By JULIE WATSON 05/ 1/12 07:22 PM ET

SAN DIEGO — Federal energy regulators on Tuesday blamed inadequate planning and lack of grid coordination for a massive blackout last year that started with the loss of a single transmission line at an Arizona substation and quickly affected millions of people in Southern [...]]]>

By JULIE WATSON 05/ 1/12 07:22 PM ET

SAN DIEGO — Federal energy regulators on Tuesday blamed inadequate planning and lack of grid coordination for a massive blackout last year that started with the loss of a single transmission line at an Arizona substation and quickly affected millions of people in Southern California and Mexico’s Baja California.

The Sept. 8 outage that lasted through the night shows the need for close communication between major utilities and smaller operators, and for everyone to update their emergency settings, officials said.

The blackout was caused by many of the same problems that triggered a 2003 outage that cut power to 50 million people in the Midwest and the Northeast, regulators said in a teleconference from Washington.

It was another reminder that U.S. transmission lines remain vulnerable to cascading power failures despite the safeguards that are in place.

The system is built to quickly compensate for glitches – like the loss of a single line – but a lack of understanding of what was happening between neighboring operators caused the problem in Arizona to balloon into something much bigger than it should have been, according to the joint report by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and North American Electric Reliability Corp.

When a maintenance worker caused the loss of the line operated by Arizona Public Service, it immediately overloaded adjacent systems stretching to California and northern Baja California.

The outage knocked out traffic lights, causing gridlock on roads in the San Diego area. Two reactors at a nuclear power plant along the California coast went offline after losing electricity, and nearly 3.5 million gallons of sewage spilled into the ocean, closing beaches in San Diego.

People on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border spent the night struggling to fall asleep in high temperatures that reached 115 degrees in desert areas. There were no reported deaths or injuries related to the outage.

“This report highlights the growing need for more coordination of grid operations in the West,” FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff said in a statement.

This was my second time selling batteries to a Duffy boat owner. My first encounter was in the upscale Coronado Cays area.

The quiet appeal of the Duffy boats is obvious, they are noiseless and do [...]]]> Delivered two new Trojan T-105 6 volt deep cycle batteries to a Duffy boat owner on San Marcos Lake.

This was my second time selling batteries to a Duffy boat owner. My first encounter was in the upscale Coronado Cays area.

The quiet appeal of the Duffy boats is obvious, they are noiseless and do not leave any pollution behind.

My recent customer replace 6 year old Trojan T-105 batteries that came with the boat. I told her to maintain the water levels and keep the batteries fully charged as much as possible to get a long life out of her new set.

Duffy Electric Boat in San Diego - Using Trojan T-105 Batteries

Link to Thumbtack.com Trojan Battery Dealer San Diego

Thumbtack.com is a great website for battery customers to read reviews of our service and prices in San Diego.  I personally use Thumbtack to read the reviews of a business I [...]]]> San Diego Battery Wholesale has listed Home Delivery Services for Batteries in San Diego on Thumbtack.com

Link to Thumbtack.com
Trojan Battery Dealer San Diego

Thumbtack.com is a great website for battery customers to read reviews of our service and prices in San Diego.  I personally use Thumbtack to read the reviews of a business I want to buy from.

You can’t beat Thumbtack for what they offer a business to list for free!

New jobs are created with the 550-megawatt Desert Sunlight project in the small town Desert Center near Coachella Valley.

Desert Sunlight is expected to generate 440 construction jobs and $336 million in economic impact for the county. The electricity it produces will power about 165,000 homes.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior [...]]]> Approved August 10th, 2011

New jobs are created with the 550-megawatt Desert Sunlight project in the small town Desert Center near Coachella Valley.

Desert Sunlight is expected to generate 440 construction jobs and $336 million in economic impact for the county. The electricity it produces will power about 165,000 homes.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar gave the official go-ahead for Desert Sunlight on Wednesday, noting it is the largest photovoltaic project the department has approved to date.

The Department of Energy also has cleared the project for a conditional loan guarantee of $1.88 billion, providing it breaks ground by the end of September.

Laura Abram, spokeswoman for Arizona-based First Solar, said site preparation likely will begin next week, with workers bringing in equipment and setting up temporary trailers. The date for an official groundbreaking has yet to be set, she said.

In addition to construction jobs, Tom Freeman, spokesman for the Riverside County Economic Development Agency, said Desert Sunlight and other solar projects in the region will fuel a job-creating supply chain for materials and services.

Other projects in the 202,000-acre Riverside East solar zone between Joshua Tree National Park and Blythe:

Solar Millennium’s 1,000-megawatt Blythe project, which is under construction.

NextEra Energy’s 250-megawatt Genesis project, which has begun site preparation.

Solar Millennium’s Palen project, which awaits final approval.

All three are solar thermal projects, which produce electricity from heat gathered from solar troughs. The solar panels to be installed for Desert Sunlight generate electricity directly from sunlight.

http://www.energy.ca.gov/siting/solar/index.html

A customer called and asked what the price would be to deliver and install/replace 6 volt deep cycle batteries he had in his coach. The old interstate 6 volt batteries had a date code of 2006 and [...]]]> Just returned from installing two new Centennial brand 6 volt, 220 ah deep cycle batteries into an RV.

A customer called and asked what the price would be to deliver and install/replace 6 volt deep cycle batteries he had in his coach.
The old interstate 6 volt batteries had a date code of 2006 and when I tested them with a hydrometer, they were completely dead.
He thought they might still be good and were possibly 10 years old when we spoke over the phone.  I informed him that I have only seen a Trojan T-105 last 10 years and that was only once!

When I arrived, I discovered the customer was an injured veteran from Desert Storm and was living out of his motor home.  He told me several stories from his life and kept me entertained as I hauled out the two 62 lb dead batteries from the front of the coach.

After 20 minutes, I had the new Centennial batteries installed and my new friend was ready to roll.

Thank  you for your service in protecting our country Mr Customer.   – Jeff  Schwen

Old Dead Interstate Batteries

New Installed 6 Volt Centennial Battery

The customer has two houses and are both supplied by solar generated electricity they store in batteries.

The challenge we had was transporting the batteries from the truck to the battery storage area [...]]]> Recently delivered 12 new Trojan T-105 6 volt deep cycle batteries to a snowbird customer from Washington who lives off the grid.

The customer has two houses and are both supplied by solar generated electricity they store in batteries.

The challenge we had was transporting the batteries from the truck to the battery storage area – a 100 ft walk!

With the help of a gas powered golf cart, we were able to install and remove the 12 batteries in under an hour.  But at 62 lbs per battery, we did produce some sweat!

We get customers who can’t understand why their “house” or deep cycle batteries are under a constant load by their coach-RV.

A phantom load on a house battery can come from many places:

Here is a great blog [...]]]>

Recognizing Phantom Loads in Your RV or Trailer

We get customers who can’t understand why their “house” or deep cycle batteries are under a constant load by their coach-RV.

A phantom load on a house battery can come from many places:

1. TV memory
2. LP gas detector
3. Refrigerator
4. Indicator lights

Here is a great blog on testing your deep cycle RV batteries at rest to be sure you are getting an accurate reading.

Deep Cycle  Battery Testing

Trojan Video on Charging 6 Volt Deep Cycle Batteries