4 X class solar flares to impact this weekend.

[AlaskanNoob]

No risk to off-grid. Wires are not long enough.

The risk is problems with long transmission lines causing power fluctuations with distribution systems. Small chance a high voltage transmission line increases voltage in distribution system which makes it to a house.

I hope this is right. I have 650 feet of 250kcml aluminum cable in our off grid system and I'm not sure if that's going to put my system at risk or not. Any idea?

 

[Subdood]

In rarefied air here-

 

[AlaskanNoob]

In rarefied air here-

What does rarified air mean?

 

[wpns]

Any idea how long is long? We taking hundreds of feet or thousands?

1-3 volts per kilometer of wire.

 

[Subdood]

Should I plug in or unplug my flux capacitor?? I'm scared..

 

[AlaskanNoob]

1-3 volts per kilometer of wire.

Does it matter how thick the wire is? I'm completely scattered and ignorant and just finding little bits, but at this point in my jello understanding of this cosmic phenomena and electricity is that fatter cables with lower resistance are more subject to the effects of a CME.

I've got 650 feet of 250kmcl aluminum and I'm wondering if that's a long wire or not despite being off grid. I'm guessing it is.

 

[hwy17]

Found an interesting thread on reddit.

Interesting bits I read from it:

- The actual practical concerns during a lower level non Carrington type event is not induced current on the lines, it's the fluctuating ground potential.

- The fluctuating ground potential causes ground loops on the grounding infrastructure.

- Then the ground loops can suck up DC into any transformer with its primary grounded.

- The ground loops can trip major GFCI's, and this can be a blackout instigator, even in the absence of any actual equipment damage.

- Some grid hardware is actually fitted now to detect these geomagnetic ground loop currents, and as far as I read it this is actually not for protection but so that it can be identified as a false trip. Possibly automatically, or possibly only on manual review.

 

[wpns]

Does it matter how thick the wire is? I'm completely scattered and ignorant and just finding little bits, but at this point in my jello understanding of this cosmic phenomena and electricity is that fatter cables with lower resistance are more subject to the effects of a CME.

I've got 650 feet of 250kmcl aluminum and I'm wondering if that's a long wire or not despite being off grid. I'm guessing it is.

How many kilometers long is your wire? How many kilometers thick is your wire? You do the math.

 

[skyking1]

thanks!
I am in the city lights of the Puget Sound area, but I am hopeful. I'll not sleep much tonight

 

[sunsurfer]

Any idea how long is long? We taking hundreds of feet or thousands?

typically, thousands of feet but I'm extra paranoid.

 

[AlaskanNoob]

Should I plug in or unplug my flux capacitor?? I'm scared..

You think wanting to protect electronics from a burst of sun energy in a complicated area is being scared? I'm not sure you've ever been in an actual position that merited actual fear if that's the case.

At any rate, don't mind the rest of us talking about this topic. Protecting investments is what we're discussing here. You may not have any investments yourself to speak of, so pretending that this is a matter of courage on the internet might be the chosen course for you. But it's not a matter of courage, so try to settle down with just how heroic you feel in this discussion.

 

[AlaskanNoob]

How many kilometers long is your wire? How many kilometers thick is your wire? You do the math.

You said "1-3 volts per kilometer of wire."

You didn't mention kilometers of thickness in your formula. Thanks for your input though.

 

[wpns]

You said "1-3 volts per kilometer of wire."

You didn't mention kilometers of thickness in your formula. Thanks for your input though.

Pythagorus will give you the answer if you plug in the thickness in KM.

 

[Subdood]

You think wanting to protect electronics from a burst of sun energy in a complicated area is being scared? I'm not sure you've ever been in an actual position that merited actual fear if that's the case.

At any rate, don't mind the rest of us talking about this topic. Protecting investments is what we're discussing here. You may not have any investments yourself to speak of, so pretending that this is a matter of courage on the internet might be the chosen course for you. But it's not a matter of courage, so try to settle down with just how heroic you feel in this discussion.

I'm not mocking you or your concerns. It's called comedy.

I certainly wouldn't want my expensive equipment damaged either, but I'm not too concerned about this.

And "rarefied air", means something rare. As in, we don't see this kind of phenomenon every day.

 

[AlaskanNoob]

Pythagorus will give you the answer if you plug in the thickness in KM.

Cool, I'll send him a private message.

 

[Danke]

Should I plug in or unplug my flux capacitor?? I'm scared..

If you have to plug it in, you got a cheap Chinese knock off. I’d contact your credit card company if I were you.

 

[sunsurfer]

KP as dropped from max of 9 to about 7 at the moment, I hope it holds till it gets dark. I would really love to see some sky action tonight.

 

[rhino]

Does it matter how thick the wire is? I'm completely scattered and ignorant and just finding little bits, but at this point in my jello understanding of this cosmic phenomena and electricity is that fatter cables with lower resistance are more subject to the effects of a CME.

I've got 650 feet of 250kmcl aluminum and I'm wondering if that's a long wire or not despite being off grid. I'm guessing it is.

The subsurface geology also makes a difference. The study I referenced didn't map out Alaska but showed most of the Rocky Mountain areas to have very low induced voltage because of the geology.

 

[Hedges]

OK, I'm concerned enough that I switched the house direct to grid, shut off battery inverters, isolated them from grid, and isolated PV input to inverters.

I unplugged the all in one printer. Laptops and monitors are still on.

Does it matter how thick the wire is? I'm completely scattered and ignorant and just finding little bits, but at this point in my jello understanding of this cosmic phenomena and electricity is that fatter cables with lower resistance are more subject to the effects of a CME.

I've got 650 feet of 250kmcl aluminum and I'm wondering if that's a long wire or not despite being off grid. I'm guessing it is.

Thickness of wire has nothing to do with it (unless induced current is so high as to burn out a thin wire.)
What matters is length, also spacing.

Long wire will induce higher common mode voltage.
Twisted wire won't get any differential mode voltage.
Wire with large spacing will get differential mode voltage.

I note that long distance power transmission lines that I see are actually twisted, which is good.

 

[AlaskanNoob]

The subsurface geology also makes a difference. The study I referenced didn't map out Alaska but showed most of the Rocky Mountain areas to have very low induced voltage because of the geology.

I bet it does. Which excites me. With my career 3.0 gpa and very bad SAT scores....I'm really looking forward to trying to tackle electrical engineering (I don't understand) combined with geology (I don't understand) combined with physics and math and all thet....to see how I can keep my stuff from frying because the solar system decided to have a bad day.

In all seriousness, I think I'm going to need to try to do a deeper dive into the Carrington Event. Figure out what the lengths and gauges of those telegraph wires were. Of course, I also need to figure out if there were common shorter length wires that didn't have an issue, and that may be more challenging.

Or I need Hedges to just tell me what I should do. I get the feeling he knows whether our 650' of twisted 2 x 250kcml, 1 x 4/0 twisted aluminum wires will be good...and and he's just keeping a secret...