I Survived the TO Power Outage w/ Batteries to Spare!

[Glenn_K]

Anyone else hit? Our power was down nearly 48 hours. We borrowed a gas generator Sunday night, and between a gas range and a couple space heaters, kept our home liveable.

But I watched my batteries dwindling -- I didn't want to plug my charger into the generator.

Best thing I saw during the outage was a huge family at Tim Horton's, sitting at a row of tables, with a power bar plugged into the wall, and an octopus nest of charges cables coming out of it for cell phones, laptops, tablets, you name it. Would have taken a picture, but my phone was out of juice at the time. Went to about 7 coffee shops on Sunday before I found an unused outlet.

-- Glenn

 

[Talyon]

Lost mine just as I was heading out to work Sun nightshift so not to bad. I'm pretty tired of scraping 1/2 inch thick ice off my car lol.

 

[WillyZee]

I feel a little guilty watching people on the news go without power ... mine never went out

 

[Glenn_K]

Lost mine just as I was heading out to work Sun nightshift so not to bad. I'm pretty tired of scraping 1/2 inch thick ice off my car lol.

Are you still w/o power? Yikes! I got batteries you can borrow if it comes to that.

I feel a little guilty watching people on the news go without power ... mine never went out.

Don't sweat it, your time will come

After hearing about so many other people going for days w/o power in past years, I just figured that this time it was my turn. The only thing that I really missed was not being able to watch Arsenal v Chelsea yesterday, but sounds like it wasn't much of a game anyways.

-- Glenn

 

[Zurd]

glad to know you still got batteries, there's isn't much to do but to vape when you're out of power lol

 

[retired1]

Most of Burlington was without power, but our little section of the neighborhood stayed up. If push had come to shove, I had a full tank of fuel in the truck. I'd have just gone out with the Intellicharger and fired up the truck.

 

[Vapoor eyes er]

TWICE like Taylon had to scrape 1/2" ice off the car...it was one complete ice cube and have never seen anything like it- completely sealed LOLL. Power was off from Sun. 8 a.m. to Sun. 3 p.m. Kudos to Hydro workers...the actual stiffs that hooked us back up and NOT the Fat Cats that are overcharging us. Had a gas gen just in case and a car charger. Went shopping today and the local Loblaws- a HUGE place still without power but they were open and had a gigantic Cummins Generator on a trailer powering the entire store...no heat though LOLL. Been through a lot of strange weather in my life but this takes the cake. You wonder how much worse it could be- neighbor's 2 week old Lexus crushed by a branch.

Edit: in case anyone's wondering about the garage and why I didn't use it...in a flash of brilliance this is the year I chose to disassemble my '65 VW Bug RagTop and work on it over the Winter

 

[NicoHolic]

+1 on the Intellipower on a truck!

 

[fourtytwo]

After hearing about so many other people going for days w/o power in past years, I just figured that this time it was my turn. The only thing that I really missed was not being able to watch Arsenal v Chelsea yesterday, but sounds like it wasn't much of a game anyways.

-- Glenn

Mine was only out for about 5 hours on Sunday so I actually got to watch this game. Typical Arsenal v Chelsea game. Lots of bad reffing and players diving...

As far as batteries go, I was in no danger but I always have a half dozen 18650's charged and ready.

 

[Glenn_K]

Most of Burlington was without power, but our little section of the neighborhood stayed up. If push had come to shove, I had a full tank of fuel in the truck. I'd have just gone out with the Intellicharger and fired up the truck.

When we had the generator going I could have plugged in my charger, but I wasn't sure if it was a good idea, using anything other than the wall outlets for this purpose. I don't know much about electricity, so for all I know it's perfectly safe, but didn't want to risk it, at least not while I had fresh batteries left.

Mine was only out for about 5 hours on Sunday so I actually got to watch this game. Typical Arsenal v Chelsea game. Lots of bad reffing and players diving...

It was a decent game when those teams played their FA Cup match several weeks ago. Man City v Liverpool tomorrow -- not going to miss that one!

-- Glenn

 

[Vapoor eyes er]

When we had the generator going I could have plugged in my charger, but I wasn't sure if it was a good idea, using anything other than the wall outlets for this purpose. I don't know much about electricity, so for all I know it's perfectly safe, but didn't want to risk it, at least not while I had fresh batteries left.[/B]
It was a decent game when those teams played their FA Cup match several weeks ago. Man City v Liverpool tomorrow -- not going to miss that one!

-- Glenn

It's perfectly safe- I've charged 18650, 18500, Twists, Spinners and Kgos off a gas gen. Just to be safe I plug the wall adapter into a surge protector.

 

[Tgoode]

'Twas the week before Christmas and all through the town,
Not an furnace was blowing, power lines were knocked down.
The iPhones were charging in the car parked outside,
With the hope that a lineman soon would be arrive.

The kids were all sullen, bored out of their heads,
The computer was out, the x-box was dead.
There was no escape, neither sister nor brother,
They'd just have to learn how to deal with each other.

With no power in the house it got cold and so dark,
That we lit up some candles, played games for a lark.
We dug out the checkers and monopoly board,
And played games by the candles 'till we started to snore.

At the three in the morning we awoke to a sound,
For the furnace was blowing, the wireman came 'round.
The computer was running, the x-box came to life.
The kids were all over it in nowt but a trice.

I don't know how we did it, somehow we survived,
Eighteen hours without gadgets, it's a miracle we're alive
We've all learned our lesson, and we're going to live better
I'm heading to Walmart to buy a generator!

 

[Zurd]

really like that last sentence

yes we're addicted to technology but yes we can live without it

 

[rico942]

Bought a little solar PCC a few months back, really just an impulse buy, but I keep it in a window sill always charging, and use it maybe once a month to keep the battery healthy ...

Here is SoCal, a power outage is more often due to a traffic accident, car vs. pole, than to the weather, but it does happen ...

Pretty sure the solar charger would get me through for a day or two ...

I do remember ice storms in Portland that wuld seal a car, it would do too much damage to chip it out, just had to ride the bus and wait for a thaw ...

 

[Wolffy]

Having never witnessed an ice storm as severe as what you folks went through I can't even imagine it. A bit of freezing rain that left a 1/4" of ice is all I have seen.

A few weeks ago we had the power go out for about 4 hours BUT it was -35 with windchill taking it to -40. I get concerned over conditions like that not knowing when power will return. I closed bedroom doors, lit a dozen tea lite candles, pulled out portable power and watched a couple of movies.

I knew building that unit would pay off one day and it usually does once or twice a year.