Solar Panel? Skylight?

[hozz1235]

Solar Panel?  In such a non-modern town?  Could it be?

Skylight?  Unlikely since from inside the roof is solid.  Perhaps HL hasn't finished the texturing and will become a skylight?

 

[devamadhu]

Looks like solar panels to me! That's a cool detail. I think they're becoming more popular for people who live close to off-grid, so I don't think it's too crazy to include them in Milton.

[hozz1235]

True, but they are quite expensive and when you have boards over your window  

[Guest jeffpeng]

Actually matches pretty well with Great Bears failed attempt to become self-sufficient. Despite the reputation solar panels have for some people, for a private person they are probably the least expensive way to get some self-sustaining electricity.

[ajb1978]

I think solar panels, yes.  Milton may be remote, but it's not completely archaic.  The Orca station supports electric cars, which is something I only see in cities with populations of maybe 50k or greater today.  It stands to reason that if in the near future, Orca gets enough electric cars to warrant a charging station, people probably have solar panels too.

[Ice Hole]

I smell a goating challenge.

Hold my beard ...

 

Going to try to get a close up of the panel by goating to the roof.

For some reason my house does not have a solar panel and instead burns pro-pain.

The attempt did not end well.

The attempt did in fact land me on the roof. 

That's good.

Now there is a dead goat on the roof.

That's bad.

Start a new game and the house is demolished.

Failed to reach.

Tried again.

Same house without panels.

 

This time reached the roof and survived.

 

Edited June 20, 2019 by Ice Hole

[Ice Hole]

Took a few more tries to get the correct house to spawn.

Target now acquired.

 

Mission accomplished.

 

In my humble goat opinion these appear to be solar panels.  The panels seem top be fashioned on top of the roof and not flush with it.  A skylight low profile helps to prevent leaks.

 

Probably fit a Battery or two in this hidey hole.

Edited June 20, 2019 by Ice Hole

[Jolan]

5 hours ago, Ice Hole said:

Probably fit a Battery or two in this hidey hole.

um, Ice Hole, we need to talk to you about your unholy love of batteries  

[Guest jeffpeng]

7 hours ago, Ice Hole said:

Probably fit a Battery or two in this hidey hole

Brother... you need help. Help charging all those batteries, of course.

[Guest kristaok]

Here's the real question though... if those ARE indeed Solar Panels then how come there is no power? <.<.... Solar Panels don't need power to run... So since those look like Solar Panels to me then shouldn't the houses with those be able to be powered up at least for a time? 

[XaldinVii]

7 hours ago, kristaok said:

Here's the real question though... if those ARE indeed Solar Panels then how come there is no power? <.<.... Solar Panels don't need power to run... So since those look like Solar Panels to me then shouldn't the houses with those be able to be powered up at least for a time? 

If the Solar activity is anything on the level of 1859 the Carrington Flare, where telegraph wires burst into flames, and I think it is. I think it would be safe to say that the power line from the solar panels into the house were fried.

Edited June 21, 2019 by XaldinVii

[Ice Hole]

This should help anyone to have a look.  The roof is accessible by walking on the fence. 

Initially the idea to get on the roof top was to use the fence.  Tried for some time and did not make much progress.  So plan B leap of faith was used.

 

Hmmm....

To know Battery is to love Battery.

[Jolan]

On 6/21/2019 at 4:33 AM, kristaok said:

Here's the real question though... if those ARE indeed Solar Panels then how come there is no power? <.<.... Solar Panels don't need power to run... So since those look like Solar Panels to me then shouldn't the houses with those be able to be powered up at least for a time? 

Assuming that the aurora was solar activity or any other form of emp, there's two fiddly bits that would be fried.  I can't remember what they're called but there's the controller that's used to charge the batteries and the converter that brings the power from the batteries to the acceptable version for the grid. there may be other pieces as well

 

Edited June 22, 2019 by Jolan

[devamadhu]

On 6/21/2019 at 11:40 AM, Ice Hole said:

 

Hmmm....

To know Battery is to love Battery.

@Ice Hole I think I'm more invested in the Adventures of Battery at this point than I am in TLD Episode 3. 😂 Thanks for the lols. 

Edited June 23, 2019 by devamadhu
minor typo

[ajb1978]

On 6/21/2019 at 1:40 PM, Ice Hole said:

Hmmm....

To know Battery is to love Battery.

Dude you are like nine kinds of crazy, but I'll buy you a scotch any day.

[Guest jeffpeng]

On 6/22/2019 at 7:31 PM, Jolan said:

 I can't remember what they're called but there's the controller that's used to charge the batteries and the converter that brings the power from the batteries to the acceptable version for the grid. 

What you mean is an inverter. Solar panels produce DC, so you need some way to convert that to AC to pump it into the grid. To actually be acceptable for grid usage, you would need a so called sine wave inverter, which is actually quite some delicate kind of appliance.

The individual photovoltaic cells in the panels should be fine if what the root cause of the events in TLD is a solar flare or an EMP type event. But I'd be rather pessimistic when it comes to the delicate wiring between those cells. Not speaking of that there is nothing to power with those cells except the most primitive types of electric devices (like an electric cooker without any electronic parts would have rather good chances to survice an EMP).

But as there are many more theories what's going on (my favorite being electron displacement due to a passing swarm of WIMPs, aka dark matter) there really is no way to tell if @Ice Hole will ever successfully charge those batteries. One can only hope.

 

[Ice Hole]

Finally made it back!

Been caught up in some weird place.  Trying to charge Battery and wham, was zapped.  I remember there was lots of smoke and flying off to some other odd reality.  

Described as a parallel universe.  Maybe?

This video might explain things.

 

On 6/22/2019 at 11:50 PM, ajb1978 said:

Dude you are like nine kinds of crazy, but I'll buy you a scotch any day.

Hope it tastes better than the rocket fuel I have been sipping.  

[acada]

I wonder. There is Mystery lake near by with the dam. There are big turbines in it. This house is in the city. Why on earth would put these on the roof. Only reason comes to my mind would be frequent ouages caused by blizzards.

[odizzido]

From what I understand electricity simply doesn't work unless the aurora is active. As to how I don't know, but even battery operated devices don't work so solar panels don't have any hope.

[Guest jeffpeng]

On 5/6/2020 at 9:36 PM, acada said:

I wonder. There is Mystery lake near by with the dam. There are big turbines in it. This house is in the city. Why on earth would put these on the roof. Only reason comes to my mind would be frequent ouages caused by blizzards.

Well running a dam isn't as easy as just plonking down a few solar panels to have some limited electricity during the day. And, as far as I know, attempts to reopen the old damn were unsuccessful. And without maintenance .... power lines might be flunky. So, yeah, if I were living on a remote island in an economic crisis as the northern amercian continent was suffering from in 2012 in the TLD lore .... solar panels really are a very good way to ensure that you can at least charge some batteries, charge your phone and computer and maybe even use excess electricity to boil some water. It really isn't hard to get such a setup up and running with a very limited amount of knowledge, and it's far, far less expensive and actually more "plannable reliable" than a wind turbine.