Power outage in salt lake at 345pm today Called heco, automated message said it'll be fixed by 5pm. Never spoke to a live rep, wasn't given a reason for outage. Literally left in the dark here by HECO.  Lol

No internet in my house because apparently wireless internet routers use electricity, a revelation to me. LOL JJ . just emphasizing our immense dependency for electrcity for everything, including internet!  Which lead me to post this from my phone, the only reliable source of internet and the only thing powered-on right now in my house. 

As soon as the power turns on ima look into generators. Basics, kinds, sizing  apprpriate for my size home, how to hook up to my house. Any recommendations or pointers from 2aHi members in that regard? I know there are some prep heads on here, I always enjoy what they have to say

Furthermore its a shame. We had solar panels installed last year. It just sucks that with such a large investment, something as simple as a power outage could render them useless (I realize that batteries could potentially solve this problem but we all know at a great cost).

This power outage has got me thinking...better late than never.

What other areas are out? So far I think salt lake shopping center to Target is out

install a transfer switch to go from the grid power to your generator
How about installing one large deep cycle battery on your panel system? along with a pure sine inverter? Might be cheaper and provide a small amount of power for critical items

power's back on

install a transfer switch to go from the grid power to your generator
How about installing one large deep cycle battery on your panel system? along with a pure sine inverter? Might be cheaper and provide a small amount of power for critical items

thanks sounds interesting, ill research deep cycle battery.  I am familiar with the basics of how solar power works but i would make a terrible electrician. lol   And you have the right idea, i would rather invest in a battery to utilize my existing solar array in the event of an outage rather than generator.

I recommend you look at a separate backup system that charges from your existing AC.

Essentially this would be an appropriately sized battery bank, inverter, and charger that charges the bank from your existing outlets. You're basically building your own beefier UPS, so only things plugged into it would have power if the grid is down.

You could also do a whole house backup, or DC/AC coupled systems but you're looking at significantly more $$. Depends on sizing, but can be done for under a grand with a small standalone, versus more than 10 times that for a whole house backup.

Pros of separate system: cheaper, can be sized down to emergency needs only, legal to self-install if not hard-wired, no need for inverter if DC loads only (e.g. charging mobile devices and DC lighting)
Cons: PV would not charge bank in grid-down situation. Does not protect whole house (main one!), less efficient charging batteries from AC vice a DC coupled or whole house backup system (this only really matters if you're off-grid a lot).

That said, if you have the money, an AC-coupled system is probably the way to go. Note that typically this will give you only some loads on the protected panels. Whole-house backup is ideal, but bring $$.

Is there a source for DC solar panels? Looked around last time at the home show and absolutely no one had DC panels.