Stormy!

[petevasey]

Hi, guys,  I hope Storm Arwen didn't affect people too much - damage, power cuts etc.  Here in NE England we took a bit of a hammering.  Personally a few very brief power cuts, probably intercepted by autoreclosers - we are powered off overhead lines here.  But I got up this morning to find that my Observatory sliding shutter had blown off during the night.  The shutter was lying on the ground and there was a fair bit of wet inside.  Fortunately the shutter went back in place without too much hassle, and some minor repairs and modifications hopefully will prevent a recurrence.  But the only things running at the moment are a dehumidifier and a 1KW fan heater, hopefully to thoroughly dry everything out before powering up any electronics (computer, drive unit etc.)  Fingers crossed for switch on in a couple of days!

Cheers,

Peter

[Nigella Bryant]

Oh dear, I just had a broken chiminea. Hopefully all your electrical stuff will dry out. 

[jjosefsen]

I hope it all turns out OK for you and everything works.

[Physopto]

Hi Peter,

Sorry to hear your woes. As others have said hope nothing damaged. The wet can cause so much trouble when in the wrong place! 😡

I lost quite a few tiles off the house roof here in South Tyneside. Spent a good while yesterday making a couple of temporary covers for the inside in the loft, to stop the wind and rain causing internal ceiling damage. Just trying as I expect many others are to get a roofer to do the repairs as it is far to high to get at easily. 🤔

 

[petevasey]

Hi, Derek and Nigella,

So sorry to hear of your damages, particularly Derek's roof - ouch.

I've now taken the plunge and powered everything up.  Oh dear -  computer ok, but nothing connected 😨  A strange one - after playing around a bit it turned out to be the USB extension cable from my computer to the powered hub.  The female end faces upwards and was open, so maybe water got in there and didn't dry out.  I think it is a powered extension, so contained electronics.  I have a spare which worked ok, thank goodness.  It's 5 metres, but only 3 metres needed, so I've ordered a 3m unpowered replacement.  £3.49 on ebay.  Last of the big spenders!  So all set - phew   😀 

Cheers,

Peter

 

 

[Physopto]

Glad you got going Peter. I must admit I use Lindy cables almost all the time.  I have found that most cheaper types are rubbish and unstable. Lindy active cables are rely good.

Was the power on the system when the water got in, if not you may get the usb cable working when enough time is allowed for it to dry out completely. I would not count on that though. ☹️

Had  a roofer around today and estimated cost of £400 to fix my roof...................... Oh well, at least my wife will not be winging on at me up a ladder 🤣

[Nigella Bryant]

Glad it wasn't to bad in the end with just a cable. I also use Lindy cables for my astro equipment and computers. Take care.

[petevasey]

Thanks guys.  The cable never came back to life.  But to be honest even before this it was a bit flaky.  So is binned.  The new inactive 3 m replacement is working fine, and of course I still have a sound 5 m active extension as backup.  All that's needed now is something in very short supply these days, namely

Clear Skies.

Cheers, Peter