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2026.02.18 blackout:


While I was at work, at about 3:15pm I got an alert that my server was running on UPS power. The alert did't
go away, and it was quite windy outside with wind advisaries. I assumed a branch (possibly from MY tree) had
taken down a line.

When I arrived home around 4:50pm, there was already a truck out in the alley checking out the transformer on
the pole in the alley right behind my house. One of the tap wires was clearly disconnected, and there was a
very slight char on the pole, but other than that everything looked fine from the ground. After chatting with
the repairman, it sounds like a neighbor had reported that the pole (not the transformer) was ON FIRE. It's
a very old pole and was probably a bit rotten inside, and apparently the transformer popped or something else
went wrong and ended up setting the pole on fire, which followed the rotten wood down the center of the pole,
weakening it.

They were worried about the pole breaking before they could get it replaced so they attached a support to the
side of the pole at about the same height as the transformer. It was possible that there had been a short from
the transformer to the (wet?) inside core of the pole, which was then traveling down the pole and grounding out
the transformer. MAE said there were 16 "customers" affected, which I assumes means 16 houses, which would
be 8 on my side of the alley and another 8 on the other side.

I was receiving email updates periodically from Mid-American Energy, their initial repair time was estimated at
7:30 pm. But the crew said they were going to replace the entire pole (not just the transformer) so they'd be
back later that evening to work on it. Another guy showed up and was spray-painting the ground to mark where
buried cables were. (I really didn't want to lose internet as well as power) The email updates kept jumping.
7:30, 9:30, and finally 12:30 (AM). The crew returned with a second truck and a fresh transformer and pole,
and got to work in the dark. (it was also a bit chilly outside, low 40's)

My next-door neighbor didn't have any flashlights, so I loaned him several to get by with. I'll send him an
Amazon link for them since it sounds like he's interested in getting something like what I have.

Meanwhile, I was "juggling batteries" inside. The server and Workhorse had both been running for hours, and
the dual-FLA batteries were getting low. Realizing they weren't going to last the entire event, I went ahead
and shut both down. I kept the UPS running the house network, but the overhead required just to run the UPS
was going to kill the batteries before they finished replacing the pole. My 100AH LIFE battery didn't have
a very good charge either since I hadn't recharged it after Field Day. The spare FLA in the truck wasn't
very fully charged either since it runs the dashcam and runs at a bit of a deficit in the middle of the winter.
So my house emergency lighting battery was the only fully charged battery I had.

Around 9:30pm the house was getting chilly and I made the executive decision to turn on the furnace, using the
emergency power option I made last year. I took the LIFE battery and big (3500/7000w) UPS downstairs and
connected the furnace to it. After switching the thermostat to "emergency heat" (natural gas only, not heat
pump) I turned it on. The house warmed up pretty quickly, from 63 to 72 degrees. During that time, the big
inverter was drawing around 880w (71 amps at 12.3v) running the furnace's electronics, igniter, and blower fan.

I ended up switching the house network over to the emergency house lighting battery when the server UPS
batteries finally gave out. Ironically, I completely forgot that I had a mostly charged Jackery upstairs, just
waiting to be used to run the furnace or whatever, with its own built-in inverter. Next time!

Power came back on at about 11pm, and I began resetting things around the house. All-in-all things went
pretty well, although I did learn some valuable lessons:

- APC-2000 batteries are not balanced, rear battery is at 10v, front is at 12 (but the other was very low)
- no emergency power on wireless in attic
- no emergency lighting in attic
- green inverter is cranky when connecting loads like macbook, possibly blown fuses inside from hair dryer
- need to accelerate plans to split power off APC-2000 to outlet in lab
- until lab has new ups outlet, need better access to small APC outlet
- I completely forgot about my Jackery, that would have been perfect to run the furnace
- the server's watch_power script isn't monitoring power properly (I think the little dummy UPS is dead)
- emergency lights worked well, but there were several unexpected shadows: kitchen sink and basement bench
- emergency lighting over server would also have been helpful
- the backup server's external OWC drive enclosure would not power back on (the power supply died)

2026.02.18 16.51.00	2026.02.18 16.51.03	2026.02.18 16.51.10	2026.02.18 16.51.29	2026.02.18 16.51.34	2026.02.18 17.35.48
2026.02.18 17.35.52	2026.02.18 19.53.41	2026.02.18 20.29.47	2026.02.18 20.29.54	2026.02.18 21.06.24	2026.02.18 21.40.07
2026.02.18 21.44.18	2026.02.18 21.48.04	2026.02.18 21.48.21	2026.02.18 22.18.32	2026.02.18 22.18.54

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