Branch (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot) wrote2023-09-02 12:37 pm
branchandroot) wrote2023-09-02 12:37 pm
Entry tags:
The Ongoing Saga of Backup Power
So, I feel like it's about time to document this a bit. Electric in my area is, shall we say, less than stellar. It flickers at a stiff breeze. This whole area is well known for losing power on clear, sunny days for no apparent reason. The grid is ancient and the main power utility in this area is way more inclined to brightly offer you reduced power at peak times for a small incentive than to actually invest in grid updates. But it wasn't critical for most of us until this year.
This year we had the catastrophic ice storm in February that flat-out ripped down about 15-20% of the already shaky infrastructure. Power was down for a week, more in some places. Then there was quite an impressive storm in July that actually closed the Art Fair for a few hours (almost unheard-of) and the heart of downtown lost power in places. Then we had what was essentially a 30 second hurricane in early August, which miraculously did not hit our power lines while throwing two thirds of a mature sycamore almost straight at my porch, that was very exciting. Then we had a "500 year" storm in late August (man those percentages need updating now) and lost power for several more days, but hey at least none of the seven tornadoes landed on top of me--quite.
It is becoming increasingly urgent to have backups that will let me function without power for up to a week, is what I'm saying.
I'm relatively lucky: I'm on city water and a gas stove, so I'm very likely to still have running water and flowing gas, even with the power down. I can wash and cook. The problems are heating/cooling, light, and powering my devices so I can work and have music.
After February, I did some research and invested in a T-1000 Grecell backup battery. This worked like a charm, when tested in August, to power all of my devices and one floor lamp for days.
I also invested this year's tax return in a kerosene heater, rated for my apartment's square footage. Those are an old family standby, so I'm reasonably confident in using it safely, even after reading the instructions which are clearly written for Darwin Award competitors. I think "do not use gasoline in this heater" was repeated every fifth sentence.
So that was basic computing and heat taken care of!
The next step was to acquire that wonderful invention, the battery-powered camp shower pump. Stick one end in a barrel of water, lo you have a shower. The ten-gallon drinks cooler that I use for home dying projects worked a treat with four pans of boiling water added to make it hot. Ten gallons makes quite a nice fifteen to twenty minute shower. Progress!
The next step was one that some people probably don't need, but is fairly critical to my stability: music. I need sound, and I need familiar sound in a crisis. Fortunately, I had previously acquired an Anker Soundcore wireless speaker that I use in hotel rooms when traveling for work, and even better it's possible to pair two of them together. An extra of those, and I have something quite close to full sound.
The most finicky part of this was planning a backup for my desktop computer. Because working for a week on a tablet kind of sucks when you always have five things open at once and are used to a 27 inch screen. More research! I finally landed on getting a monitor that I could use with my work laptop, for the best combination of needing minimal constant power and having all my digital things available. I went with a Phillips 4K monitor for this, and indeed it only draws 16 watts. A second T-1000 will power that, recharge the laptop, and even work the small powered speakers in my desk area for four to five days. I have duly purchased that, so the computer has full backups now.
This leaves the evenings, though, when I am not working. I am normally spending a few hours unwinding my brain with anime re-runs, reading on my tablet, chatting, and listening to music. Often I have something playing on TV while I'm doing puzzle games on my tablet. I'm set for the reading, chatting, and music, but the watching is harder. I have a very large TV screen, and large screens draw a large amount of power, even when they're LED; 80 watts for mine. Having done extensive testing with my first T-1000, I have concluded it should be feasible to run the TV (connected to the laptop via HDMI for actual playback) for several hours a night, given a third T-1000. That one is on the list, and will take a couple months to save up for.
I am now experimenting with the most persnickety part of this: light. This is a critical element for mental health, when you live in the north and may have power out in the winter. My living room floor lamp is set; it can run off the first T-1000 for six hours a night and eat a mere .25% of charge per hour. The desk lamps are proving trickier, though. The two that I have are touch-control, because that's what's easiest to quickly turn on and off when I'm zooming for work, but they pull 3% charge per hour, between them. That is not sustainable when I would need _at least_ 6 hours on-time per night, in winter. I don't want to have to get a fourth bloody T-1000 just for the lights, those things are expensive! So now I'm doing the buy-test-return dance to find a set that (I hope) draws less. Ideally, I want to run these lights off the desk T-1000 and not need a separate battery. Gotta get that percentage down!
The issue of cooling continues intractable. Swamp coolers don't really work when you already live in a swamp. A portable AC unit draws around 1400 watts, and no backup battery will run one for more than an hour or two. Thus far, a fan and a lot of curtains seems like the best option available, here where buildings are made to retain heat.
There has been great progress, though! Heat, light, and devices/computer/entertainment are mostly secured.
Obviously, I'm rolling the cost of a whole-house generator into the mortgage, when I house hunt. But in the meantime, I feel reasonably well set for the next time the power goes down for days, which I expect will be in another couple of weeks now it's storm season.
This year we had the catastrophic ice storm in February that flat-out ripped down about 15-20% of the already shaky infrastructure. Power was down for a week, more in some places. Then there was quite an impressive storm in July that actually closed the Art Fair for a few hours (almost unheard-of) and the heart of downtown lost power in places. Then we had what was essentially a 30 second hurricane in early August, which miraculously did not hit our power lines while throwing two thirds of a mature sycamore almost straight at my porch, that was very exciting. Then we had a "500 year" storm in late August (man those percentages need updating now) and lost power for several more days, but hey at least none of the seven tornadoes landed on top of me--quite.
It is becoming increasingly urgent to have backups that will let me function without power for up to a week, is what I'm saying.
I'm relatively lucky: I'm on city water and a gas stove, so I'm very likely to still have running water and flowing gas, even with the power down. I can wash and cook. The problems are heating/cooling, light, and powering my devices so I can work and have music.
After February, I did some research and invested in a T-1000 Grecell backup battery. This worked like a charm, when tested in August, to power all of my devices and one floor lamp for days.
I also invested this year's tax return in a kerosene heater, rated for my apartment's square footage. Those are an old family standby, so I'm reasonably confident in using it safely, even after reading the instructions which are clearly written for Darwin Award competitors. I think "do not use gasoline in this heater" was repeated every fifth sentence.
So that was basic computing and heat taken care of!
The next step was to acquire that wonderful invention, the battery-powered camp shower pump. Stick one end in a barrel of water, lo you have a shower. The ten-gallon drinks cooler that I use for home dying projects worked a treat with four pans of boiling water added to make it hot. Ten gallons makes quite a nice fifteen to twenty minute shower. Progress!
The next step was one that some people probably don't need, but is fairly critical to my stability: music. I need sound, and I need familiar sound in a crisis. Fortunately, I had previously acquired an Anker Soundcore wireless speaker that I use in hotel rooms when traveling for work, and even better it's possible to pair two of them together. An extra of those, and I have something quite close to full sound.
The most finicky part of this was planning a backup for my desktop computer. Because working for a week on a tablet kind of sucks when you always have five things open at once and are used to a 27 inch screen. More research! I finally landed on getting a monitor that I could use with my work laptop, for the best combination of needing minimal constant power and having all my digital things available. I went with a Phillips 4K monitor for this, and indeed it only draws 16 watts. A second T-1000 will power that, recharge the laptop, and even work the small powered speakers in my desk area for four to five days. I have duly purchased that, so the computer has full backups now.
This leaves the evenings, though, when I am not working. I am normally spending a few hours unwinding my brain with anime re-runs, reading on my tablet, chatting, and listening to music. Often I have something playing on TV while I'm doing puzzle games on my tablet. I'm set for the reading, chatting, and music, but the watching is harder. I have a very large TV screen, and large screens draw a large amount of power, even when they're LED; 80 watts for mine. Having done extensive testing with my first T-1000, I have concluded it should be feasible to run the TV (connected to the laptop via HDMI for actual playback) for several hours a night, given a third T-1000. That one is on the list, and will take a couple months to save up for.
I am now experimenting with the most persnickety part of this: light. This is a critical element for mental health, when you live in the north and may have power out in the winter. My living room floor lamp is set; it can run off the first T-1000 for six hours a night and eat a mere .25% of charge per hour. The desk lamps are proving trickier, though. The two that I have are touch-control, because that's what's easiest to quickly turn on and off when I'm zooming for work, but they pull 3% charge per hour, between them. That is not sustainable when I would need _at least_ 6 hours on-time per night, in winter. I don't want to have to get a fourth bloody T-1000 just for the lights, those things are expensive! So now I'm doing the buy-test-return dance to find a set that (I hope) draws less. Ideally, I want to run these lights off the desk T-1000 and not need a separate battery. Gotta get that percentage down!
The issue of cooling continues intractable. Swamp coolers don't really work when you already live in a swamp. A portable AC unit draws around 1400 watts, and no backup battery will run one for more than an hour or two. Thus far, a fan and a lot of curtains seems like the best option available, here where buildings are made to retain heat.
There has been great progress, though! Heat, light, and devices/computer/entertainment are mostly secured.
Obviously, I'm rolling the cost of a whole-house generator into the mortgage, when I house hunt. But in the meantime, I feel reasonably well set for the next time the power goes down for days, which I expect will be in another couple of weeks now it's storm season.
no subject
to argue with a supervisor who was Wrongis that while ambient evaporative cooling works worse in high humidity, fans work better in humidity than in dry heat (the moving air restores your sweat’s evaporative cooling powers, whereas when it’s dry that’s already maxed out), so things that make air move more should help at least a bit.no subject
no subject
Their tests also seemed to suggest that the more fans you have, even if you still need SOME AC, you can get away with LESS, as moving air "feels" cooler. And fans definitely pull less electricity than AC, so I figure there's not that many downsides to giving it a shot.
no subject
no subject
As someone who lives in a swamp, can back up that testing with lived data. Moving air is way way cooler than still air.
Air conditioner can be on, but if the ceiling fan isn't on, it still feels hot.
no subject
no subject
Curtains, and if your area permits it, foil-backed foam sheets in the windows to reflect a lot of the light and slow the temperature transfer from the outside even further. (My apartment complex in Arizona did not permit foiling the windows.) Swamp cooling is no, but hauling in ice and doing a short-range fan across it will cool the immediate area a little. I have sacks made out of old towels to stuff blue ice packs inside and hug at night, from before we got the heat pump, and I'd be using them if we lost power.
no subject
Foam sheets would be an excellent solution for my windows (all of which face south) with those deep casements they have. [makes a note]
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject