away we'd go, also can be used to car starting for flat batteries, and motorcycles. In the home computers etc. . Really it is an energy station, it also has a separate big light if required. The only thing I don't think I'd use it for is to plug in to boil a kettle as some-one advised me not to, not sure if this correct.

[Plymtom]

Please, there is no need to say sorry. The portable power station I have is a fiamm-gs the purpose is to solve problems linked to the lack of electric. For example if a tool was needed outside to complete a job and there wasn't access to electric then it would be taken out and the plug of it put in, switched on and away we'd go, also can be used to car starting for flat batteries, and motorcycles. In the home computers etc. . Really it is an energy station, it also has a separate big light if required. The only thing I don't think I'd use it for is to plug in to boil a kettle as some-one advised me not to, not sure if this correct.

Kettles are about 2KW so unless your power station is huge they're right, boosting another battery is one thing ( It would be a damn good one which could start a car all on it's own) if for instance you had available 6Ahours at 12 volts you have 6 X12 that's 72Watts for 1 hour if a kettle takes 3 minutes to boil ( a full one) you are a third shy of the power you would need roughly, but that's in theory, in practice the most you could hope to do is use a heating element under 72 Watts for way longer ( I do believe they make them for lighter sockets in cars intended for doing one cuppa but then car batteries or engine running can put out way more power)

[ukpreppergrrl]

I have one of these for jump-starting my car (tiny battery, lots of electricals, the battery goes pancake flat if you don't drive it for a week I now also have a 7 stage charger which also reconditions the battery!) which doubles up as an emergency electricity supply should it be needed. I also have a small solar panel setup which keeps two 72Ah leisure batteries topped up for any electrical emergencies. They're great. As for boiling water, you're far better off using a little portable gas stove and a pan than trying to use electricity from a DC battery. I keep an old 2L camping kettle in the cupboard for just such an occasion. Life always looks better if you can have a hot cuppa!

[Tizzie]

How right you are when you say everything looks better over a cuppa. I too have a camping kettle which I use on my portable stove. I don't use the portable power station if the car batteries flat which kept happening until I had it checked out and was told that one of the cells was dead I've got a portable 12v jump start and it's absolutely superb.