I missed the planned power outage notice

[imustbenuts]

So, I’m sitting at my dining room table last night working on my taxes when bam, all the power goes out. I’m thinking ok what fool took out the transformer. Then I get a text from my wife with the power company notice from their web site. I see the expected time power will back on, 6am. I freaked, it was 9:30pm. I guess we missed the notice of the planned power outage. I have been warned about being prepared so many times. It’s Southern California, we never have long term power outages. I feel like I’m running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Once I got the fridge and freezer stuff settled my attention turned to the tank. By this time it was about 11pm. I ran over to Wal-Mart because they were the only place open at that time and found a power inverter, 12v socket, and battery clips. Then I came home, wired the 12v socket to the battery clips, grabbed the battery out of the car and connected the power inverter to the battery. I was able to run an 1100 gph hydor power head at the top of the water through the night. The whole set up cost $23.

Thanks to the people on this forum who had done this before, my fish and coral were saved.

 

[Dsnakes]

Yikes. Glad you were able to get the battery and some flow running.

Last time I ran into that, I dropped an extension cord out my window and ran my car most of the night

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Glad this worked for you. @Dsnakes has the right idea though. Most car batteries do not power sustained loads very well without sustaining damage from the depth of discharge. They work, but depending on the length of the outage and the current draw, you can ruin the battery.

If you can, a better bet is to leave it in the car and leave the car running. Or, at the very least, start the car every hour or so and allow the battery to charge back up.

 

[imustbenuts]

Yikes. Glad you were able to get the battery and some flow running.

Last time I ran into that, I dropped an extension cord out my window and ran my car most of the night

The things we do for that box of water. Lol

 

[imustbenuts]

Glad this worked for you. @Dsnakes has the right idea though. Most car batteries do not power sustained loads very well without sustaining damage from the depth of discharge. They work, but depending on the length of the outage and the current draw, you can ruin the battery.

If you can, a better bet is to leave it in the car and leave the car running. Or, at the very least, start the car every hour or so and allow the battery to charge back up.

Unfortunately, I had no way to run a power cord into the home. That’s why I only ran the small power head. The battery is about toast anyway so I wasn’t worried to much about it. I have the go ahead for a gererator now. So, that’s a good thing. Lol

 

[Rakie]

I've got a pair of livewell bubblers ready. That's usually all I need for upwards of 24 hours. It's not ideal of course.. But it can be enough.

my area sucks, I get a power outage every month or more.

 

[fish farmer]

I tried running a heater off an inverter connected to the running Chevy S10, kept on tripping the breaker so a ran a small pump instead.

 

[Rakie]

If heat is the issue go to the sink and fill STURDY ziplock bags with hot water. Heats up your tank quickly -- Very quickly -- Do be careful. But it's a great thing to know in case of emergency.