Gas-Powered Lawn Equipment Will Soon Be Banned In Cali, a broad category that includes generators.

[wattmatters]

Sthil sells battery powered devices as well…

Sure.

For the equivalent power and operational longevity, I can buy either:

A petrol blower for A$379 plus A$4 of fuel, or
An electric blower for A$699, a battery for A$999 and a charger for A$229, total A$1,927.

That's a A$1,548 difference, or 5 times the price. See the problem?

 

[Samsonite801]

I'm not sure that will work. Apart from the energy controls, there are likely different battery management and monitoring systems.

Perhaps true, but I usually start by leaning toward an idea that something could be possible, and try to see if there would be a way to make a creative concept work before just shooting the clay pigeon down (even as it's still heading up into the air). Fine, we can forget about it I guess, and nobody can look into it further

 

[NwCali]

I think its worth pointing out that these same EXACT concerns were expressed when the cordless drills first came out..

I won't use a cordless drill, for, this reason. Light duty applications they work. Yes they are better than 20 years ago, but, not even close to what I'd want.... Heck, I'm hard enough on corded...just ask the people who were dumb enough to give me a lifetime warranty on them...

 

[Supervstech]

Sure.

For the equivalent power and operational longevity, I can buy either:

A petrol blower for A$379 plus A$4 of fuel, or
An electric blower for A$699, a battery for A$999 and a charger for A$229, total A$1,927.

That's a A$1,548 difference, or 5 times the price. See the problem?

Well… the writing is on the wall… it is happening. I’m sure people complained how weak petrol cars were compared to their horse and buggy, but the writing was on the wall.

STIHL BGA 57 123 mph 365 CFM 36 V Battery Handheld Leaf Blower Kit (Battery & Charger) - Ace Hardware

The BGA 57 delivers powerful STIHL performance combined with great control and comfortable operation. This blower puts out 123 MPH maximum air velocity combined with 365 CFM for effective clearing of leaves and other yard debris. A slim design and even weight distribution allow the blower to be...

www.acehardware.com

 

[wattmatters]

Well… the writing is on the wall… it is happening. I’m sure people complained how weak petrol cars were compared to their horse and buggy, but the writing was on the wall.

I'm all for it.

STIHL BGA 57 123 mph 365 CFM 36 V Battery Handheld Leaf Blower Kit (Battery & Charger) - Ace Hardware

The BGA 57 delivers powerful STIHL performance combined with great control and comfortable operation. This blower puts out 123 MPH maximum air velocity combined with 365 CFM for effective clearing of leaves and other yard debris. A slim design and even weight distribution allow the blower to be...

www.acehardware.com

yeah nah. If you have 10 min light blow job maybe.

Even their most powerful unit is just adequate:

STIHL BGA 100 168 mph 459 CFM 36 V Battery Handheld Leaf Blower Tool Only - Ace Hardware

The Lithium-Ion battery-powered BGA 100 is built with the professional landscaper in mind. When in boost mode, the BGA 100 is the most powerful dedicated handheld blower in the STIHL range. This Lithium-Ion battery-powered blower boasts higher quality and better ergonomics than many other...

www.acehardware.com

$430 skin only

Then consider their battery run time chart:

https://www.stihlusa.com/WebContent/CMSFileLibrary/downloads/APSeries.pdf

To get suitable run time the minimum battery required is the AR-1000:

STIHL AR 1000 Backpack Battery | Hutson Inc

Carrying extra batteries for your large outdoor products is a thing of the past with the STIHL AR 1000 backpack battery. This backpack battery, the lightest in the STIHL line, delivers exceptional run times to professional landscapers and those with large acreage, and eliminates the cost of fuel...

www.hutsoninc.com

$799

But the blowing and brush cutting would have to be staggered on different days, or two batteries or a much larger battery:

STIHL AR 3000 L Backpack Battery | Hutson Inc

The STIHL AR 3000 L backpack battery was designed to do more than just deliver reliable and consistent power to AP battery-powered tools. Innovative design and durable construction make the AR 3000 L a key asset to any pros STIHL AP battery-powered lineup. With the ability to operate in the rain...

www.hutsoninc.com

$1,220 without the backpack.

Plus charger:

STIHL AL 300 Rapid Battery Charger | Hutson Inc

Your advanced STIHL battery-powered equipment deserves an equally advanced charger. The STIHL AL 300 rapid battery charger fits that bill perfectly. Designed to charge your STIHL Lithium-Ion batteries quickly so you can power through your lawn care tasks. It features an onboard cooling fan and...

www.hutsoninc.com

$99 for the slower cheaper model

 

[12VoltInstalls]

I think its worth pointing out that these same EXACT concerns were expressed when the cordless drills first came out..

Not actually true.
The makita and porter cable stuff was awesome right at the get-go. I still have my first 7.2V makita 3/8 drill. It still works though the nicad really has had it.
Both makita and porter cable were sold at building materials places I worked over the years. The first makita 1/4” impact driver was fitted with a socket and we sold a TON of them by letting contractors drive 3/8” lag bolts into a hemlock 8x8.

Sears and skill and Northern tool and hobbled freighters the ones that made people question cordless tools. You may have questioned them when they first came out or even with later developments but the contractors? They made love to cordless drills and such. 2001? Porter Cable 19.2V 1/2” drill would break your wrist and they made perfect copies of the corded tools like the sawboss in cordless versions.

Lawn and garden equipment? It may be the future but right now? It’s a fad and a joke, mostly. Even the makita battery chainsaw: you watch someone limbing with one and if you’d ever used something more than a ken’n’barbie chainsaw you won’t be able to help yourself laughing at them.

I’ll say it again: if you ever used a real lawn and garden power tool the cordless stuff is mostly a joke, even cordless string trimmers imho

 

[MurphyGuy]

Well… the writing is on the wall… it is happening. I’m sure people complained how weak petrol cars were compared to their horse and buggy, but the writing was on the wall.

You know, I never understood the Horse Power ratings on motors.

The 8 Cyl engine in my GMC truck is rated for 300 Horse Power.. But I'm pretty confident if you tied that truck to 300 horses, the horses wouldn't even know it was there......

 

[12VoltInstalls]

tied that truck to 300 horses, the horses wouldn't even know it was there

More square inches of traction
over double the weight

 

[camelCase]

Lawn and garden equipment? It may be the future but right now? It’s a fad and a joke, mostly. Even the makita battery chainsaw: you watch someone limbing with one and if you’d ever used something more than a ken’n’barbie chainsaw you won’t be able to help yourself laughing at them.

I’ll say it again: if you ever used a real lawn and garden power tool the cordless stuff is mostly a joke, even cordless string trimmers imho

I have a really nice Mikita weed whacker my neighbor gifted me when he moved to Chicago. It works fine, is convenient, and is absolutely useless to me as a fully charged battery $120 battery will only last about 15 minutes before it's run down. Sure, that's fine if you live on a postage stamp, but not if you need to get some work done.

 

[Hedges]

I use this Echo cordless wacker for moderate amount of home trimming.
Tried another brand first, it couldn't cut my grass.
The Echo I only use on high setting.

Battery would often shut off the moment motor started. Apparently a known but unrecalled bug.
Work-around is after charging, press and hold battery status button for 10 seconds. I think that calibrates low-voltage shutoff or some such.

ECHO CST-58V2AHCV 58V Lithium-Ion Cordless String Trimmer for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for ECHO CST-58V2AHCV 58V Lithium-Ion Cordless String Trimmer at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

 

[brb58]

Actually, TX had the generating capacity and asked for an emissions waiver.

However, the head of DOE and Biden decided to play political games instead, not granting the waiver. That is where the blame lies, politicians playing power games that cost the lives. I don't care what party you belong to, much of what is happening in this country is all about politics and power grabs.

You need to get your facts straight:

Fact check: ERCOT, not Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, requested bypass of environmental limits

ERCOT, the entity that oversees Texas' electrical grid, made a request to allow generators to bypass emissions limits, not Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

www.usatoday.com

 

[Zwy]

You need to get your facts straight:

Fact check: ERCOT, not Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, requested bypass of environmental limits

ERCOT, the entity that oversees Texas' electrical grid, made a request to allow generators to bypass emissions limits, not Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

www.usatoday.com

View attachment 76029

I never mentioned Gov Abbott.

Love this line at the bottom of the article: " Our fact check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook."

We all know that any fact checks involving FB are opinion and they admitted it.

Now, the storm started on Feb 11th. "Winter Storm Uri far exceeded the parameters of ERCOT’s seasonal planning. According to the National Weather Service, freezing rain and drizzle coated North and Central Texas as the storm began rolling in on Feb. 11, 2021, causing up to one-half inch of ice accumulation in some locations. Snow later followed on Feb. 14-17, with 5 inches recorded at Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) International Airport and 4.6 inches recorded at Waco Regional Airport. DFW recorded 139 consecutive hoursExternal Link: undefined of at or below freezing temperatures, and the Waco airport recorded 205 consecutive hours."

Winter Storm Uri 2021

The Economic Impact of the Storm

comptroller.texas.gov

Your article states the request was approved on Feb 14th.

After the storm, somebody was covering their ass. Want to take a guess?

If you want to continue with bold bright crap which means yelling at someone, go ahead.

 

[Batvette]

Yes, and that wasn't Inauguration Day so why is Batvette saying "It should be noted that the day Gavin Newsom finally opened up California businesses for full operation... Was the exact day of Joe Bidens inauguration. Not making that up its true."

Guess he really did make it up

It was the monday after then, so I should have said "virtually" not "exactly".
A few days hardly diminishes the point. After most of the states economy was ground to a halt for 10 months, long after most other states had allowed business to resume and people were wondering why newsom was dragging his feet so long, THE MONDAY AFTER BIDEN WAS INAUGURATED Newsom opened the states businesses with little rhyme or reason related to the metrics he had established to close them.
Go ahead and pretend that 3 day error would make a difference in touting a politician was responsible for a miraculous recovery.

 

[brb58]

I never mentioned Gov Abbott.

Love this line at the bottom of the article: " Our fact check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook."

We all know that any fact checks involving FB are opinion and they admitted it.

Now, the storm started on Feb 11th. "Winter Storm Uri far exceeded the parameters of ERCOT’s seasonal planning. According to the National Weather Service, freezing rain and drizzle coated North and Central Texas as the storm began rolling in on Feb. 11, 2021, causing up to one-half inch of ice accumulation in some locations. Snow later followed on Feb. 14-17, with 5 inches recorded at Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) International Airport and 4.6 inches recorded at Waco Regional Airport. DFW recorded 139 consecutive hoursExternal Link: undefined of at or below freezing temperatures, and the Waco airport recorded 205 consecutive hours."

Winter Storm Uri 2021

The Economic Impact of the Storm

comptroller.texas.gov

Your article states the request was approved on Feb 14th.

After the storm, somebody was covering their ass. Want to take a guess?

If you want to continue with bold bright crap which means yelling at someone, go ahead.

It was a cut and paste and it was a picture. I didn't change a font because there was no font. In response you act like an a-hole.

ERCOT made the request on Feb14th and it was granted on the same day....also from the article. Blame ERCOT!

If you don't like that article, try this government document

https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2021/02/f82/DOE%20202%28c%29%20Emergency%20Order%20-%20ERCOT%2002.14.2021.pdf

And here is the request from ERCOT

ERCOT asked feds to pause federal environmental limits during winter storm

As last week’s historic winter storm was rolling across Texas, officials with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, ERCOT, was asking the federal government to temporarily suspend environmental limits for several power producers.

www.click2houston.com

Bottom line...the Texas fiasco was due to Texas not weather proofing their power stations. Wisconsin, Michigan, Dakotas, Minnesota...don't have issues with cold weather. All of these go with government guidelines for the 49 states excluding Texas.

 

[brb58]

It was the monday after then, so I should have said "virtually" not "exactly".
A few days hardly diminishes the point. After most of the states economy was ground to a halt for 10 months, long after most other states had allowed business to resume and people were wondering why newsom was dragging his feet so long, THE MONDAY AFTER BIDEN WAS INAUGURATED Newsom opened the states businesses with little rhyme or reason related to the metrics he had established to close them.
Go ahead and pretend that 3 day error would make a difference in touting a politician was responsible for a miraculous recovery.

State didn't open up until closer to June. How do I know this? I live in the state and actually know this. It isn't actually wide open either still if you count mask mandates and covid vaccination requirements....

State didn't open up until closer to June. How do I know this? I live in the state and actually know this. It isn't actually wide open either still if you count mask mandates and covid vaccination requirements....

What he did do is lift a stay at home order that nobody even followed except for may be one month in March of 2020.
Stop watching Fox, Newsmax and Oann

California’s big reopening: What changes — and what doesn’t — on June 15?

Gov. Gavin Newsom promised business as usual, but there could be exceptions to everyday life returning to normal after COVID-19.

calmatters.org

What happened to Sen Cancun Cruz's prediction that covid would disappear after the election.

 

[Zwy]

It was a cut and paste and it was a picture. I didn't change a font because there was no font. In response you act like an a-hole.

No, you have the power to edit anything posted, that's what the toolbar is at the top of any reply. Only A here is yourself.

ERCOT made the request on Feb14th and it was granted on the same day....also from the article. Blame ERCOT!

ERCOT was limited by federal EPA rules governing emissions. Basically it goes like this, ERCOT had the generating capacity and the federal government tells them they can't utilize it because it would exceed emissions.

The thing here is the timeline. Abbott declared a state emergency on Feb 12th for the entire state however not all TX counties were declared disaster counties by the Biden administration. This created a huge problem regarding generation and emissions.

Even after the ERCOT request of the 14th and subsequent approval, the Biden admin warned ERCOT to not exceed emissions and had to limit generation. Basically the Biden administration was playing games with people's lives, the permission to exceed emissions would have been a mute point if the Biden admin had declared all counties in TX disaster areas. Then, to save face, they issue an order but reality is it still restricts generation based upon emissions. In other words, a piece of toilet paper. This was all politics, the Biden admin knew it was a PR disaster after the reports came in of people dying and and the widespread power outages. They put out a bullshit order so they later can claim they did the right thing. This allows people of questionable critical thinking, like yourself, can point to it and say, "see, they issued the order" when reality is it was too little too late. But it makes for some great PR, doesn't it?

If you don't believe me, then look at Order 202-21-1 and on page 2, it specifically restricts power generation based upon emissions, even as people are dying.

If you don't like that article, try this government document

https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2021/02/f82/DOE%20202%28c%29%20Emergency%20Order%20-%20ERCOT%2002.14.2021.pdf

And here is the request from ERCOT

ERCOT asked feds to pause federal environmental limits during winter storm

As last week’s historic winter storm was rolling across Texas, officials with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, ERCOT, was asking the federal government to temporarily suspend environmental limits for several power producers.

www.click2houston.com

Bottom line...the Texas fiasco was due to Texas not weather proofing their power stations. Wisconsin, Michigan, Dakotas, Minnesota...don't have issues with cold weather. All of these go with government guidelines for the 49 states excluding Texas.

You had better study up some, you are sadly mistaken. The power generation capability was there, TX just couldn't use it due to the federal government.

 

[brb58]

No, you have the power to edit anything posted, that's what the toolbar is at the top of any reply. Only A here is yourself.

I posted a picture! It wasn't text!!!

 

[brb58]

You had better study up some, you are sadly mistaken. The power generation capability was there, TX just couldn't use it due to the federal government.

Not sure where you get your info but that isn't even close to what happened.

Why the Deep Freeze Caused Texas to Lose Power

Issues with natural gas supplies and the grid’s isolation both factored in to the massive outages

www.scientificamerican.com

You should read the order again. It specifically states they could exceed emissions.

 

[MurphyGuy]

No, you have the power to edit anything posted, that's what the toolbar is at the top of any reply. Only A here is yourself.


ERCOT was limited by federal EPA rules governing emissions. Basically it goes like this, ERCOT had the generating capacity and the federal government tells them they can't utilize it because it would exceed emissions.

The thing here is the timeline. Abbott declared a state emergency on Feb 12th for the entire state however not all TX counties were declared disaster counties by the Biden administration. This created a huge problem regarding generation and emissions.

Even after the ERCOT request of the 14th and subsequent approval, the Biden admin warned ERCOT to not exceed emissions and had to limit generation. Basically the Biden administration was playing games with people's lives, the permission to exceed emissions would have been a mute point if the Biden admin had declared all counties in TX disaster areas. Then, to save face, they issue an order but reality is it still restricts generation based upon emissions. In other words, a piece of toilet paper. This was all politics, the Biden admin knew it was a PR disaster after the reports came in of people dying and and the widespread power outages. They put out a bullshit order so they later can claim they did the right thing. This allows people of questionable critical thinking, like yourself, can point to it and say, "see, they issued the order" when reality is it was too little too late. But it makes for some great PR, doesn't it?

If you don't believe me, then look at Order 202-21-1 and on page 2, it specifically restricts power generation based upon emissions, even as people are dying.


You had better study up some, you are sadly mistaken. The power generation capability was there, TX just couldn't use it due to the federal government.

The Texas power problem was caused by Texas LACK OF PLANNING, LACK OF PROPER EQUIPMENT TO HANDLE THAT WEATHER..

Don't expect the rest of the world to bend over backwards because Texas wasn't prepared.

If Texas doesn't like the weather anomalies, maybe they should stop fighting the climate change legislation.. ???

Otherwise, Texas can kick rocks.. I'm certainly not going to lose any sleep over it.

Texas should stop acting like delicate little snowflakes and stop blaming others for their own problems. Take some responsibility for their own actions, or lack of.

 

[brb58]

It's pretty hilarious thinking it was the federal govt's fault. It was ERCOT.

Even Abbot realized it was ERCOT

Gov. Greg Abbott calls on ERCOT leadership to resign during ABC13 one-on-one interview

"Do you think ERCOT leaders should resign?" asked ABC13 anchor Gina Gaston during the live interview. "Yes," responded Abbott.

abc13.com

CBS Texas - Breaking Local News, First Alert Weather & I-Team Investigations

Latest breaking news from CBS11 KTVT-TV | KTXA-TV.

dfw.cbslocal.com

Gov. Abbott orders investigation into Texas energy company amid blackouts, freezing temperatures

Calling it “anything but reliable,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered an investigation into the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) amid statewide blackouts in freezing temperatures.

www.foxnews.com