Edison planned outage on the 11th

Got a notice on my door about this today. The outage is supposed to last about 4 hours starting at 230am. I currently have an UPS that can power critical items (heater@200w/return@55w) for about 60 mins.

I've gotta look for something that will run for about 8 hours, preferably without using a generator. That said I've read over some info at RC and it seems this 750W power inverter connected to a car battery seemed to work well (cheapest solution at around $100-200 depending on the battery). I also have a battery tender that I can use to recharge after the outage is over.

Another option was using a Tripp Lite APS750 750W 12V DC to AC Inverter with Automatic Line-to-Battery 20-Amp Charger hooked up to a marine battery, but this would cost upwards of $500 including the marine battery. I can see the value in having a battery transfer/charging unit all in one, but this is money I would rather spend on an MP40...

A generator would be an option if it's very quite as I live in a townhouse complex and need to be considerate of neighbors. The small quiet honda / Yamaha generators I've looked at are all very expensive ~$1000 so that's out of the question.

What do you guys think?

I picked up a Honda EU3000 for 2k best investment ever. I can Power my whole tank, Refrigerator, TV, and computer with router.

Well feel like loaning it to me for the day? I would like to eventually buy one but need to save up.

You can rent one at Home Depot for the day for a decent price. I hope the 4 hrs is all it is. my tank will be going without power. Guess it will be a good test.

this thread is good. just last week my wife started searching for generators just because we don't want to have the same thing happen this summer as last summer. the electricity went out a few times leaving the tank sit. I think the longest it stayed off was 2 hours but that 2 hours was really stressful for me.

we are looking for a 4000 watt generator that can easily br started and switched over to accommodate the tanks need. There are a few out therefor but California doesn't male it easy with their crazy emmision laws.

we also have a 400 watt inverter that gets plugged into the cars cigarette lighter, I bought it to sustain my fish and corals during the move from Wyoming to here. If I needed to, I can use it for the necessities to sustain the vortechs and a 250 watt heater. not the best but that would work in the case of an emergency.

although you can look at it as, yet another hidden expense in this already expensive hobby but it's better to have it and not need than to need it and not have it.

Hands down the best generator for what it can do. My dad and I love it

what city is going out?

It's not a whole city they're certain grids that need to be updated, the power company does a pretty good job, trying to get the word out, I did read in the paper something about a power outage in Camarillo, however where in Camarillo, I couldn't tell you. I bet there is a website somewhere with that info.

Not me luckily, but anyone in camarillo that wants the info:
http://www.ci.camarillo.ca.us/i3.aspx?p=729

Mike, I think your also in the clear.

It's going on in my area. I live in Oxnard by the hospital off Gonzales and Rose.

The home depot in NP has 4 generators that they rent out...I think its 29$ a day. I have used this a couple times when my power went down for more than 1-2 hours. Saves having to shell out a few hundred and then store the beast.

Edison came and replaced my meter sometimes last week(north oxnard gonzalez/ventura rd), I don't even think the power went out. I do have a Honda eu1000 that I have used for my tank once or twice. I bought it for tailgating, but it has come in handy for other things.


How did your power outage go steyely?

Mine went out even though it wasn't projected! Not too long only a few minutes, but I had to talk to my wife and make sure everything was good to go.

Yeah, the meter replacement happened a while back. I'm pretty sure this outage was something different. It mentioned scheduled maintenance or something.

WRT the one on Weds, I don't think I lost power at all but got another notice the day after saying it's going down Sat at 230am-630am which is in about 30 mins...so here goes again...

Since I live in a townhouse complex a generator ended up being out of the question and I'm not trying to spend $1k on one of the ultra quiet ones.

Ended up putting some money into a nice dc/ac inverter charger. I have it hooked up to a sealed maint free AGM marine battery I bought at Walmart that gets me about 5 hours of run time on just my 55watt return pump. It wasn't the best choice as I've noticed much higher rated batteries going for cheaper on amazon, but at the time it was my only option with what I could find locally. I tested it out and it should do the trick though. It's like a monster UPS that's ready to handle whatever I need so long as the battery is capable of sustaining the amp hour load (2amps).

speaking of meter replacement, about 2 weeks ago they came and replaced our meter with a new digital one, and they either messed up or the meter is far more accurate. our bill was $74 this month.

I'm thinking that that didn't take into account the old meter readings and went off the new meter only...

Hmm, I wounder how long it will take them to figure out their mistake.

$74 isn't bad, what was it? If they realize
Their mistake they will probably back charge you.