Power Cut.

[Dale.]

We were affected by a power cut through the night. It started about 1-30am and went on until about 4am. No biggy really but what did concern me was that we had no internet on mobile devices, so effectively, the mobile network was shut down too. We had no landline either. It prompted me to go for a walk to see if I could see lights anywhere. Living in a valley, this meant I had to climb up out of it on one of the backroads. It was eerily quiet, I did hear somebody shouting in the distance but nothing apart fom that. Cue 28 Days Later theme in my head.


There were no lights to be seen, far and wide, except for the masts, which will have their own generators I'm guessing, as we live near 2 airports. The moon was quite strong to begin with, so I could see where I was walking but it clouded over and I couldn't see my feet. Apart from the masts, the only lights I could see very dimly, were out towards the coast. There didn't even seem to be the usual light pollution from the distant towns. This was a big one, so I headed back home.

We get local powercuts quite often and also, a drop in power but this was something else. I've never know the internet to drop out too.

It got me thinking though and now I'm considering a powerbank, probably a Jackery or similar. It would be handy for power cuts and also, for use in our new summerhouse that is being built.

Anybody have or had a Jackery, or similar brand? Is the solar version worth the extra?

I don't mind dropping the cash if it does what it says on the tin, so budget is around the £600 mark.

ta.

 

[lindsay]

Funnily enough Jackery wanted to promote their stuff on TP a couple of years ago but we declined. Shame, there might have been a TP discount!

For emergency comms, maybe you should consider getting into ham radio, as you can run low to medium pwer transmitters off a smallish LiFo battery for a number of hours. /tongueincheek

 

[Box Brownie]

@Dale.

What you describe where access to mobile connectivity is lost during such power cuts.....is the one unaddressed concern about landlines and the switch from 'analogue voice' to 'digital voice'

 

[Dale.]

Funnily enough Jackery wanted to promote their stuff on TP a couple of years ago but we declined. Shame, there might have been a TP discount!

Ah yeah, I remember that.

For emergency comms, maybe you should consider getting into ham radio, as you can run low to medium pwer transmitters off a smallish LiFo battery for a number of hours. /tongueincheek

A friend of mine was a Ham, had all the gear, even a tower in his back garden that could be extended pretty high, 40ft plus at a guess. It had an H shaped antenna. He was right into it, I remember one of his radios, it was a Kenwood, big thing, with valves. That started a love affair I had with Kenwood audio, back in the day.

@Dale.

What you describe where access to mobile connectivity is lost during such power cuts.....is the one unaddressed concern about landlines and the switch from 'analogue voice' to 'digital voice'

Yes, we were completely cut off for a few hours. It could've been anything happening, we wouldn't have known. My main concern though if this happens again is if there is a home emergency, there would be no way of contacting any services.

It does remind me though, that back in the day, during the big powercuts of the 70s, we just muddled through. We did have phone boxes back then though.

 

[boogie man]

I’ve raised this with my local MP as we’ve had six power cuts since April, one lasting 3 or 4 hours. We’re out in the sticks and the mobile phone coverage is completely nonexistent. I’ve asked our MP to put some weight behind getting a new or better mast erected. She’s apparently looked into it, but also advised that vulnerable or elderly people using a BT landline should get a battery back up from their supplier once the old copper lines get shut down. No idea if that applies to other providers.

 

[ecoleman]

Best get used to it. Miliband will have us cooking on candles soon enough.

 

[onomatopoeia]

@Dale.

What you describe where access to mobile connectivity is lost during such power cuts.....is the one unaddressed concern about landlines and the switch from 'analogue voice' to 'digital voice'

You're assuming the BT exchange won't also lose power and rapidly deplete its standby backup in a widespread ongoing outage.

I've taken the approach of buying a Tesla Powerwall to maintain the home electricity supply for as long as possible if the grid fails.

 

[Box Brownie]

You're assuming the BT exchange won't also lose power and rapidly deplete its standby backup in a widespread ongoing outage.

I've taken the approach of buying a Tesla Powerwall to maintain the home electricity supply for as long as possible if the grid fails.

No, I am aware that the exchange system (under analogue voice) will have a finite limit to how long the battery support will last. But at least with the sort of outage that @Dale. describes there would be a window of connectivity for landline calls to be made as required.

Much as a Tesla powerwall or similar is a good idea it is costly

 

[Steep]

For those looking at

We were affected by a power cut through the night. It started about 1-30am and went on until about 4am. No biggy really but what did concern me was that we had no internet on mobile devices, so effectively, the mobile network was shut down too. We had no landline either. It prompted me to go for a walk to see if I could see lights anywhere. Living in a valley, this meant I had to climb up out of it on one of the backroads. It was eerily quiet, I did hear somebody shouting in the distance but nothing apart fom that. Cue 28 Days Later theme in my head.


There were no lights to be seen, far and wide, except for the masts, which will have their own generators I'm guessing, as we live near 2 airports. The moon was quite strong to begin with, so I could see where I was walking but it clouded over and I couldn't see my feet. Apart from the masts, the only lights I could see very dimly, were out towards the coast. There didn't even seem to be the usual light pollution from the distant towns. This was a big one, so I headed back home.

We get local powercuts quite often and also, a drop in power but this was something else. I've never know the internet to drop out too.

It got me thinking though and now I'm considering a powerbank, probably a Jackery or similar. It would be handy for power cuts and also, for use in our new summerhouse that is being built.

Anybody have or had a Jackery, or similar brand? Is the solar version worth the extra?

I don't mind dropping the cash if it does what it says on the tin, so budget is around the £600 mark.

ta.

Have a look at Anker power stations, similar to Jackery. They do some pretty good offers (black friday coming soon), either direct or via amazon for both brands.

I bought their smallest one, only 200w and a solar panel for under £200. From about 450 you could go up to 1200w output though you would probably get only 30-40 minutes at the top end (it being 768wh).

 

[Dale.]

*Googles Tesla Powerwall*........................... emmm, no.

Good they may be but certainly blows my £600 budget.

For those looking at


Have a look at Anker power stations, similar to Jackery. They do some pretty good offers (black friday coming soon), either direct or via amazon for both brands.

I bought their smallest one, only 200w and a solar panel for under £200. From about 450 you could go up to 1200w output though you would probably get only 30-40 minutes at the top end (it being 768wh).

I stumbled across Anker stuff earlier, as well as EcoFlow. A bit of research after dinner tonight.

 

[onomatopoeia]

*Googles Tesla Powerwall*........................... emmm, no.

Good they may be but certainly blows my £600 budget.






I stumbled across Anker stuff earlier, as well as EcoFlow. A bit of research after dinner tonight.

So if the landline is the concern, get a small UPS for £100 which will supply the router for several hours but won't let you boil a kettle / run the central heating / cook the dinner etc etc.

 

[Dale.]

So if the landline is the concern, get a small UPS for £100 which will supply the router for several hours but won't let you boil a kettle / run the central heating / cook the dinner etc etc.

Would the Jackery (et al) not do this too?

EDIT:- just looked those up, a little different to the Jackery but would do the landline side of things. I think a Jackery type thing is more suited to being on standby and also, proving (limited) power to the impending summerhouse build.

 

[srichards]

I have UPS on important things so if the exchange has power and the intermediate cabinets also then the broadband stays up.

Not had an outage where mobile data went off as well. That's quite troublesome.

 

[Dale.]

That's quite troublesome.

Yes, that did spook me a little. We had no router, no landline (to be expected) but the fact mobile data was down too was a little unsettling. Not really because we didn't have it, it was more why we didn't have it.

It was quite a big outage, affecting large areas over a few counties, apparently. Even the bigger towns in the distance (as far as I could see/tell) were out too.

Whilst a Jackery or other power station might not have helped that situation, I do feel one could serve a dual purpose for us, powering our new summerhouse, off grid and it can also be brought indoors during a powercut.

 

[ecoleman]

I have a UPS on my NAS, modem, router and main switch which feeds one of my POE access points.

The NAS will auto shutdown if power isn't restored within 10 minutes leaving another hour run time for the internet.

 

[boogie man]

You're assuming the BT exchange won't also lose power and rapidly deplete its standby backup in a widespread ongoing outage.

I've taken the approach of buying a Tesla Powerwall to maintain the home electricity supply for as long as possible if the grid fails.

Ex BT engineer here. As well as battery back up that lasts a few hours, all BT exchanges have a diesel generator onsite that will keep the systems running for several weeks. The generator will kick in automatically if the mains voltage drops below a set level, as well as in a complete power cut. This is all a hangover from the Cold War when phones were really the only quick form of communication, so there was a guaranteed power supply put in place to keep the phone lines running in case of nuclear attack. When I started working for BT quite a few of their buildings still had either a build it yourself bomb shelter kit (a sort of LEGO kit of specially shaped bricks) or even a purpose built room, usually in the basement, equipped with heavy steel doors, beds, air filtration and canned foods.