A couple hours ago, I noticed the lights dim here in my mother's computer room, and I heard her whole house generator kick in outside in the backyard. It's a cool thing. I talked her into getting it after Hurricane Ike's wind knocked out power for a week in the Fall of 2008, and then an ice storm in January 2009 did the same. It kicks in automatically and runs everything via natural gas - including A/C and furnace and stove, etc. - if the voltage coming in from the power company dips below a certain threshold.

I checked the local power company's online outage map, and this neighborhood will be off for a few hours until they fix the problem, but my mother's generator will keep everything here at home on.

This is the generator outside:



And the inside panel, right now:

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

My dad wired the main breaker box to run the generator we have. It don't run everything but just the basics. Just shut off the main breaker to isolate it from the power grid so it don't energize any power lines. Then plug it in the 220 outlet to power the home.

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I didn't want my mother, who was living alone at the time, to deal with that sort of thing. Getting her an automatic situation was the best, safest thing. Now that I have inherited the house, I am also very glad to have the setup.

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

I had one when I lived in Solvang. Power was rather iffy out there. I came on several time a year, mostly in winter.

We have something similar. When we put in the solar panels, we also opted for battery backup. We essentially have a mini power station in our house that switches to battery when the grid goes out. In daylight, it replenishes the battery from the solar panels. The switchover is faster than a cycle (we are on 60 hertz).

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The change-over on a battery /inverter solar system will be very fast. On my boat, when connected to a land line it is only a few milliseconds.

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?