So yesterday was overcast nearly all day and the day before that was no prize for a guy who gets his electrical power from the sun. But my batteries are in good repair and I was careful about usage, so I expected no problem. Everything was fine when I went to bed, and everything was fine when I got up this morning, but when I booted up my laptop the power went out. Huh? The batteries should be low but nowhere near the inverter’s cut-off point. Why? Why?
Do you know what hysteresis is? It can be a lot of things, really, but in terms of the logic built into electronic gadgets it’s usually a pair of electrical values: Turn off at X voltage, but don’t turn back on until Y (higher) voltage. My inverter turns itself off at somewhere around 11.6 volts and I’ve never quite figured out at what voltage it will turn back on but it’s higher than 12.0. Naturally it’s a cloudy morning and I had to wait quite a while before even bothering to dink around but I finally got the inverter to switch back on around 9, with the voltmeter reading 12.6. And as soon as I did…
…as soon as I did…
…the inside of the powershed got a lot brighter, because I’d completely forgotten to turn off the light from when I was last in there yesterday morning.
I’ve always said it: Nothing will turn you into a light switch Nazi faster than living off grid. And sometimes a minor dose of Nazism is good.
And now I’m going to turn everything back off and let my batteries charge. See ya.
It’s only human… that split second of inattention that can have big consequences. I used to work odd hours, and often came home at night. The dome light on my car wouldn’t stay “lit” long enough to unload my groceries or whatever, so I’d flip the little switch to keep it on. And yep, one night I forgot to flip it back off.
Went out the next day to go to work, and the battery was dead. No way to jump start it either, since my closest neighbor was 1/4 mile away, and might have been somewhat annoyed to be awakened at 4AM… So, I had to call into work and annoy the scheduler to find someone to take my shift, The “trickle charger” could put enough juice into the battery to turn the engine over only after running several hours. Luckily, I was able to swap that missed shift with the gal who took my place and work for her the next “day off,” but I never again flipped the dome light to “on.” Just unloaded in the dark if I had to. Eventually, I put a spotlight on the roof to shine down on the car, and if I forgot to turn that one off it just cost me the electricity, not a day’s work.
I just could never live “off the grid” the way you do. I’d probably be in the dark all the time. 🙂
You did it with a light switch, I just did it with a hose pipe and flooded the little swinezez house for them.
fortunately the weather is very mild today.