Music for a Cause Rebuilding after the FLAMES

Saturday, November 5 at 7:00pm – November 6 at 2:00am
River Rock Grille 1600 RT. 70 West, Brick Township, NJ
(Formally Petersons/Marina Grille)

Please come out for a benefit for Chris and his wife Dani Houck, who lost everything in a 6 alarm fire over the summer in Seaside Heights, NJ. Here is a link to the Facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=156954464395758 Please go to this event link and invite some of your friends who you think might like to attend; River Rock Grille has a capacity of 1200 and we are trying to have as many people attend as possible….

A fire relief fundraiser for Chris and Dani Houck (Danielle Howard); who lost everything in a fire at their house in Seaside http://manchester-nj.patch.com/articles/seaside-heights-restaurant-totaled-after-6-alarm-blaze-fire-chief-says-2

Tickets will be a $15.00 donation at the door. 100% of the proceeds are going to help try to rebuild Chris and Dani’s lives after the tragic fire…A portion of the proceeds are going to be donated to the Seaside Heights volunteer fire department http://www.shfd44.com/news/index/layoutfile/home)

River Rock Grille is gracious enough to provide food and drink specials throughout the evening…(Specials will be announced soon) River Rock Grille has a Large bar area, big outside deck overlooking the Manasquan River and the River Rock’s own marina. There is plenty of parking for all. The benefit will be starting at 7:00pm and will go to 2:00am. For your musical enjoyment we will be having three bands plus a surprise guest playing a tween-er set in-between bands. We will also be having a silent auction as well as a 50/50 raffle.

We are currently accepting donations for the silent auction. Please contact Tim McGuire from Computer Doctors @ (201) 290-4254 or (848) 480-2775 to donate items for the silent auction.

We will also be accepting non-perishable household items to try to help this family rebuild from scratch as they lost everything they owned in the fire. Gift cards are a great way to make a donation as well….They can be brought the day of the benefit or you can call Tim McGuire (see above) to schedule a pick-up or drop-off…..

Anyone who cannot attend and would like to make a donation can mail donations to River Rock Grille c/o Chris & Dani Fire Relief Fund (make checks payable to Chris & Dani Houck) 1600 Rt. 70 West, Brick, NJ 08723 ~Thank You

The OC Gazette has agreed to publish the benefit event flyer during the next two weeks and they are attending and covering the story in video and photography.

Here is the link for River Rock Grille (http://www.riverrockbricknj.com/ordereze/1000/Page.aspx)

BAND SCHEDULE

7:00pm – 8:30pm Scott Elk Band (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Scott-Elk-STH/196939990354657?sk=wall) (Bar Stage)

8:30pm – 10:00pm Midnight Mosaic (Bar Stage) https://www.facebook.com/MidnightMosaic

10:00pm – 1:45am – Tasting Grace (http://www.tastinggrace.com/) (Restaurant Stage)

FUKiTT & RISKY CLOTHING (https://www.facebook.com/fukitt#wall) (http://www.fukitt.com/) will be setting up a merchandise table and are donating $5.00 for every t-shirt they sell that evening. Their mission is to inspire and motivate people to live without regret and accept challenges that are worth the risk…to live life to the fullest!

SPONSORS & COMPANIES WHO DONATED TO THE SILENT AUCTION

River Rock Grille – Brick, NJ (http://www.riverrockbricknj.com/ordereze/1000/Page.aspx)

New Jersey Computer Doctors – Servicing All of NJ & Beyond (http://www.njcomputerdoctors.com/)

Brandl Restaurant – Belmar, NJ (http://www.brandlrestaurant.com/)

Jakes Crab Shack – Belmar, NJ (http://www.jakescrabshack.com/)

Basil T’s – Red Bank (http://www.basilt.com/)

Al Mollo Esq. – Red Bank, NJ (http://www.mollolawfirm.com/)

Tom Martin Esq. – Freehold, NJ (http://www.jerseycriminallawyer.com/)

Studio 960 Brick, NJ – (http://www.hairperfect.net/)

Face-to-Fase – Toms River (https://www.facebook.com/pages/face-to-fase-Facial-Spa-Cosmetic-Studio/122457947245)

PC&S – Stanhope, NJ (http://www.panelcomponentsandsystems.com/)

La Vendemmia Italian Wines – Lindenhurst, NY (http://www.italianwineimports.com/)

Narduzzi Imports – Marlboro, NJ (http://www.narduzziimports.com/Home.html)

Clemente Italian Bakery & Deli – South Hackensack, NJ (http://www.clementeitalianbakery.com/)

Clemente Biscottificio – South Hackensack, NJ (http://clementeitalianbakeryusa.com/index.html)

Professional Touch Delivery/Pick-up Dry Cleaners – Bergen County, NJ (http://www.computerdoctorswebsitedesign.com/Pro-Touch-Dry-Cleaners/index.html)

Clean All Cleaners, Apparel & Uniforms – South Hackensack, NJ (http://cleanallcleanersuniforms.com/wordpress/)

R.V. Marine Surveying – Forked River, NJ (http://rvmarinesurveying.com/)

SJK Steel & Construction Services – Toms River, NJ (http://www.sjksteelnj.com/)

HERE IS THE ARTICLE PERTAINING TO THE SIX ALARM BLAZE

Seaside Heights Restaurant ‘Totaled’ After 6-Alarm Blaze, Fire Chief Says
It took nearly 150 firefighters almost five hours Sunday to knock down a blaze that destroyed the La Casa Del Sol restaurant and sent eight firemen to the hospital, Seaside Heights Fire Chief Sam Samarelli said.

Fire companies were hampered by an 18-inch void between the flat roof of the two-story building and the ceilings in the two apartments on top of the restaurant that made it difficult to reach the flames, Samarelli said.

“It was inevitable,” he said. “That’s why we lost the entire roof.”

The fire had probably been burning for some time before restaurant employees and diners first smelled smoke around 5:15 p.m., Samarelli said.

The Mexican restaurant is located on the corner of the Boulevard and Hancock Avenue.

High temperatures, coupled with roughly 90 percent humidity, felled some of the firefighters. Five Seaside Heights volunteers and three from neighboring fire companies were treated at Community Medical Center in Toms River, some for heat exhaustion, others for smoke inhalation, the chief said.

“The problem we ran into was the humidity,” he said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Ocean County Fire Marshal’s Office and the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, which is routine, said Seaside Heights Detective Steve Korman.

Samarelli said when he arrived on the scene, smoke and flames were visible in the southwest corner of the second story.

The occupants were not home at the time of the fire, but a dog in one of the apartments died in the blaze, he said.

Fire companies from Lavallette, Seaside Park, Toms River and Island Heights also responded. Firefighters finally left the scene at 10:30 p.m., more than five hours after they responded, Samarelli said.

Current Events , , , , ,

1 Million Smart Meters by 2020

A smart meter is an energy meter which keeps detailed statistics on usage, but it can also be used for electricity, gas and water. Additionally, some smart meters can also perform tele-metering, in which they communicate remotely with the utility company. Several countries are using smart meter technology, and many manufacturers of meters offer smart meters containing different features.

Depending on the smart meter, it may be possible for the utility company to collect data of energy usage in real time without ever having to manually take a meter reading again. Some meters have the ability to report power outages and other issues enabling the utility provider to give a quicker response.

The constant monitoring of energy usage can allow for power balancing which can vary the usage during peak demand periods. For example, this may be needed on hot summer days when people use their air conditioning.

Customers benefit by using smart meters as they can see a detailed breakdown of energy use enabling customers to save on their bills by looking at how they could save. This could be simple things like getting your washing machine to run at night when it’s cheaper.

Smart meters can be linked to smart billing systems. People can join a program which offers an incentive to consume power during off-peak hours. With a smart meter, it is possible for the utility company to monitor power usage by time and set different rates for different times of the day.

In quite a few countries, smart meters are part of a program of grid modernisation. With increasing populations and the rise in use of electronic products, several nations are finding it hard to provide the required amount of energy with their existing grids. The use of smart meters can help improve energy services to reduce service interruptions.

The use of smart meters is increasing rapidly and it is estimated there will be nearly one billion by 2020. This is a fourfold increase over the next ten years. The Chinese are doing a huge rollout of smart meters which will ensure the huge growth expectations.

A recent report by Pike Research estimates 251 million meters will be in use before the end of the year. This will double to 535 million units by 2015. By 2018 the smart meter will be commonplace and is likely to represent the majority of electric meters installed.

Growth will then fall slightly by 2020 to around 963 installations. At this point in time global smart meter penetration will be at around 60% of the market.

Many governments are behind the adoption of the smart meter which will be shown in waves of adoption around the globe with North America peaking in 2012, followed by Asia in 2015 and Europe in 2017.

The UK government are fully behind the use of smart meters and have announced they are aiming to have a smart meter installed in every home by 2020. Smart meters will also play a key role in helping the UK government to meet its greenhouse gas reduction targets of at least 34% by 2020. British Gas are also well aware of the benefits of smart meters and have already installed over 258,000 smart meters since it started doing so in 2010.

Smart Meter , , , ,

Irene Disrupts Power, Commutes, Travel Plans

A man rests at the Trenton train station Aug. 29, 2011, in Trenton, N.J., after some commuters were caught off guard when there was no train service. New Jersey Transit rail service was suspended Monday due to damage from Hurricane Irene.

Irene knocked out power to millions and threatened transportation systems up and down the east coast. The restoration of most subway and bus lines in New York City helped avoid the commuting nightmare that some had feared, but the storm will leave many without power for days.

Hurricane Irene caused havoc for many rail lines, forcing crews to face a maze of downed trees and branches on the tracks and restoring power to some lines.

And New York City took an unprecedented step before Irene hit, shutting down bus and subway lines over the weekend. Tunnels did not flood and the system was able to restore service this morning.

At Manhattan’s Port Authority Bus terminal, commuters like Al Yudes said his bus ride from Weehawken, N.J. was a breeze, in part because many could not make it to work.

“People are staying home, people a little bit farther out, they do have some flooding, there’s trees down, and so they’re just not taking the chance — and everybody’s got a computer,” he says.

We still had extensive damage in the Outer Banks and in the Hampton Roads tidewater area. But it was equally as bad — when you look at number of customers without power — in the central part of Virginia.

- David Botkins, Dominion Resources

Travel Delays

But long-distance travelers weren’t as lucky and continued to face delays. Airlines had to unsnarl the mess created when they had to reschedule thousands of flights over the weekend: Some offered waivers so passengers would not have to pay re-booking fees.

Amtrak also temporarily shut down service over the weekend, and riders are still experiencing delays.

Rail passengers at Washington, D.C.’s Union Station, said they could get little information about when Amtrak might return to normal service, which meant Susan Rothschild, who is from New York City, was stuck.

“I was supposed to be on the 1:02 train, so if that train was going to New York that would have been just fine. But it’s only going to Philadelphia, so I’m going to have to find my way home from Philadelphia,” she says. “There are people out there with real problems and this to me is not a really huge problem,” she says.

Amtrak had to cancel all train service between Boston and Philadelphia, including all high-speed Acela lines.

Power Outages

But the lasting pain from this storm will be felt by the millions of people who are still without power. Dominion Resources says half of its 2.4 million customers in Virginia and North Carolina lost power. David Botkins of Dominion Resources says the map of those outages is a little surprising, adding that some of the worst damage was quite a ways inland where heavy winds brought down trees onto power lines.

“We still had extensive damage in the Outer Banks and in the Hampton Roads tidewater area. But it was equally as bad — when you look at the number of customers without power — in the central part of Virginia,” Botkins says.

He says it’s the worst damage since Hurricane Isabel eight years ago, but that storm did much more serious damage — snapping power poles, which took a long time to replace.

Irene’s damage was less severe, and so Dominion Resources says it has already restored power to many of those who lost it.

Another unexpected center for outages was Baltimore, where the local utility reported nearly half a million people without power. Up in Connecticut, Gov. Dannell Malloy said that 600,000 people in his state were without power.

“We have never had as many people out of power as we have had as a result of this storm,” he says.

Thousands of utility workers are coming in from out of state, thanks to aid agreements in place for just kind of situation. Still, many utilities say that some customers may have to wait until next weekend for relief.

Edward Castro lives in Bristol, R.I. and hopes he doesn’t have to wait that long.

“But we’ve got plenty of candles, and we’ve got flashlights and batteries so we’re OK with that,” he says. “As long as the water stays on, and the gas, we’re doing OK.”

One bright spot may be the nation’s communications systems. The Federal Communications Commission reports that most of them held up well and that all 911 services worked, despite the heavy demand.

Current Events , , ,

Investment In Renewable Energy Is Rapidly Increasing:2010

From 2009 to 2010, the renewable installed capacity increased from 250 to 312 GW. The main areas of expansion were wind energy, geothermal energy, solar energy (photovoltaic and concentrated solar power).

A report suggests that renewable generates almost 50 percent of what fossil fuels generate. In 2010, the total investment on renewable energy increased to US $ 211 million. This represents an expansion of 32 percent in comparison to 2009. The information highlighted in this article comes from the Renewables 2011 Global Status Report. The report was announced by REN21 in July.

REN21 is a Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century.

As per figures of 2010, renewable energy represented 16 percent of the total energy consumption and approximately 20 percent of the global energy demand. In other words, renewable-energy sources represent 50 percent of all sources of energy. In the rise of 250 to 312 GW, increase in wind farm capacity ranked first. The expansion was from 159 to 198 GW.

The current ‘green revolution’ target is still being pushed forward. There has been an estimated 119 countries that have joined to support domestic renewable targets UNEP confirmed that this is almost twice the support number in 2009. The heavy investment of 211 billion in renewable energy in 2011 is 30 percent more than 2009 and 500 percent more than 2004 investments in renewable.

Currently, the five largest green power producers, if hydro power is excluded, are:


1. United States 56 GW
2. China 50 GW
3. Germany 49 GW
4. Spain
5. India

In addition, for countries like China who are rapidly increasing in the establishment of new wind farms, and solar plants is also the largest hydro power producers. In 2010, they had 29 GW of energy coming from renewable (excluding hydro).

Source: EV-Wind

Renewable Energy , , , , ,

Other Special DC

Other Special DC - PC&SSpeak with PC&S to find out about some of the Other Special DC projects we have worked on.  We know our resources can help your maximize your resources!

For over 20 years, PC&S has designed products and provided other value-added services to assist in the measurement and control of a variety of DC applications.  This section of our website highlights some of the solutions we have provided customers for their special DC applications.

Our sales engineers are happy to help discuss your project today!  What solutions can we offer you?  Call us…custom products for DC control and measurement are our specialty!

Other Special DC , , , ,

Generator Controllers

Manual and Remote Start Generator Controllers

Click Here to view PC&S’s Generator Controller Webpage…

These comprehensive generator control units are designed to start and stop generating sets both manually and remotely.  Simple to use and front-panel controlled, manual and remote start units provide digitally adjustable timers, threshold levels, input and output configurations, operating sequences and for a variety of engine types.  Password protections provide lockout security.

PC&S offers a complete line of high quality, fully featured and low cost genset equipment.  Choose from a range of manual and remote start units, automatic mains failure units, alarm annunciators, governor controllers, manual synchronization units, automatic voltage regulators, meters and analyzers offering you complete control over your genset applications.

Generator Controllers , , , , ,

Battery Chargers

Feature-Rich Battery Chargers … But Low-Cost!

Click Here to view PC&S’s Battery Chargers Webpage…

Battery Chargers - PC&SA complete offering of battery chargers from PC&S provide manual or fully automatic, heavy duty, current limited charging of vented lead acid or nickel cadmium batteries.

Our switchmode power supply design enables us to provide chargers which are compact and light, with high power efficiency and low heat dissipation. Advanced features allow for safe, optimal charging and long battery life: multi-stage operation, low output ripple, auto boost, automatic temperature compensation and alarm outputs for signalling fault conditions. Several products have UL approval to the UL1236 standard for battery chargers in starting, lighting and ignition (SLI) applications.

Typically used in a wide range of industrial charging applications, such as standby engines, pumps and fire pumps, generators, and cyclic battery charging, PC&S battery chargers are available in ranges through 60A, DC.  We also provide units for NFPA110 and Fire Pump applications.

Battery Chargers , , , ,

Resistors

Resistors – Low Voltage to High Voltage

PC&S offers solutions — not just products –
PC&S strives to offer our customers and partners the best value.

Microelettrica Scientifica

Resistors _PC&SClick Here to view PC&S’s Resistors Webpage…

Short circuits between phase and ground can result in irreversible damage to networks and equipment.  It is of the utmost importance to be able to control and reduce their effects.  Grounding resistors limit the fault current that arises due to phase-neutral short circuits.  Grounding resistors are only one of the many stationary or on-board resistors PC&S can provide for your applications.

Our products range from low-voltage systems (<1kV) to high-voltage (132kV insulation class), as well as from very low fault current values (tens of amps) to very high (>10kA).  Stationary resistors include products for neutral grounding, harmonic filtering and starting/braking/discharging.  Our line of On-board resistors includes products for braking, continuous duty and impulsive duty.

Speak with one of the PC&S contactor and resistor technical engineers to help select the right resistor for your project.

Resistors , , , ,

Contactors

Contactors for Transit and Industrial ApplicationsContactors for Transit and Industrial Applications

Click Here to view PC&S’s Contactors Webpage…

With a traditional design which enables them to withstand the highest current ratings in the harshest working conditions, PC&S contactors allow for a very high degree of customization.  These are FULL LOAD break devices.

PC&S contactors offer an excellent balance between dimensions, performance and strength whether you application demands a small, smart device, is operating on vehicles for electric traction, or providing a high power load connection in a heavy-duty, industrial application from 80A,DC to 8000A,DC. Our contactor specialists will help you configure the right part to work efficiently on your low and high voltage AC or DC circuits in a full range of DC control.

Contactors , , , ,

Cam Switches

PC&S Cam SwitchesMake the ‘Switch’ for Quality at PC&S

Click Here to view PC&S’s Cam Switches Webpage…

High quality, rugged construction is built into every switch that PC&S sells.  Whether your requirement is for a control switch, an instrument switch, ON-OFF switch, Multi-step switch, a changeover switch, a voltage change switch, PC&S has the right switch for you.

Switching angles of 30 degrees, 45 degrees, 60 degrees and 90 degrees with up to 12 switching positions that can be provided. Forced open contacts on the switches fulfill load break requirements up to 690 volts. Our switches feature double break, silver alloy (gold optional) contacts with various ratings and high interrupting capacity for long life and reliable operation.

Switch to PC&S and we are ready to assist you in the application. We have a large library of standard generator switching application programs to choose from to handle your specific parameters. UL and CE listed, too.  Let us show you the difference quality makes!

Cam Switches , , , , , ,