Post something Weird or Random

[MildredHubble]

This is a real training video they made us watch when I got my forklift license.

This is so true! That's such a blast from the past! This is no joke! It's a genuine safety video!

Forklift trucks are terrifying things to drive. Particularly if you have to fly around in a busy factory.

You could quite easily flatten someone and not even notice. 1300kg counterbalance forklift with solid rubber tyres. Not a good day if you find yourself underneath one.

It's funny when I see things on TV where operators are flying around with a load on the forks in an upright position. That's a big "no no". The way those things are balanced, it's like a trebuchet!

You basically spend the day going backwards honking your horn to warn people you are coming. Rarely do you go forwards. Steering from the rear is an unusual experience too, particularly when you are used to driving a low slung sports car!

I remember when I first drove a forklift, when I had finished work I tried to drive out of the carpark, changing gear with the windscreen wiper stalk. I must have looked like a boy racer nutcase with the engine bouncing off the rev limiter!

Still, it's something I recommend everyone try at least once in their lives!

 

[Outdated]

I'm glad you posted this! After @Outdated informed me that they can live in saltwater, I'm going to have to get better at spotting them. I now know they are e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e

Just so you can feel safe - they're tropical creatures. If the water temperature drops below 23 degrees celsius they get sick and die.

 

[MildredHubble]

Just so you can feel safe - they're tropical creatures. If the water temperature drops below 23 degrees celsius they get sick and die.

I don't say this often, and in recent years perhaps even less than I used to, but, I'm glad I live on this miserable island known as Great Britain.

Though if global warming continues, I doubt I will be saying it at all!

 

[Kisa the tea]

 

[Forest Cat]

One in three Australian houses have rooftop solar. Go Australia!

Here, in US, the cost is well over $20,000, maybe as much as $50,000.

Forest cat, you dont hardly get enough sunlight to make it worthwhile. Six months of darkness, right?

Yeah that's another thing, for a while during winter the sun goes down around 3pm. And then you have the cloudy days with little sun. And of course snow covering the panels.

 

[Outdated]

Yeah that's another thing, for a while during winter the sun goes down around 3pm. And then you have the cloudy days with little sun. And of course snow covering the panels.

What started people taking it up 30 years ago was the way that the systems were set up connected to the grid. While you're at work and your house isn't using any power your electricity meter runs backwards and the electricity companies have to pay you for it.

For a lot of people that could afford the initial outlay the idea was to produce more power than you use, this meant their solar power paid for itself quite quickly. Instead of getting a bill every 3 months they were getting a cheque.

 

[Crossbreed]

What started people taking it up 30 years ago was the way that the systems were set up connected to the grid. While you're at work and your house isn't using any power your electricity meter runs backwards and the electricity companies have to pay you for it.

For a lot of people that could afford the initial outlay the idea was to produce more power than you use, this meant their solar power paid for itself quite quickly. Instead of getting a bill every 3 months they were getting a cheque.

I thought that I heard in the states that our meters were blocked from going backwards so that would not happen.

 

[Forest Cat]

What started people taking it up 30 years ago was the way that the systems were set up connected to the grid. While you're at work and your house isn't using any power your electricity meter runs backwards and the electricity companies have to pay you for it.

For a lot of people that could afford the initial outlay the idea was to produce more power than you use, this meant their solar power paid for itself quite quickly. Instead of getting a bill every 3 months they were getting a cheque.

Yeah it's the same system here. You sell electricity to the power company. The problem is just that you have to spend a large amount of money to set it up, even if it eventually pays for itself. Many people don't have $20 000 laying around that they can use for that and getting a loan in a bank now is a terrible idea. The interest rates are about to go through the roof and the economy is pretty rotten.

I read one interesting thing, all those solar panels people installed many years ago are now trash. They have to be replaced. And there isn't a good system for recycling it so we have piles of old solar panels building up, no one knows what to do with that. No one thought about that it seems.

 

[Forest Cat]

I thought that I heard in the states that our meters were blocked from going backwards so that would not happen.

That's a little odd, you'd think it would be a big pluss having millions of homes sending excess electricity into the grid. More electricity in the system. I read that some places they have to turn the electricity off because there's not enough being produced.

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

What started people taking it up 30 years ago was the way that the systems were set up connected to the grid. While you're at work and your house isn't using any power your electricity meter runs backwards and the electricity companies have to pay you for it.

For a lot of people that could afford the initial outlay the idea was to produce more power than you use, this meant their solar power paid for itself quite quickly. Instead of getting a bill every 3 months they were getting a cheque.

When solar panels were first installed in the US, the meters did run backwards, and as you say, people got checks instead of paying a bill.

But the power companies didn’t like that at all! It is different in each state, but in many places in the US you can’t get paid for excess power you produce.

This is now why so many people also install huge banks of batteries to store power for when the sun is not out. Another major expense. But they cut off from the power company entirely.

I am frustrated because I can’t figure out the nuts and bolts of solar and there are a lot of rip offs in Florida.

Last summer I stayed at an Airbnb that was off grid. Over the years, he just added solar when he could, supplemented with propane when he couldn’t. The little house I stayed in was all solar. Some of the others were partially solar, say, just lights and the frig was propane. I found it interesting.

 

[Outdated]

I read one interesting thing, all those solar panels people installed many years ago are now trash. They have to be replaced.

They last about 15 years in the south of our country, up north they're pretty much burnt out in 10 years, so yes, there's an ever ongoing cost of replacement, but panels are cheap here.

And there isn't a good system for recycling it so we have piles of old solar panels building up, no one knows what to do with that. No one thought about that it seems.

We're staring to work around that problem now. Recently someone worked out how to extract the purified silicon from them for reuse and that will make recycling commercially viable. That silicon is worth a bit.

 

[Outdated]

This is now why so many people also install huge banks of batteries to store power for when the sun is not out. Another major expense.

A lot of homes here do this as well, but more for energy security than for cost cutting. Our governments have also invested heavily in solar farms and massive battery banks and they're increasing output all the time.

People are becoming a lot more aware of just how dangerous Lithium batteries are now and so our government also invested in Sodium Ion technology and we'll have Sodium batteries here soon. They don't get hot when they short out and they're much cheaper. They take longer to charge than lithium so no good for cars and phones but perfect for energy infrastructure.

 

[Forest Cat]

When solar panels were first installed in the US, the meters did run backwards, and as you say, people got checks instead of paying a bill.

But the power companies didn’t like that at all! It is different in each state, but in many places in the US you can’t get paid for excess power you produce.

This is now why so many people also install huge banks of batteries to store power for when the sun is not out. Another major expense. But they cut off from the power company entirely.

One big reason why people don't want those big battery banks here is that they are a serious fire hazard. I dont want a battery bank in or anywhere near my house. It would have to be placed far away from houses and garages.

 

[MildredHubble]

One big reason why people don't want those big battery banks here is that they are a serious fire hazard. I dont want a battery bank in or anywhere near my house. It would have to be placed far away from houses and garages.

Definitely a worry, I agree! It's certainly not unheard of. A small pipsqueak of a lithium ion battery can be really dangerous when it decides to go bang and there's little you can do about it. A densely packed wall of them and that's a lot of energy in one place.

Lithium ion batteries are great in terms of their energy density and convenience, but not great for the environment. Once they decide to go nuclear there's not much anyone can do beyond stand and watch.

 

[maycontainthunder]

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

I didn't know that. We are a long way from any fire department. At least 30-40 response time. We have our own pond and water pump, but still...
not interested in getting something that will increase the fire hazards here!

 

[Outdated]

I didn't know that. We are a long way from any fire department.

A lot of people don't realise, if mistreated in any way they can be very dangerous. Battery fires are also very difficult to put out, I don't think the garden hose would help much.

Just do a quick search for the two words - Battery and Fire. It's a bit of an eye opener.

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

A lot of people don't realise, if mistreated in any way they can be very dangerous. Battery fires are also very difficult to put out, I don't think the garden hose would help much.

Just do a quick search for the two words - Battery and Fire. It's a bit of an eye opener.

It's not a garden hose. It is a full sized fire-fighting hose with appropriate pump. My husband was a volunteer firefighter.

That said, I checked the instructions for a battery fire and I believe we also have the fire extinguishers required. However, if we ever went battery pack solar it would require some thought and updating.

I'm glad you brought this up, Outdated. And kudos for Australia for being so far ahead on the solar!

 

[Kisa the tea]

 

[MildredHubble]

I didn't know that. We are a long way from any fire department. At least 30-40 response time. We have our own pond and water pump, but still...
not interested in getting something that will increase the fire hazards here!

Batteries, particularly lithium ion just go into an avalanche. One decides to get hot and bothered and then the rest follow due to the heat. It's just a chemical process that firefighters are still unsure how to deal with. Water doesn't work and choking the fire with carbon monoxide doesn't help much either as the batteries are creating the fuel.

Like you I wouldn't want such a risky pile of these things in my home. I'm sure that insurers will need to be informed and I'm not certain everyone who gets one of these battery walls will inform their insurers.

Basically human beings have snookered themselves by creating a need for solutions that our technology can't provide.

One lithium ion battery is not too much of a risk as long as it's not over charged or over discharged. But thousands of them stuck in a wall increases the odds something might go awry by several orders of magnitude.

Batteries are great things but also kinda half baked (no pun intended). I think the only real hope on the horizon is Super Capacitors or hybrid Lithium Ion Super Capacitors. This would drastically decrease the amount of lithium involved.