These days crazy weather really isn’t crazy anymore. I mean, can we still say something is crazy if it’s happening all the time? How many times will I hear about an unprecedented storm wreaking havoc. Record setting cold. Record setting heat, wind or snow. We are bouncing from extreme to extreme and the pressure of that is more than our power grid can handle.
Are You Ready?
No matter where you live or the time of year, expect the unexpected. Maybe you only lost power in the winter in years past but the grid was stable and steady in the summer. That’s how Seattle was. Until two summers ago when temperatures soared 30 degrees above normal. The mercury approached 110 degrees in a place that had never before seen a three day stretch of triple digit temps. We cooked and in many places our grid failed.
A Texas grid that is primarily accustomed to being tested by high heat events was brought to its knees by an “unprecedented” freeze. Making matters worse, few of our Texan brothers and sisters were unprepared to take on freezing temps without power. It just wasn’t a thing.
What’s the Worst that can Happen?
What’s the worst that can happen? This is the question to ask yourself and it is the event to prepare for. Take a look around. Do you have a reliable way to warm yourself without power? Think plenty of blankets and warm clothing. A fire place. If you don’t have a fire place, absolutely never ever ever light a fire in your home to keep warm. That mistake can cost you or loved ones their lives. Without proper venting, carbon monoxide will accumulate in your home and poison you.
How Useful is a Portable Power Pack in a Blackout?
If you want to have a power pack ready for your next blackout, you should know what to expect. We have an old post that will show you what you can get out of a 300 watt power pack. The video in that post gives you a good idea of what the power packs are capable of powering and for how long.
One thing to know is that small portable power packs are NOT going to help you stay warm if the power goes out. Even a portable space heater will only run for about an hour before draining a 700 watt power pack. Heat is so expensive, electrically speaking, that it isn’t a good use of your power pack unless it the power pack is very large.
But this isn’t to say they aren’t useful. Portable power packs can keep some lights on. They can keep your wifi on (so long as your internet provider isn’t also experiencing an outage). Power packs can power a tv, charge your devices and keep security cameras up and running.
My Portable Power Pack Experience
Last week I had a chance to test my power packs. I have an EcoFlow River and an EcoFlow Pro (288 watts and 700 watts, respectively). As I was driving home the wind was howling and snow was falling. A few blocks from my house traffic signals were out and sure enough I pulled up to a dark home. My kids were inside with candles, staring at their phones, hoping their batteries would outlast the power outage.
Dad to the Rescue
When I walked inside I asked the kids if they wanted to watch tv. After a pair of surprised smiles I grabbed my power packs and powered up my internet, tv, security cameras and some lights. It wasn’t a lot. But I had enough power to last through the night. And it turned out I would need it.
The Warmth of Light
While the tv was cool to have it wasn’t what I was most grateful for. There is an eerie feeling when your whole neighborhood is dark. They say criminals look for the dark spots, and I was surrounded by several blocks that fit that description. But not in my living room. In the living room we had the comfort of our normal LED light pole. No flickering candles or unsatisfying light from flashlights. The evening felt pretty normal.
The Next Day
Before I went to sleep I checked the City Light outage map to see when power was estimated to return. 2AM. Great, that means I’ll be ok in the morning for work. I went to sleep and awoke to a still darkened home. Now I had a problem and it was serious. How was I going to drink coffee with no freaking power??
How? A power pack of course! I had just enough power left in my EcoFlow Pro to warm up two cups of coffee in my Keurig. Talk about clutch!
Recharge
Now that my power packs were low I needed a boost. And thankfully I took advantage of Black Friday specials and received a free EcoFlow portable solar panel with my Pro. What a great opportunity to give it a test.. So I went outside, set up my EcoFlow River with the portable panel and I was pleasantly surprised. On an early February morning the sun was shining enough to give me a solid shot of energy. The panels are rated at 115 watts and I was generating almost 90 watts before 10 am!
Keep a Pack at the Ready
A crappy deal with lithium ion batteries is they don’t want to be sitting at 100% charge. Think of keeping a spring fully compressed for a long time and how that could permanently damage the spring. It would become less springy. Well a fully loaded battery will be similarly damaged. To preserve the life of your pack it’s recommended that you store them with no more than 80% charge.
The problem is you don’t get a warning before the lights go out. So when the weather is coming, or you hear the wind whipping, finish charging your portable power pack up and be ready to make your next outage a little bit less obnoxious.
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Join the conversation! Ask us questions!