The Carrington Effect

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  • Mark75H

    MD Wear&Carry Instructor
    Industry Partner
    MDS Supporter
    Sep 25, 2011
    17,241
    Outside the Gates
    So this is a good point; I would like to know what small devices were effected in the 1980 solar flare. And the answer may be damn few if any. Doe the calculus change if the solar flare is much bigger, like the one in 1859?

    Only to big stuff, still not so much to small stuff.

    Small stuff was probably more at risk during the lowest part of the solar cycle last year when the solar wind was consistently weak and did not push back against cosmic rays from outside the solar system. In theory if such a ray hit a a critical memory bit, it could flip it from 0 to 1 or 1 to 0, but the chances of that are small considering most cosmic rays probably pass completely thru the earth without hitting a single atom.
     

    calicojack

    American Sporting Rifle
    MDS Supporter
    May 29, 2018
    5,385
    Cuba on the Chesapeake
    Here's another question; what would a solar flare do to solar panels? This might make the case (even more so) for a generator and some extra fuel on hand.
     

    Mark75H

    MD Wear&Carry Instructor
    Industry Partner
    MDS Supporter
    Sep 25, 2011
    17,241
    Outside the Gates
    Carrington flares will affect long wires and things directly attached to them. Stuff with wire 10's of miles long will be affected the most. If you are fed by a pole transformer a half mile away, likely nothing other than being disconnected from the grid.

    What do your panels do when utility power is off?

    A generator is probably a good idea regardless of all else
     

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