Flip The Switch | Power Grid Failure Challenge 

That motor home is a superb backup in more ways than one .

Doing a 24-72 hour power outage drill is extremely eye opening, especially if you do it when it’s not beautiful and sunny outside to keep the solar “generator” topped off. It’s a great way to gauge how much electricity, gasoline, and propane you’ll use per day.

Superstorm Sandy was our literal event that got us into prepping. We were fine since we had a wood stove to heat our home and food, and our stuff could be recharged with our vehicles with an inverter. However, it was very inconvenient. It's why I'm going 5v USB on almost everything. Just having a bunch of USB battery banks available with solar panels to recharge 12v batteries and along with solar generators will pick up most of the electronic aspects. Even our flashlights, hand warmers, radios, etc. can be recharged via USB.

Prior to Hurricane Sandy, we were on a intermittent grid here in SE PA. I made a solar panel and attached it to a deep cycle AGM battery, which worked great for short term outages. I ordered a generator right before Sandy hit, and we used the battery for 2 days until the generator arrived for TV and lights. Since then I've gotten a bigger generator and installed a xfer switch. We haven't lost power since, but it's good to have it all.

Generator, solar panels etc. So in ten Mile Tennessee our power goes out from time to time. Some is scheduled outages of TVA and volunteer electric cooperative. Other times it is trees falling on power lines or autos driven into power poles. So we have opportunities to test our alternate power somewhat often.

Up to 6 solar storms predicted this evening and tomorrow.

Renewable energy power failure.

I installed that very switch about a year ago. I use an EcoFlow with 600 watts of solar panels. Works great!!

I do have portable solar/battery power for small things like comms and network, but have a generator for the refrigerator. Fortunately, I don't have medical power needs.

The transfer box is so nice to have.

Aloha Bob, I do several nets on this subject every year just before our yearly hurricane season. A lot of people listen and agree but still do not do what it takes to be prepared. BTW, Bob, I own one of those Cube’s with the dead 55 ah battery too! 😂 I keep it on the lanai in my Ham shack for just in case, especially since I figured out how to bypass the dead battery. Bob, you have a lot of garage space and can use that to your advantage. You can set up a 14.4v battery bank using cheap 6v & 8v golf cart batteries that you can charge up with solar, wind or even jump it with jumper cables and vehicle for 20 minutes at a time about once every 3-5 days. Ideally, you want to have more than one battery bank system that can run independently of each other. Then you can use BattMINDer 2012’s Pulse/Desulf chargers and you should have charge controllers for LifePO4 batteries that allows you to use wind and regular solar panels for charging. The transfer switch is a great idea for your gas generators but what are you going to do when you run out of fuel one, two, four, nine weeks later? Then it’s time right now to start building multiple battery banks that you can also charge with your generators once a day for 20-30 minutes to save your fuel and make your fuel stretch. That way you don’t need to leave your family and home exposed while you wait in line somewhere to get fuel. Another thing, Bob, take a close look at your home owners policy and home insurance policy, you will find that you are limited to how many gallons of gasoline you can have at your home but there is no limit to the number of propane tanks that you can have. You might want to have a 250 or a 500 gallon propane tank installed and have a truck come out once a year to fill them up or top them off. Bob, judging from this video, you are only 45-50% there and still have a lot more work that you can do. Example, you could buy several of those $250 vertical wind generators to supplement your off grid applications. Just remember this, the two things that people hate during major power outages is taking cold showers and drinking warm beer! 🤣😂🤣🤪 WH6DWF 🇺🇸

I'm not trying to be a hater. That generator is loud!! That's the last thing I'd want everyone to know.

Thanks! Enjoy your videos like this.

Great insight Bob

Look into Archimedes wind turbine generator ... im sure you get fair winds out there

Nice Setup.

You just showed a recipe for death. Never run a generator in a garage.

Hi!

HI!

Awesome video most definitely brings back the past👍👍👍👍

Great video, Bob. Thank you for sharing the content with us. KN6PWH...73

Hi! no seriously good video. We should all have a plan A, B and probably C! 73 KB3JC