Hurricane Irma

[k7]

to throw some positive info for everyone: the news is still saying this is a category 4, but wind speeds in key west right now (made landfall) have been reported at 100MPH (category 2). and this is a storm hitting land with nothing blocking wind speeds or slowing it down. just took a video grab off TV of 2 guys, on bicycles, at the southernmost point of key west, taking pictures.

who can stand straight up, not brace themselves, with nothing blocking you from the front wall of a category 4 storm?

and screw you FP&L. i went outside and sneezed, and 1400 homes lost power.

at&t gave us all free data until 9-17. that's nice, considering we'll all be watching youtube on phones for weeks.


edit: text me if you're bored. we need to have a brownout village party. it's been fun chatting with russ for the AM.

on battery backup, here's the pic:

[Mamushka]

Generator hooked up and ready to go 

5,500 Watt dual fuel, gas and natural gas (NG) running on NG. Back feeding into main panel with proper interlock. Brought home a bunch of strip heaters from work to put it under load, while on NG it would only put out 30 A at 112 V (or 15 A at 225 V), about 3,400 W, stupid lower energy content NG! 

I started pulling reading on the essentials,  refrigerator - 1.5 Amps, beer cooler 1.4 Amps, upstairs AC unit, etc. The upstairs AC is just for the 240 ft^2 bonus room. Put the meter on the outside unit and get 7.5 A at 225 V, sweet! Now just check inrush, 46 Amps, crap!

Well what to do? Try turning on the AC with 1/3 the required starting Amps of course, hook it up, turn her on and the generator sounds like it's trying to take a 100 lb shit for a few seconds, but the AC turns on. I then flipped on the fridge, cooler a few lights and all was good.

So if we lose power will start the AC and crank her down as low as it will go, will just keep the door open to let the cool air downstairs and keep the room from getting too cold. I plan on running the AC nonstop until power is restored since starting it is so dicey.

[SpineyNorman]

It starts...power flickers 3 times...comes back on, cable and internet out AGAIN (fuck you comcast but uverse sux bawls)...ceiling fan is now dead, musta fried the remote receiver.

Still better than shoveling snow

[mcluvin]

Generator hooked up and ready to go 

5,500 Watt dual fuel, gas and natural gas (NG) running on NG. Back feeding into main panel with proper interlock.

Just discovered interlocks yesterday.  Looks like the way to go for me.  Did you buy it or make your own?  They seem kinda pricey for what they are.

[k7]

neighbor is taking a "end of the world video" from their front porch, as i walk by with some tree branches and wave in 50ish MPH winds/rain. i go outside about every hour, just cleaning up.

that neighbor's mango tree is going to come down.

power is erratic. but uverse has been 100% . i've got everything that needs it on a battery backup.

and just pulled out the dreamcast. our generator will run 1 a/c in a small room, a TV, a fan, the dreamcast, and the main fridge.

i've unplugged everything else. man, the arcade has a lot of power cords.


i have to add, the tornado possibility warnings are just overdone. we're curfewed to our homes, and they want to constantly alert that tornadoes can be possible from now to then, put whatever hours you want there.

do these alerts help anyone?

[Mamushka]

Just discovered interlocks yesterday.  Looks like the way to go for me.  Did you buy it or make your own?  They seem kinda pricey for what they are.

Her is mine (not universal, have to match them to your panel):
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CONDIGO/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
think it was ~$35 when I ordered it.

Also ordered the wall mounted power inlet box:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BQT47S/ref=od_aui_detailpages01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
And this meter so you can make sure the load is balanced:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AHTWSE0/ref=od_aui_detailpages01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[k7]

transformer just blew up across the street, and I couldn't get my damn phone in time.

Lightning arcing back-and-forth across wires and down.

lets see if this crap works:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-d9AxKjyMU

[SpineyNorman]

These panic mongering assholes on WPBF should be ashamed of themselves...and I'm pretty sure this bimbo in the stupidly  inappropriate little black cocktail dress telling me I need to hide in the bathroom with a helmet on gets wet every time she says the word "tornadic"

[k7]

it's a mid-level 3 now, about to hit naples, the downgrade in intensity is good news. they have been over-advertising the wind speeds, they appear to up the numbers about 5 miles an hour faster than actual recorded speeds from a few online searches i've seen.

60 people arrested in palm beach for curfew violations.

we keep losing power with no relation to activity outside, and we have power with 80 mile per hour winds.

can't complain. oh, just went out again.

[SpineyNorman]

Power has flickered 3 times, never gone all the way out.

Cable on the other hand has been out for over 5 hours now...first world problems 

[Mamushka]

Out of water and just finishing up the rest of the dog food... anyone have a good recipe for grilled dog?

[0geist0]

Getting hit with the worst winds of the day now.
Power out three times, but Comcast and the internet is still up

[RussG]

Getting hit with the worst winds of the day now.
Power out three times, but Comcast and the internet is still up

Other than direct path does it seem east coast getting the worst of it right now between high winds hitting WPB area now and heavy rain squalls coming across the coast from you guys up through me in Brevard?

Spiney, she said "Tornadic" squall bands!   

[SpineyNorman]

She musta creamed herself with that one.

Getting solid winds now...been tornado alerts all afternoon, expect the power to go out any time now.

[mcluvin]

Her is mine (not universal, have to match them to your panel):
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CONDIGO/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
think it was ~$35 when I ordered it.

Also ordered the wall mounted power inlet box:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BQT47S/ref=od_aui_detailpages01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
And this meter so you can make sure the load is balanced:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AHTWSE0/ref=od_aui_detailpages01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thanks!  I have that panel as well, though it doesn't have a main breaker.  My main breaker is in another panel on the outside of the house.  It looks like I could easily make an interlock, but could potentially cause some insurance issues.