spatial
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Post by spatial on Dec 24, 2022 23:23:50 GMT 10
Austrian state gov distributed short vid on what to prepare for blackouts, supermarkets selling blackout kits. And have contingencies in place to open during power outages. www.zivilschutz.at/thema/blackout/Topics coverd. use google translate. communication Traffic logistics Grocery & Retail Medical supplies water and sanitation heating finance production Prepare in the same way as for any other crisis scenario:Provide at least 10-14 days of food and water supplies. Find out what precautions have been taken in your community (e.g. water supply, contact points in the event of a crisis). Have a battery or crank radio ready. Make sure you have enough lamps in your household (we recommend LED lights instead of candles - no risk of fire). Provide a way to cook without electricity (e.g. gas hob, emergency cooking area with fuel paste, grill, etc.). Consider whether you need provisions for emergency power (e.g. farm). Discuss your plans with your household, family and neighbors. Additionally: At work, talk about whether you're needed during a blackout or whether you can stay home.
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spatial
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Post by spatial on Dec 25, 2022 5:38:29 GMT 10
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malewithatail
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Post by malewithatail on Dec 25, 2022 7:08:34 GMT 10
As preppers we should already have this covered. Its still a good checklist though.
Happy Christmas to all on the forum.
The cold up north should make us think about such a senerio down under. Its probably wouldn't get as bad here as there is a lot of warmer ocean between us and the Antarctic, but what would you do to safeguard your people if it did happen ? Do you know how to empty the water pipes/tanks, car/generator radiators, have enough wood on hand for the stove to run 24/7 for a week or two ? Some comments from the USA suggest people had wood on hand, but its so cold, they burnt a weeks supply in a day or so. Are you ready for just such a disaster ?
Doesn't sound like global warming to me.
So when is the "old enough to know better" supposed to kick in ?
For me, prepping is a state of mind that is grounded in the core belief that YOU and only YOU are responsible for your own well-being.
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malewithatail
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Post by malewithatail on Dec 25, 2022 7:19:27 GMT 10
You can tell which Govt has the survival of its citizens in mind.
I'm old enough to know better, but immature enough to do it anyway.
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spatial
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Post by spatial on Dec 25, 2022 7:44:54 GMT 10
You can tell which Govt has the survival of its citizens in mind. It is gov panic as they can't controls the situation, in Europe the so called centre of civilization. (Woke centre???) The gov admitting to having issues only at the last minute as final desperation, that is only from a state gov. By the time the federal gov informs citizens of an issues it is already toooooo late.
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spatial
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Post by spatial on Dec 25, 2022 7:50:04 GMT 10
As preppers we should already have this covered. Its still a good checklist though. Happy Christmas to all on the forum. Happy Christmas. Yip Australian power grid is also very stretched, and summer heat in Jan/Feb could do the same thing, but it is cooling that will be needed. My understanding is Aus power usage is higher in Summer. Got message today from South Africa the continual rolling blackouts are starting to burn transformers out, creating even a bigger problem. It is a death spiral of continuing consequences.
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malewithatail
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Post by malewithatail on Dec 25, 2022 8:26:39 GMT 10
All the more reason to get your own independent power system.
Just checked, getting 6.9 kw (nearly 150 amps at 48 volts), into the main battery system at 9:20 am, will be full by 10 am.
I'm retired, now I just work for my wife.
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bushdoc2
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Post by bushdoc2 on Dec 25, 2022 10:09:24 GMT 10
You can tell which Govt has the survival of its citizens in mind. Yes, it used to be "Give them bread and circus". Now it's "Be responsible for your own bread and circus (so you don't get angry about us later)."
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spatial
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Post by spatial on Dec 26, 2022 23:44:13 GMT 10
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malewithatail
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Post by malewithatail on Dec 27, 2022 9:32:53 GMT 10
All of the above shortages are without even considering sabotage. Get off the grid NOW. Be responsible for your own and families well being.
We are well and truly on the path to self destruction as a race and civilization.
My scars tell a story, they are reminders of times when life tried to break me, but failed.
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bug
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Post by bug on Dec 28, 2022 8:58:53 GMT 10
As preppers we should already have this covered. Its still a good checklist though. Happy Christmas to all on the forum. Happy Christmas. Yip Australian power grid is also very stretched, and summer heat in Jan/Feb could do the same thing, but it is cooling that will be needed. My understanding is Aus power usage is higher in Summer. Got message today from South Africa the continual rolling blackouts are starting to burn transformers out, creating even a bigger problem. It is a death spiral of continuing consequences. Australia is nothing like South Africa. The pool of tradesmen and engineers who ran the grid there have been leaving in droves over the past few decades and the government there spends next to nothing on infrastructure maintenance. In comparison, the Australian grid is doing the exact opposite, with the biggest spending on generation and transmission assets since the 1980s. There have always been blackouts here and they have also been rare. All energy distributors are required by law to track them and are financially penalised if they don't. The average house is off supply for less than an hour per year. It's a little worse than that in rural areas, especially where power lines cross treed areas. It's better in new housing estates where everything is underground.
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Beno
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Post by Beno on Dec 30, 2022 20:31:17 GMT 10
This seems to be ramping up. there have been a number of “vandalism” attacks on their grids. sounds easy enough to do just send a few projectiles through the transformers and lights out. I can’t fathom why anyone would do this. The grid would be nearly impossible to protect if a group with serious intent wanted to do bad things.
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spatial
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Post by spatial on Dec 30, 2022 23:46:14 GMT 10
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tactile
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Post by tactile on Dec 31, 2022 5:10:21 GMT 10
Typo - had me worried for a minute.
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bug
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Post by bug on Jan 2, 2023 21:33:15 GMT 10
This seems to be ramping up. there have been a number of “vandalism” attacks on their grids. sounds easy enough to do just send a few projectiles through the transformers and lights out. I can’t fathom why anyone would do this. The grid would be nearly impossible to protect if a group with serious intent wanted to do bad things. Yup. Spares are held for this kind of thing, but you'd have to catch those responsible first.
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dirtdiva
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Post by dirtdiva on Jan 3, 2023 0:07:57 GMT 10
Like many areas of the US Late December has brought brutal temperatures and heavier than normal snowfall. However we have not seen many electrical blackouts or outages. For the first time though we did receive calls last week from local government asking citizens to conserve water as unusually cold temperatures have resulted in a record number of water breaks and frozen pipes and water levels are extremely low. Part of this problem I think is that as temperatures in winter seem to be becoming colder thus pipes and infrastructure are going to have to be modified to withstand those cold extremes. Public water lines are going to have to be buried deeper as the frost lines extend deeper. AT the present time water lines in this area are required to be buried 3 feet below ground. Obviously that needs to be modified and required to go deeper. We make it a personal goal to exceed local permit requirements in many situations and we personally buried our line an extra 18 inches where bedrock allowed. Thus far we have not lost a waterline yet.
Another thing that I have always felt was a mistake was the trend for everyone to connect to public water rather than have private cisterns, rain collection and individual wells and pumps discouraged or in some instances outlawed. Never smart to put all your eggs or in this case water in one basket.
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malewithatail
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Post by malewithatail on Jan 3, 2023 6:50:05 GMT 10
Cant be right, global warming is happening, snow is cold, not warm !!
I intend to live forever. So far, so good.
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spatial
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Post by spatial on Jan 8, 2023 12:53:08 GMT 10
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Post by spinifex on Jan 8, 2023 14:52:37 GMT 10
All of the above shortages are without even considering sabotage. Get off the grid NOW. Be responsible for your own and families well being. We are well and truly on the path to self destruction as a race and civilization. My scars tell a story, they are reminders of times when life tried to break me, but failed. Have you got opinions/recommendations on battery storage for solar power? And ... I'm talking for day to day usage under "normal" conditions. Not post apocalyptic conditions.
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malewithatail
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Post by malewithatail on Jan 8, 2023 18:12:33 GMT 10
OK, Ive been in this industry for over 40 years, from the start and indeed wrote the original installation rules when working for a large electrical retailer. I also wrote the first grid connect rules, and put the first grid interactive solar/battery system in in Australia.
Ive used all the main battery chemistry's, nicad, nioh, nife, lead acid, carbon, and more recently, Life (lithium iron). By the way, nickle hydroxide, as in the replacement for nickle cadmium is a pathetic technology. Much better to collect AA, and AAA nicads from junked gear at the tip, hit them with a powerful charge from a car battery, and then recharge them normally. (Dendrites grow internally and short out the cell, these can be removed by the sudden flash across a car battery).
The absolute best chemistry, without any doubt, is the alkaline, or nicad/nife. Life spans of 50 plus years are common, at 100% discharge cycles, and then all that's needed is to change the electrolyte out (as it absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in use and that precipitates out carbon, which reduces the charge acceptance). Yes, they occasionally need a 100% discharge, and shorted for 24 hours to remove the crystal growth caused by shallow cycles, but I have a set of nickle iron (NIFE) battery's, in a wooden crate from 1921, it still delivers its 20 amp hours at 12 volts, over 100 years later ! The problem is they are expensive, very expensive. A 1,000 amp 48 volt set will cost over $80K, so impractical, but the military used them for the reliability reasons, no corrosion or sudden death due to internal crud buildup on the plates, causing shorts.
Lithium types are a good 2nd choice. Advantages of them are the cycle life of 3,000 cycles to 100 %, (nearly 10 years), and 8,000 cycles at 20%, (nearly 30 years). But, large format types are expensive. The lithium iron types are very safe compared to the earlier ones.
When my sister arrived here, I had a 12 volt system set up for her, with a 1,000 amp hr lead acid battery pak and 9 off 400 watt panels. It worked ok, but the inverter was only 500 watts, so she couldn't run a fridge etc. Time for an upgrade. I went for a lithium pak, 24 volt, 400 amp hours, cost was around $5K (i actually bought 2 sets, one for my daughters house here, so got a reasonable discount).
These are in a stainless steel box with a battery management system built in (that has tripped on one pak on a very hot day).
A few guidelines.
Lead acid battery's, for max life, should not be discharged more than 10 % per cycle. So a 1,000 amp hr pack can deliver 100 amp hours safely daily for its 10 plus year life span. This is the max discharge, usually overnight. But, the standby capacity, for bad weather etc, is nearly 10 days. Yes it would be a 100% discharge but an occasional heavy discharge shouldn't cause damage, as long as its recharged ASAP.
The 400 amp hour lithium battery's only give 4 days standby, at the same discharge rate. True, but they seem much more efficient than a lead acid pak, and modern regulators (MPPT), seem to recharge even on overcast days. In fact, I haven't had to start the small generator set at all in the last 6 months. And that system is running a house, large fridge/freezer, large screen TV/video and computer system, lights etc. It is cycled around 50% per day, but has coped with it all.
In fact, I bought a new lead acid battery several years ago for our main system, 48 volts at 2,600 amp hours, a submarine battery actually, and if the lithium was available then, I would have bought several sets of them instead, and the cost would have been around the same at $25 K, plus delivery.
I get no gain financial or otherwise from the next comment.
I got them from Big Wei battery's at Slacks Creek near Brisbane. And there was free delivery on at the time.
You have to specify the voltage you want the pak at when purchasing, but I cant see why it couldn't be changed after wards.
12 volts, 800 amp hours, 24 volts, 400 amp hours and 48 volts at 200 amp hours are the normal voltages available, but they will build a pak to suit. Obviously, they are using a 200 amp hours cell.
So to get 1,000 amp hours at 48 volts, would cost around $30 k, well in line with a decent lead acid battery.
And they come with a 3 yer unconditional warranty. Unlike lead acid battery's, up to 5 sets can be in parallel at the same time, and let the battery management system look after it.
Technology marches on, and the time has come for alternate battery chemistry's, such as Lithium or graphite, to take over. Sad to say, after over 100 years, lead acid chemistry is fading away, and probably good riddens to it !
So, I suppose I'm giving the thumbs up to lithium types, only 'cause alkaline types are soooo expensive.
Things that absorb dark are called darksuckers.
The Sun is a really big darksucker.
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