Temporary off-the-grid power, on the cheap
Because of the winter weather hitting much of the country lately and causing major power outages, I’m posting today about my office power back-up system at Casa de Conner.
Power outages are common in several parts of California that combine the double-whammy of being sparsely populated areas with lots of the iconic California oak tree. These trees are protected by law in many (most? all?) parts of the state so even as they deteriorate with age they can’t be removed. PG&E fights a valiant battle trimming all of the trees along its power lines: I don’t usually feel a lot of pain for utilities, but keeping all of those oak trees trimmed has got to be one expensive headache.
With every winter storm, several oak trees in our central-coast California community will drop branches or completely collapse, taking out the power for a day. Over the years, as off-grid forms of power, such as solar panels/inverters and gas generators, have gotten cheaper, I’ve looked into purchasing them. Truthfully, much of the attraction has been the excuse to get new tech toys.
The elderly battery in my laptop can only hold up for about 30 minutes, nor of course can it power any other electronic equipment in the office.However, keeping in mind that with significant power outages at the rate of a couple of times every winter rather than every week or month throughout the year, solving the power-outage problem didn’t require going off the grid permanently with a major solar or gas-generator installation.
About a year ago the local Costco warehouse had emergency power battery-backups on sale for $80. It’s a PowerStation PS5000M which can provide 110V ac power and keep my laptop running for about 6hrs. It’s ac-output is non-sinusoidal, which can be a problem for some appliances, but not for my laptop.
But wait, there’s more! It also can jump-start a car, and comes with built-in jumper cables (which I have used to jump-start the garden tractor, but never a car), an integrated 140 PSI air compressor (never used) and 2 12V dc power outlets (also never used).
An unexpected use has been to replace a heavy-duty extension cable for power tool use in remote spots (well, a hundred feet away from the house, anyway.)
The PowerStation uses a lead acid battery, that seems be rated at 18 A-hr. I can’t find any information on the company, but I’ve seen similar products at Home Depot and Sears. In the year or so that I’ve had it it’s done its job and helped me continue to do mine in spite of rain, snow, and falling oak trees.
Any other suggestions for preparing for power outages?
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