extended power outage + "number 10 wire" ingenuity = danger

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kingdragonfly

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#223903 23-Oct-2017 19:55

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This video shows the dangers of "number 10 wire" ingenuity at your home during an extended power outage, such as after an earthquake.

It's very good at telling you what your should NOT do with a bank of 12V batteries and a cheap inverter, lest you destroy appliances, set your house on fire or electrocute someone.

Those Americans preppers might be crazy, but some do know how to jury rig.

"How NOT to Connect an Inverter to Your House Mains"

michaelmurfy

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#1888241 23-Oct-2017 20:30

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One of my favourite YouTubers:

Aredwood

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#1888299 23-Oct-2017 23:10

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Guy in the second video is stupid. As the diode and fuse method of reverse polarity protection is simple and it works without introducing any forward voltage drop. Sure his MOSFET reverse polarity protection circuit will work, but it doesn't scale well to high currents. He had a multimeter available - why didn't he check the polarity before connecting his battery?

And If he only wants to power devices in 1 room, why didn't he say to just use a multi box? And avoid all of the safety issues with trying to use a suicide lead to liven up the house wiring.

Also neither of those are particularly relevant to NZ. As in the USA, split phase wiring system is extremely common. In NZ, Split phase is only used in some rural areas, and appliances that use the full NZ split phase voltage (480VAC) are extremely rare.

Unless your house has a proper generator inlet connection and transfer switch. Best method is to just use extension cords and multi boxes to run things off an inverter. It also means you can leave the mains switch and some lights turned on. So you know straight away when the mains comes back.

michaelmurfy

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#1888309 24-Oct-2017 00:33

@Aredwood that video is more "what you shouldn't do" - he is pretty good but most of what he does is for entertainment. Good for a laugh even if most of it is staged.

richms

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#1888310 24-Oct-2017 00:35

I love electroboom. Great videos.

Richard rich.ms

Aredwood

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#1888316 24-Oct-2017 02:02

michaelmurfy:

@Aredwood that video is more "what you shouldn't do" - he is pretty good but most of what he does is for entertainment. Good for a laugh even if most of it is staged.

I could understand if it was just a video of things blowing up, a comedy modelled on the "Home improvement" TV show, or the electrical version of satire - something like how to power your entire house off a single AA battery.

But they both demonstrate successfully powering a house with a suicide lead, and the steps needed to do so. Which is risky not only to people in the house, but also workers fixing the lines network. Neither video mentioned the importance of the correct order of steps for disconnecting a suicide lead setup and switching the mains back on. Either way, these videos are basicly a how to break the law, step by step type video.