[Boatanchors] Wall Warts and Switcher Power Supplies

[Mike A]

On Tue, Nov 27, 2012 at 01:47:59PM -0600, Jim Wilhite wrote:
> My wife thought the same thing when I ordered at 12 KW portable unit.  I had 
> two houses to consider when my parents were alive and we have fairly regular 
> ice storms that do widespread damage to the grid in my state.
> 
> Here at the house we have used it for several hours when something faults 
> the system  It is nice to have hot water and hot food when those around us 
> don't.  Sort of like having a safe room for tornados.

> > I'd rather be in a position of never "needing" it, than needing it and NOT 
> > have it!
> >
> > My wife thinks I'm insane.....

27 months ago, I bought an el-cheapo 7KW generator at Home Depot or Lowe's or
some other big-box store, and caught Hell from my wife when I brought it home.
A few months later, we were power-down for a week from an ice storm, and ran
essentials (TV, cable box, cablemodem, home servers and network, and also a
refrigerator and some lights) on it for much of that time.

A year later, we were power-down for ten days, and repeated the experience.
Now she wants to know when I will get a natural-gas-powered generator and a
transfer switch. They're on the list.

-- 
Mike Andrews, W5EGO
mikea at mikea.ath.cx
Tired old sysadmin