Information asked for

[smokingboot]

I want to write a story for tomorrow, a Yule story, a pleasant story, something in which nobody gets murdered/possessed/pursued/lycanthroped up/turned into mulch. New territory for me.

So if someone wandering by knows how to siphon electricity from a generator and where/how one would store it, I would be very grateful for any details as to how this could be done. This story begins with a pair of jump leads in my head, I like to think this may be the seed of an idea and not a precog of EST.

Any help would be gratefully received.

Oh, and the weekend? Exhausting. Never made it to Jilly's. Passed out instead.

Comments

[yapman.livejournal.com]

You store electricity in capacitors. And to store a decent amount, it'd need to be a damn large capacitor, although it wouldn't have to look like one. Or you convert it into something else then convert it back again later - such as batteries, big spinning flywheels, heavy weights stored at altitude (damned water), hot things.

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Now, once you've got the juice in a battery, how do you make an electrical appliance run from it? A cable I guess?

[yapman.livejournal.com]

If it's direct current only, yes, or technically, two cables. You can, if you connect one terminal and one end of the appliance to earth technically only use one cable, but in effect ... If you want to be clever, with alternating current you can use induction (shifting magnetic fields).

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

Clever? *crosses eyes hopelessly*

Right. Armed with all this knowledge, let's see if I actually get this thing written. I am easily diverted, you see, by warm fires and hot chocolate and stuff that needs doing...and lj of course!

Thanks again!

[rebby.livejournal.com]

It depends how much power you need, how long you require the storage to work and how critical it is for the equipment to be on.

Banks of batteries is a good one as most people can visualise(the look like car batteries).

As an example of telephone exchange:
AC power coming into the building.
Generator with one week supply of oil should the ac into the building fail
Banks of batteries that take the slack between ac going off & generators kicking in & short term supply (two hours) should AC mains & generator fail.


Have I board you yet? ;-)

Neanderthal scratches head

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

I'm not at all bored. I am grateful and trying not to be baffled!

Wotchaneed...

[bytepilot.livejournal.com]

A battery connected to your generator (ordinary car battery would do) and an inverter to turn the 12 volts of he car battery into the 240 volts that comes out of the sockets in your wall.

Either that or just rub some cats together.
Cat with laser eyes