[Powershare] Tornadoes in Houston leave 900,000 homes powerless, but not this one with Powershare + Cybertruck

[msl0727]

2 streets over:

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[Carlos Thomas]

Epic.

 

[Mal]

Nice! Let's see if Electrek writes about that... Bets, anyone?

 

[65SoYoLO]

Whoa. Hope everyone is ok.

 

[mbrockus]

Yikes... tornados are just so unpredictable. Hope your neighbors are okay.

 

[WHIZZARD OF OZ]

2 streets over:

We get Cyclones in Australia, mainly up in the North. Tornadoes can happen here in flat open country, but l've yet to experience one! Tornadoes are way too frequent for my liking where you live.....sorry to see all your neighbours homes damaged.
Thinking the Cybertruck makes a great Storm chaser!

 

[TwilightHan]

Heartbreaking. All the floods pre-2020 in Houston and then the wintergeddon in 2021 with power and water gone for almost a week or even more depending on where you live. Now this. We were out of power in Austin for about 10 hours, but we are well prepared at this point unless a tornado took off our roof.

My next house will be made out of concrete and a large family compound.

 

[getsometom]

The Houston weather is becoming more hostile year after year. Before the 2000s, floods were somewhat rare but happened occasionally. Now in the 2020s, floods seem to be a common yearly occurrence with an occasional sprinkling of tornados, draughts, etc.

I hope everyone is okay. It’s good to see the Cybertruck can act as an emergency service provider.

 

[Cybergirl]

I've personally experienced property damage from a tornado and seen the havoc that such a storm can produce. It made me take steps to protect my family living in tornado country. Taking advantage of my Cybertruck as an energy source is cheap insurance in the event of an extended loss of utility power for whatever reason. For less than $500 I now have the ability to plug my CT into the house electrical system for 9.6 kW of backup power. A Powershare Gateway isn't necessary, only a length of 8-3 + ground NM-B cable run from the main panel to the garage, a generator box and cable that plugs into the truck's 14-50 outlet in the vault, and a manual interlock device to make sure the main panel is disconnected from the grid when the truck is used for power.

When utility power is lost, I go to the main breaker panel in the house, disconnect from the grid while at the same time closing the 50A 2-pole breaker to the generator box, plug the generator cable into the truck, and turn on the power outlets from the CT's display. Voilà! The whole house has power for as long as the battery has more than 20% charge.

 

[CyberGus]

I'm going with the Powershare solution because I'm too lazy to plug in a cable. Besides, it's raining out there

 

[msl0727]

I've personally experienced property damage from a tornado and seen the havoc that such a storm can produce. It made me take steps to protect my family living in tornado country. Taking advantage of my Cybertruck as an energy source is cheap insurance in the event of an extended loss of utility power for whatever reason. For less than $500 I now have the ability to plug my CT into the house electrical system for 9.6 kW of backup power. A Powershare Gateway isn't necessary, only a length of 8-3 + ground NM-B cable run from the main panel to the garage, a generator box and cable that plugs into the truck's 14-50 outlet in the vault, and a manual interlock device to make sure the main panel is disconnected from the grid when the truck is used for power.

When utility power is lost, I go to the main breaker panel in the house, disconnect from the grid while at the same time closing the 50A 2-pole breaker to the generator box, plug the generator cable into the truck, and turn on the power outlets from the CT's display. Voilà! The whole house has power for as long as the battery has more than 20% charge.

Yep! That’s great, and is in fact the way that I powered my home as my PowerShare install ironically is in a couple weeks. However, there are drawbacks to this configuration. It’s not auto switching, it handles less amps and power, and requires toggling in the truck with a limit of 12 hours before timing out. Totally sufficient. I loved using it, but I will be happy to use my gateway configuration (but I didn’t “pay” for it since I bought the beast).

 

[REM]

@Cybergirl

no matter how experienced you may be at electrical safety, I HIGHLY recommend replacing that cable as soon as you possibly can. Male to Male plugs are an extreme hazard, and the U.S. should outright ban them from the market. They are called "suicide cords" for a reason.

Please consider upgrading to a safer twist/lock style female receptacle! You can't account for incidents like tripping over the cord, or someone else coming along and unplugging from the wrong end without you knowing.

Please, please change your setup!

 

[CyberGus]

@Cybergirl

no matter how experienced you may be at electrical safety, I HIGHLY recommend replacing that cable as soon as you possibly can. Male to Male plugs are an extreme hazard, and the U.S. should outright ban them from the market. They are called "suicide cords" for a reason.

Please consider upgrading to a safer twist/lock style female receptacle! You can't account for incidents like tripping over the cord, or someone else coming along and unplugging from the wrong end without you knowing.

Please, please change your setup!

How can you tell that the cable is male-male? Generator wall plugs are typically male, connecting to the female end of the cable.

 

[REM]

How can you tell that the cable is male-male? Generator wall plugs are typically male, connecting to the female end of the cable.

The pull handle on both ends is typically an indicator of a gray-market suicide cord. I could be wrong, but it looks like one to me.

Also, I'm sure there are 50 amp, 4 prong locking connectors exist but I bet they are expensive and hard to find.

 

[Cybergirl]

@Cybergirl

no matter how experienced you may be at electrical safety, I HIGHLY recommend replacing that cable as soon as you possibly can. Male to Male plugs are an extreme hazard, and the U.S. should outright ban them from the market. They are called "suicide cords" for a reason.

Please consider upgrading to a safer twist/lock style female receptacle! You can't account for incidents like tripping over the cord, or someone else coming along and unplugging from the wrong end without you knowing.

Please, please change your setup!

I agree. That is a male to female twist/lock cable and receptacle that I have installed.

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