Mehama Power & Light
Dec. 28th, 2006 11:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kevin_standleeAfter several days of rain, today dawned bright, clear, sunny, and very cold. It froze last night, which is good because it gets a lot of the excess moisture out of the air. As I headed over to my father-in-law's house to go to work, I told Lisa that she should get up and about and not stay inside, as days like this are all too rare in Oregon in the winter.
She took advantage of the bright, clear conditions and the presence of my camera to take some photos of the home power backup battery/inverter box she built for her father's house.
This is the battery/inverter box behind his house, open so you can see the pieces inside. It's normally closed, of course. The box is a standard piece of Rubbermaid outdoor storage purchased from the hardware store.
A closer view of the equipment shows the backup batteries at left and the inverter (which converts the DC battery power to home AC power) at right.
This detail shows various available connectors and the circuit breakers. Lisa put this system together for her father so that even when the power fails -- which it did during the big storms a few days back -- he'll have power for the radios and sundry other equipment in his Ham Shack, including the internet connections through his DSL provider, assuming they don't lose power themselves and that telephone lines aren't affected.
Besides the battery setup here, which is normally fed by utility power to charge the batteries, they also can connect the generator on board their RV to the household power systems to recharge the batteries or to feed power to the rest of the house. (They also have a small wind generator, but the wind rarely blows hard enough to make it generate a significant amount of power -- ironic, considering what caused the failures a few days ago.) Assuming a supply of fuel (which is one reason for the farm fuel tank), they can stay up and running for many days, depending on usage.
She took advantage of the bright, clear conditions and the presence of my camera to take some photos of the home power backup battery/inverter box she built for her father's house.
This is the battery/inverter box behind his house, open so you can see the pieces inside. It's normally closed, of course. The box is a standard piece of Rubbermaid outdoor storage purchased from the hardware store.
A closer view of the equipment shows the backup batteries at left and the inverter (which converts the DC battery power to home AC power) at right.
This detail shows various available connectors and the circuit breakers. Lisa put this system together for her father so that even when the power fails -- which it did during the big storms a few days back -- he'll have power for the radios and sundry other equipment in his Ham Shack, including the internet connections through his DSL provider, assuming they don't lose power themselves and that telephone lines aren't affected.
Besides the battery setup here, which is normally fed by utility power to charge the batteries, they also can connect the generator on board their RV to the household power systems to recharge the batteries or to feed power to the rest of the house. (They also have a small wind generator, but the wind rarely blows hard enough to make it generate a significant amount of power -- ironic, considering what caused the failures a few days ago.) Assuming a supply of fuel (which is one reason for the farm fuel tank), they can stay up and running for many days, depending on usage.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-28 08:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-28 08:55 pm (UTC)Here's a detail photo of the batteries:
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Date: 2006-12-28 08:23 pm (UTC)Good construction on that UPS as well!
I'll take a guess and say you can get about 1500 watts outta that puppy?