Anyone affected by AKL power cut - any retro equipment that comes in handy?

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Batman

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#153705 5-Oct-2014 18:13

When we had the Chch earthquake, a landline analog phone was amazing. We wished we had gas cooking and heating.

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#1147742 5-Oct-2014 18:17

Camping stove FTW. Little Honda genset to charge my Surface & phone. Surprised my 4G is still working.

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Andib

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#1147744 5-Oct-2014 18:20

I live 150m from the Substation, Was all preped for getting out the BBQ for dinner. Power thankfully came back about an hour ago, Could make calls / txt during the day but no mobile data #firstworldproblem
Still going to have a BBQ though :)

Tzoi

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#1147745 5-Oct-2014 18:20

I'm affected; just chilling at my uncle's place using his wifi and charging my devices :)

russelo

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#1147800 5-Oct-2014 18:44

here in mt. wellington.
candle lights and camping stove ready for dinner prep. it will be romantic.

my RC's lipo and nimh battery packs comes handy with keeping our phone charged. using sbec as 5v regulator.

keep refilling my tropical aquarium with hot water to keep temp above 21. still figuring out how to run aerotor.

Batman

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#1147808 5-Oct-2014 19:00

nathan: Camping stove FTW. Little Honda genset to charge my Surface & phone. Surprised my 4G is still working.

i have a camping stove and a few (?3) cannisters of gas ... thankfully we also have gas cooking now, probably the last of the ones having one connected to a 9kg bottle under the bench!

Peamsable

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#1147814 5-Oct-2014 19:05

Kids were really upset that Netflix, Lightbox etc were not working. Had a rat round in the garage and found an ancient device called a "ball". It's a bit like a balloon only a lot heavier. The kids soon forgot their 21st century problems once they found that they could take it outside and kick it around. We worked out a game where one player would try and kick the ball between two markers (we called this the "goal") and the other player would try to stop this from happening.

We had such fun that I think others would also enjoy this activity. If I can I'll try to patent the idea when the internet comes back online.

robjg63

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#1147855 5-Oct-2014 20:17

Houses next door have had no outage.
We were out till 4pm.

Have gas for cooking. If the Mrs would let me buy a power inverter she could have had a hot shower this morning....
Dragged out my old bailetti cooktop espresso maker this morning and had a stonkingly strong espresso for brekkie.

Power came back at 4pm. Electricity is wonderful.
Thinking of the people in the dark tonight.

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

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#1147882 5-Oct-2014 20:56

Sitting in the dark, but borrowed a mates inverter and running tv,sky and internet off some old datacentre UPS batteries i acquired years ago.

You don't realise how much you rely on power until its gone.

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#1147885 5-Oct-2014 21:01

What's an inverter? Is that a generator?

GeekGuy

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#1147887 5-Oct-2014 21:03

spencer: Kids were really upset that Netflix, Lightbox etc were not working. Had a rat round in the garage and found an ancient device called a "ball". It's a bit like a balloon only a lot heavier. The kids soon forgot their 21st century problems once they found that they could take it outside and kick it around. We worked out a game where one player would try and kick the ball between two markers (we called this the "goal") and the other player would try to stop this from happening.

We had such fun that I think others would also enjoy this activity. If I can I'll try to patent the idea when the internet comes back online.

lol ... reminded me of Stuff quoting what someone tweeted
""Sub-station fire has knocked out power across Auckland. We have no wi-fi and the toaster won't work. Please send help" tweeted @OliverCarle."

The wife works at Sylvia Park and was sent home as soon as she got there .

Batman

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#1147889 5-Oct-2014 21:08

spencer: Kids were really upset that Netflix, Lightbox etc were not working. Had a rat round in the garage and found an ancient device called a "ball". It's a bit like a balloon only a lot heavier. The kids soon forgot their 21st century problems once they found that they could take it outside and kick it around. We worked out a game where one player would try and kick the ball between two markers (we called this the "goal") and the other player would try to stop this from happening.

We had such fun that I think others would also enjoy this activity. If I can I'll try to patent the idea when the internet comes back online.

Too late. Apple has patented all things round.

ech3lon

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#1147895 5-Oct-2014 21:42

We just have a slice of darkness here in Roskill, came back on 15 mins ago. How I missed you internet!

Coil

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#1147909 5-Oct-2014 22:19

Power on in Takapuna!!

dcole13

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#1147913 5-Oct-2014 22:41

TimA: Power on in Takapuna!!

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michaelmurfy

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#1147920 5-Oct-2014 22:57

Oh welcome back TimA.

In the Christchurch Quakes I was at work for pretty-much 2 weeks (on generator power at the Unleash data centre) - the Espresso maker and sandwich press (for cooking our emergency supply of canned spam) was very handy.

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