4 X class solar flares to impact this weekend.

[AlaskanNoob]

Should I plug in or unplug my flux capacitor?? I'm scared..

You think wanting to protect electronics from a burst of sun energy in a complicated area is being scared? I'm not sure you've ever been in an actual position that merited actual fear if that's the case.

At any rate, don't mind the rest of us talking about this topic. Protecting investments is what we're discussing here. You may not have any investments yourself to speak of, so pretending that this is a matter of courage on the internet might be the chosen course for you. But it's not a matter of courage, so try to settle down with just how heroic you feel in this discussion.

 

[AlaskanNoob]

How many kilometers long is your wire? How many kilometers thick is your wire? You do the math.

You said "1-3 volts per kilometer of wire."

You didn't mention kilometers of thickness in your formula. Thanks for your input though.

 

[wpns]

You said "1-3 volts per kilometer of wire."

You didn't mention kilometers of thickness in your formula. Thanks for your input though.

Pythagorus will give you the answer if you plug in the thickness in KM.

 

[Subdood]

You think wanting to protect electronics from a burst of sun energy in a complicated area is being scared? I'm not sure you've ever been in an actual position that merited actual fear if that's the case.

At any rate, don't mind the rest of us talking about this topic. Protecting investments is what we're discussing here. You may not have any investments yourself to speak of, so pretending that this is a matter of courage on the internet might be the chosen course for you. But it's not a matter of courage, so try to settle down with just how heroic you feel in this discussion.

I'm not mocking you or your concerns. It's called comedy.

I certainly wouldn't want my expensive equipment damaged either, but I'm not too concerned about this.

And "rarefied air", means something rare. As in, we don't see this kind of phenomenon every day.

 

[AlaskanNoob]

Pythagorus will give you the answer if you plug in the thickness in KM.

Cool, I'll send him a private message.

 

[Danke]

Should I plug in or unplug my flux capacitor?? I'm scared..

If you have to plug it in, you got a cheap Chinese knock off. I’d contact your credit card company if I were you.

 

[sunsurfer]

KP as dropped from max of 9 to about 7 at the moment, I hope it holds till it gets dark. I would really love to see some sky action tonight.

 

[rhino]

Does it matter how thick the wire is? I'm completely scattered and ignorant and just finding little bits, but at this point in my jello understanding of this cosmic phenomena and electricity is that fatter cables with lower resistance are more subject to the effects of a CME.

I've got 650 feet of 250kmcl aluminum and I'm wondering if that's a long wire or not despite being off grid. I'm guessing it is.

The subsurface geology also makes a difference. The study I referenced didn't map out Alaska but showed most of the Rocky Mountain areas to have very low induced voltage because of the geology.

 

[Hedges]

OK, I'm concerned enough that I switched the house direct to grid, shut off battery inverters, isolated them from grid, and isolated PV input to inverters.

I unplugged the all in one printer. Laptops and monitors are still on.

Does it matter how thick the wire is? I'm completely scattered and ignorant and just finding little bits, but at this point in my jello understanding of this cosmic phenomena and electricity is that fatter cables with lower resistance are more subject to the effects of a CME.

I've got 650 feet of 250kmcl aluminum and I'm wondering if that's a long wire or not despite being off grid. I'm guessing it is.

Thickness of wire has nothing to do with it (unless induced current is so high as to burn out a thin wire.)
What matters is length, also spacing.

Long wire will induce higher common mode voltage.
Twisted wire won't get any differential mode voltage.
Wire with large spacing will get differential mode voltage.

I note that long distance power transmission lines that I see are actually twisted, which is good.

 

[AlaskanNoob]

The subsurface geology also makes a difference. The study I referenced didn't map out Alaska but showed most of the Rocky Mountain areas to have very low induced voltage because of the geology.

I bet it does. Which excites me. With my career 3.0 gpa and very bad SAT scores....I'm really looking forward to trying to tackle electrical engineering (I don't understand) combined with geology (I don't understand) combined with physics and math and all thet....to see how I can keep my stuff from frying because the solar system decided to have a bad day.

In all seriousness, I think I'm going to need to try to do a deeper dive into the Carrington Event. Figure out what the lengths and gauges of those telegraph wires were. Of course, I also need to figure out if there were common shorter length wires that didn't have an issue, and that may be more challenging.

Or I need Hedges to just tell me what I should do. I get the feeling he knows whether our 650' of twisted 2 x 250kcml, 1 x 4/0 twisted aluminum wires will be good...and and he's just keeping a secret...

 

[42OhmsPA]

@AlaskanNoob I would be outside looking for lights if I were you.

 

[AlaskanNoob]

@AlaskanNoob I would be outside looking for lights if I were you.
View attachment 214556

Just was, the irony is we're still about five hours from sunset here...

 

[Subdood]

If you have to plug it in, you got a cheap Chinese knock off. I’d contact your credit card company if I were you.

I certainly will, that thing cost me a pretty $1.99!

 

[skyking1]

@AlaskanNoob ,
Approach the problem from another direction.
How much of a hassle is it to Shut down and later restart your equipment?
Now, how much of a hassle is it to replace a significant amount of hardware?
Those are the questions.
If I were as concerned as you seem to be, then I would have a voluntary power outage rather than a forced, expensive one.

 

[timselectric]

I'm not worried.
But I'm not connected to the grid.

I just want to see the pretty lights.

 

[Skypower]

I'm not worried.
But I'm not connected to the grid.

I just want to see the pretty lights.

If I see the northern lights, I can cross one more thing off my bucket list.

 

[skyking1]

you and me both^
I have not seen them yet, but we are about retired and that is a bucket list trip for us.

 

[AlaskanNoob]

@AlaskanNoob ,
Approach the problem from another direction.
How much of a hassle is it to Shut down and later restart your equipment?
Now, how much of a hassle is it to replace a significant amount of hardware?
Those are the questions.
If I were as concerned as you seem to be, then I would have a voluntary power outage rather than a forced, expensive one.

I think you're likely right. This morning we disconnected our PV and our batteries. Shut off all c/bs and disconnects and equipment.

But I still wonder if I even need to do that. I did it, just to try to be safe, but who knows. I left the inverter and MPPT and various transformers all connected to my huge 650' cable, so they might be at risk. So do I isolate my inverter and my MPPT and transformers as well? I don't know. How much is the risk of me making a poor connection when doing that...vs just leaving it be? Does 650' of thick cables matter or no?

This is what I'm trying to figure out. Ignorant "fixes" can create problems and I'm trying to avoid that.

 

[AlaskanNoob]

you and me both^
I have not seen them yet, but we are about retired and that is a bucket list trip for us.

Book you and the lady a nice trip to Iceland in the winter. You'll love it and if you get out of the city, you'll see the lights.

 

[SparkyJJO]

I'm not worried.
But I'm not connected to the grid.

I just want to see the pretty lights.

I'm connected to the grid and not worried.

Even our cheap LED fixture that routinely pulses and flickers has been flicker free tonight. Heh.

I should go take a peek out the window again. Seen nothing so far.

 

[Danke]

I certainly will, that thing cost me a pretty $1.99!

You should US source it like I did. More expensive, but better warranty and support.

Looks like they’re currently out of stock, so you might have to wait a while.

https://www.oreillyauto.com/flux-capacitor

 

[timselectric]

If I don't see the pretty lights. I'm shooting a street light with paint balls.

 

[Subdood]

Took these pics just now. Probably what it usually looks like at night. Like dark. They say your phone might pick up colors your naked eyes can't. So, you can see a bit of purple in there if you wish hard enough..

 

[skyking1]

that's a nice sky, I have a nifty night pic in the Yakima River canyon with a good dark sky with the Pixel 6 night mode.

 

[AlaskanNoob]

@AlaskanNoob ,
Approach the problem from another direction.
How much of a hassle is it to Shut down and later restart your equipment?
Now, how much of a hassle is it to replace a significant amount of hardware?
Those are the questions.
If I were as concerned as you seem to be, then I would have a voluntary power outage rather than a forced, expensive one.

My much smarter wife (much smarter, and I do mean MUCH smarter) is digging through this paper and on first blush it seems that our 650' of cable is likely not going to be a huge issue. But she's got to get through it all first and then explain it to me.

https://www.ferc.gov/sites/default/files/2020-05/ferc_meta-r-319.pdf