New DIY LED lighting for my room

Glad nothing was damaged from the storm. The other year hurricane Sandy knocked out power for about 5 days.

I have a bunch of random sealed lead acid batteries in my room that I keep topped off with a small solar panel. Was enough power for lighting and charging my cell phone. I could also power up my cable modem but the storm was so far-reaching all of the cable internet infrastructure didn't have power either.

My phone lost internet on the end of the 3rd day. I later found out why - I was at a local AT&T site on the mountain where I live and they had this huge 1960s General Motors diesel generator they were dismantling to provide parts for other sites while they install a new generator. The guys there said the generator ran for 3 days straight after the hurricane and only shut down because they ran out of fuel.

Fortunately for us, some network providers still work so we can have internet via mobile data plan. DSL modem isn't working though since all the phone line is still down.

All the areas nearby already have power except for our village and a few others. Hopefully they route mains power to us soon. It's hard to take a bath in freezing cold water. lol

Next project: solar water heater!

I like that picture where you can't really see your house, but you can see that it is down the street because everything in the street is lit up by it. Be careful, though, some unsavory individuals might see that as a sign of wealth. At least, that's what happens in the zombie movies

I'm glad that the worst of it has passed and that you and yours made it through unscathed. Icing on the cake that tree missed the truck and your panels are still intact

Day 3 and still no power heard that there are a few poles that went down. Landline is also out so we don't have DSL.

It's almost noon and we still need ~35amp hours to fill up in the battery bank. Cloudy skies ain't helping as we're only getting around 3amps from the panel array. I hope we get a full charge before the sun sets.

If you've got a bicycle and a spare motor/generator/alternator and rectifier bridge you could always manually charge the battery banks. Or use a car to charge it as well. It sucks to have to use chemical fuel, but it is better than your food spoiling.

Sigurthr said:

slightly OT: I'm always of the opinion that as long as the OP is adding content there shouldn't be any issue with reasonable multiposting. I'm not a mod though.

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Absolutely right.

I never frown upon double / multiple posting if, like you said, it's adding content.

On topic... Glad you made it through DJQ, We ourselves (UK) are predicted to be hit by an "intense electrical storm" either tonight (Fri) or tomorrow (Sat) , max of 32°C with high humidity.

Sigurthr said:

If you've got a bicycle and a spare motor/generator/alternator and rectifier bridge you could always manually charge the battery banks. Or use a car to charge it as well. It sucks to have to use chemical fuel, but it is better than your food spoiling.

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I've thought about that. We do have an unused stationary exercise bike downstairs but I didn't have a decent motor/generator to use for it. Could have been handy to charge cellphones and flashlights

ped said:

Glad you made it through DJQ, We ourselves (UK) are predicted to be hit by an "intense electrical storm" either tonight (Fri) or tomorrow (Sat) , max of 32°C with high humidity.

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Thanks, electrical storms could be worse as it could damage electronic devices rather than just the poles/cables. I don't know if our stuff could handle things like that depending on the severity.

It's nearing 72hours of no power here. I just made a new lighting for dad's room with dimming capability I used COB LED strips and a spare flashlight driver. just turn the wall switch on-off-on quickly to change modes. I just hate the strobe mode and wish there was a driver that didn't have a strobe or sos mode. Unfortunately, no pics as unavailability of power means we don't get to use as much gadgets as we'd like. I'll post in this thread once I make another 3 mode light for the workshop.

Well it's on its way.

Will make landfall in the next hour.

Live storm data from Newport, Isle of Wight from a Boltek StormTracker lightning detector

We have mains power! finally!

Take care on the storm. Don't get out much as you might get hit by lightning We have three oncoming low pressure areas that might turn into storms again.

Woo power! Enjoy it, and make sure to charge up your batteries!

Yeah, I'm charging up the batteries as there are reports of three more storms next in line. Too early to say though if they will also be a direct hit.

edit: looks like the next one is headed north and is going to miss us. It's going to bring a ton of rain though.

Oh crap. Not again.

Already took the wind turbine rotor down. Going to have to tie the panels down again tomorrow to be sure.