RE: PG&E will shut off power for nearly 800,000 customers starting Wednesday
10-14-2019, 08:44 PM
10-14-2019, 08:44 PM
RE: Shutting off power for conservation.... You guys must have really skimmed over what I wrote.
You can set an inverter to power-off under certain conditions. RVs have this kind of setup. It's nothing new, maybe a little bit fancy, but otherwise very doable. Using a supercapacitor bank to allow the inverter to cycle on and off in turns is very doable as well. In fact, given how quickly supercapacitors charge up and how much charge they can hold, this may be the method you'd want because it'll reduce your inverter's run time to just a few hours a day.
Regarding voltages.... You act as if a lot of home electronics don't already have transformers in them, or as part of their adapter-cords. Those funny black boxes that get warm to the touch are not only rectifying the AC current into a smooth DC current, but they're also stepping the power up or down through a transformer as needed.
That said, we can have a DC circuit with high volts, but very low amps since it's usually the amperage that's fatal. Think along the lines of the sort of current tasers use. Getting zapped by it would be unpleasant, but at least it won't kill you.
Also, who is to say that you can't create a digitally managed breaker? In fact, I think this is a safety feature in modern house/RV inverters - if the system detects a sudden load, like the kind someone getting electrocuted might put onto the system, it will automatically open that circuit.
Also, more home appliances are switching over to DC internals - in particular, the newer and more efficient refrigerators use DC electronics and motors.
So it's all just a matter of setting up the standard. USB-C can figure heavily into this as a Power Delivery port can supply a maximum of 100 watts of power, but ultimately the home circuit will need a higher voltage with USB-C outlets relegated to having their own transformers... preferably with each one having an auto-off switch that activates when there's nothing drawing current.... but that, too, can be integrated into the inverter's monitoring system and therefore be centrally controlled.
Hell, having USB-C as part of your electrical system will mean that you now have a hard-wired system for transferring data. Given that the new 3.1 standard can supply bandwidth at rates of 10Gbps, it can easily supplant Ethernet. And 100 watts is more than plenty to power most household electronics, with the exception of sound systems and high-performance desktop PCs (workstations and gaming rigs).
No, really. This is actually pretty damn cool. Most LED TVs in the 32" range use no more than 55 watts. An Xbox One S will use between 35 to 90 watts. A PS4 Slim rates at 55 to 110 watts. But the Nintendo Switch takes the cake at a mere 10 to 18 watts.
Just imagine that your home had a USB 3.1 hub built into the wall where your entertainment system goes, and each port on it is a Power Delivery port rated at 100w each. You could plug everything in using just one USB-C cable each, and that would be that. They get power, and the devices all talk to each other through the USB-C connections. No more HDMI or DVI cables or fiber optics. Just one cable, each device, into the wall.
It does not get any better than that unless we get some REALLY cool shit going like safe and efficient broadcast energy combined with something like Bluetooth for HD audio and sound.
You can set an inverter to power-off under certain conditions. RVs have this kind of setup. It's nothing new, maybe a little bit fancy, but otherwise very doable. Using a supercapacitor bank to allow the inverter to cycle on and off in turns is very doable as well. In fact, given how quickly supercapacitors charge up and how much charge they can hold, this may be the method you'd want because it'll reduce your inverter's run time to just a few hours a day.
Regarding voltages.... You act as if a lot of home electronics don't already have transformers in them, or as part of their adapter-cords. Those funny black boxes that get warm to the touch are not only rectifying the AC current into a smooth DC current, but they're also stepping the power up or down through a transformer as needed.
That said, we can have a DC circuit with high volts, but very low amps since it's usually the amperage that's fatal. Think along the lines of the sort of current tasers use. Getting zapped by it would be unpleasant, but at least it won't kill you.
Also, who is to say that you can't create a digitally managed breaker? In fact, I think this is a safety feature in modern house/RV inverters - if the system detects a sudden load, like the kind someone getting electrocuted might put onto the system, it will automatically open that circuit.
Also, more home appliances are switching over to DC internals - in particular, the newer and more efficient refrigerators use DC electronics and motors.
So it's all just a matter of setting up the standard. USB-C can figure heavily into this as a Power Delivery port can supply a maximum of 100 watts of power, but ultimately the home circuit will need a higher voltage with USB-C outlets relegated to having their own transformers... preferably with each one having an auto-off switch that activates when there's nothing drawing current.... but that, too, can be integrated into the inverter's monitoring system and therefore be centrally controlled.
Hell, having USB-C as part of your electrical system will mean that you now have a hard-wired system for transferring data. Given that the new 3.1 standard can supply bandwidth at rates of 10Gbps, it can easily supplant Ethernet. And 100 watts is more than plenty to power most household electronics, with the exception of sound systems and high-performance desktop PCs (workstations and gaming rigs).
No, really. This is actually pretty damn cool. Most LED TVs in the 32" range use no more than 55 watts. An Xbox One S will use between 35 to 90 watts. A PS4 Slim rates at 55 to 110 watts. But the Nintendo Switch takes the cake at a mere 10 to 18 watts.
Just imagine that your home had a USB 3.1 hub built into the wall where your entertainment system goes, and each port on it is a Power Delivery port rated at 100w each. You could plug everything in using just one USB-C cable each, and that would be that. They get power, and the devices all talk to each other through the USB-C connections. No more HDMI or DVI cables or fiber optics. Just one cable, each device, into the wall.
It does not get any better than that unless we get some REALLY cool shit going like safe and efficient broadcast energy combined with something like Bluetooth for HD audio and sound.