Why I built a separate, fully isolated from the mains/grid with its own protection and earthing, etc., setup - can't run the normal house but has a battery bank and Renogy inverter to supply some 240V outlets if needed. Unfortunately at the time of year these issues might be most likely to happen solar production is likely very low as well - fortunately I've other sources of 12V DC as well which can tie into it if needed.
Potential power outages this winter
- Thread starter JamesH85
- Start date
Why I built a separate, fully isolated from the mains/grid with its own protection and earthing, etc., setup - can't run the normal house but has a battery bank and Renogy inverter to supply some 240V outlets if needed. Unfortunately at the time of year these issues might be most likely to happen solar production is likely very low as well - fortunately I've other sources of 12V DC as well which can tie into it if needed.
Question on the solar aspect, how does that work when there is no grid power and you aren't running a battery?
Say my panels are generating 400w, and my household pull is currently 200w.
I turn on a 100w device, no issue.
I then turn on a 200w device, taking me 100w over solar generation, what happens now? Does everything get turned off, does just that new device not turn on? I assume house circuitry isn't going dynamically deliver power to specific sockets.
Say my panels are generating 400w, and my household pull is currently 200w.
I turn on a 100w device, no issue.
I then turn on a 200w device, taking me 100w over solar generation, what happens now? Does everything get turned off, does just that new device not turn on? I assume house circuitry isn't going dynamically deliver power to specific sockets.
Yup
People can't quite grasp that you need communications if just for emergency services, and we're potentially in a worse situation for calling for help in the event of a power cut today than we've been for most of the last 80 years, as we've got rid of around 90% or so of the old public call boxes* and most of the modern phone systems are far more reliant on maintenance/power at a "local" level than they were 30 years ago.
It's all well and good BT and so on telling people "our street cabinets have back up power for 4 hours" or whatever, but I wouldn't like to bet on how many of them (let alone the VM ones**) have actually got fully functioning and tested batteries, as maintaining them across the tens of thousands of street cabinets is not going to be a cheap, or quick thing and I can quite believe that pre-emptive maintenance on them will not be quite as good as originally promised (why replace a battery at 3 years like the design docs say, if you know they usually still work at 4 years and it saves a third on that part of the maintenance budget...).
All this talk about phones reminds me I need to pick up a new, basic corded one as our cordless sets rely on mains power for the base station...
*Back during the last lot of regular/long power cuts across the country you could find a telephone box at the end of virtually every other street, now the nearest one I'm aware of to me is in the town centre (IIRC one they're obliged to keep, and that's the lone survivor of something like 6, as there were two at the bottom of the high street, two at the top, and a couple of singles).
**IIRC for a long time under NTL/BY it was apparently common for the backup batteries not to be there.
Unless you have a setup like @Rroff then when the inverter loses mains power, it all shuts off. The inverter will not output anything when it senses a loss of mains power.
Depends on the setup - but the average grid-tied install which feeds back does not continue powering your home when the power goes off. If you try to pull more than the panels can provide results will vary depending on the quality/features of the equipment and what devices you are using.
There is what is called island mode with some solar setups which allow it to continue providing some power to the house.
Last edited:
Here:
The code letter is found on your energy bill.
Most UK installs are "grid tied" so require power from the grid to be detected or they shut down their output (to protect anyone working on the the supply who is expecting it to be off), but you can get isolators that in the event of a power outage can isolate your house and have the inverter run in "off grid" mode.
I suspect if you had an "off grid" setup and tried to draw too much power it would simply shut down the output, but that is part of the reason you have batteries with most installs, as a battery system can store the excess power and use it to cover the difference between what the panels are producing and what you're using (to the limit of the battery/inverter output and what you've got in the battery).
If you were doing it with this sort of use in mind you could do what they do in data centres/hospitals etc and have the solar only supplying certain circuits (IE have the lighting and a dedicated ring for certain devices and have that on one side of the isolator and the rest of the household on the other side).
The ships full of gas waiting off Europe’s coast
In the middle of an energy crisis, giant ships full of liquefied natural gas are waiting off Europe's coast.
www.bbc.co.uk
You won't be able to use the 100w. As it's most likely you have a Grid tied system.
If mains goes off to street, your solar generation is also off.
Unfortunately many companies DONT disclose this part.
Yep you'd need a battery to allow your panels to sync to the frequency.
Even a tiny battery.
If I ever get to the point of having solar I'll be making sure it will function off grid as well, very easy to build in some relays to cut the connection to mains with a loss of mains frequency.
Even a tiny battery.
If I ever get to the point of having solar I'll be making sure it will function off grid as well, very easy to build in some relays to cut the connection to mains with a loss of mains frequency.
Nothing insurmountable but you can have some complications (earthing, etc.)/DNO requirements with a system which integrates into your normal household system. One of the reasons I built a separate fully off-grid system (as well as some other requirements of my own).
Soldato
- Joined
- 13 May 2003
- Posts
- 8,967
Depressingly this has happened a number of times over the last few years. The owners are waiting for prices to rise or competition to increase offers. The joys of owning an LNG vessel. Pipeline owners don't have such choices but lower operating costs.The ships full of gas waiting off Europe’s coast
In the middle of an energy crisis, giant ships full of liquefied natural gas are waiting off Europe's coast.www.bbc.co.uk
Permabanned
- Joined
- 28 Nov 2003
- Posts
- 10,695
- Location
- Shropshire
I was speaking to my central heating oil man and he is in a consortium where they pool finances and buy oil when it's cheap(er), and it sits offshore of Milford Haven in tankers and only comes ashore when the price goes up. They can make a LOT of money like this, aside from their normal profit margins, apparently.
Agreed, we had a little UPS for our tank - as long as you can keep your return going (and possibly a powerhead), then you'll be fine for a few hours. A large volume of water (e.g. the 200l+ in a marine tank) takes a LONG time to cool down.
Got to love the posters saying they don't see what the fuss is, as we were fine in the 70s. Because 50 years of regression isn't all that much of a big deal?
We were fine living in caves as well, but I bet you wouldn't be too happy if someone turned up one day to demolish your house!Any figures on how many people were working from home via VPN in the 70s? Didn't think so
, but I'm guessing since we're talking 50 years ago, those particular posters don't need to worry about things like being able to do their job anymore.
Last edited:
Soldato
- Joined
- 16 Aug 2009
- Posts
- 8,082
So when are the govt going to be announcing these adverts to tell people how to save energy/cut down demand on the Grid and help prevent blackouts?
Oh right, they aren't, silly me.
I read that somewhere tankers parked offshore waiting for the price to go up, good grief.
Oh right, they aren't, silly me.
I read that somewhere tankers parked offshore waiting for the price to go up, good grief.
Last edited:
Guess you will need to you know go into the office.......Agreed, we had a little UPS for our tank - as long as you can keep your return going (and possibly a powerhead), then you'll be fine for a few hours. A large volume of water (e.g. the 200l+ in a marine tank) takes a LONG time to cool down.
Got to love the posters saying they don't see what the fuss is, as we were fine in the 70s. Because 50 years of regression isn't all that much of a big deal?
Any figures on how many people were working from home via VPN in the 70s? Didn't think so
The horror!
