Solar Generators

[EmmaLee]

Wondering if any of you have experience with solar generators? If so, which ones do you recommend - and also, are there any you would NOT recommend? Any advice and suggestions related to solar?

We have a gas-powered generator, which has come in handy many times, as we lose power here fairly often due to high winds, ice/snow storms, etc. and sometimes, for no discernable reason at all. It is very noisy though, and stinky, lol - plus, it's older, and we'd definitely like a back-up plan and also a generator that is quiet. The main items we want electricity for are our fridge and freezers, and also heat in the winter. So we're not looking at whole-house use at this point. One day soon though, we'd like to move to the country and go off-grid, which is our goal.

Thanks for any recommendations and info!

[Original_Intent]

I have been researching this. I don't have any brand recommendations, but the best options FOR ME fall in to two categories and prices.

1) portable units that you wouldn't want to run your entire house on, but produce enough that you could run a few critical appliances - like a freezer and a CPAP machine or other medical device. Advantages are portability and price which is in the $2500 neighborhood.

2) I don't want a full "power the entire house option" but a more permanent and larger installation that could run more critical appliances over the long term seems desirable.I haven't gotten deep into it yet but it looks like $8K upwards and you install. Pricey.

[EmmaLee]

I have been researching this. I don't have any brand recommendations, but the best options FOR ME fall in to two categories and prices.

1) portable units that you wouldn't want to run your entire house on, but produce enough that you could run a few critical appliances - like a freezer and a CPAP machine or other medical device. Advantages are portability and price which is in the $2500 neighborhood.

2) I don't want a full "power the entire house option" but a more permanent and larger installation that could run more critical appliances over the long term seems desirable.I haven't gotten deep into it yet but it looks like $8K upwards and you install. Pricey.

Thanks for your input, OI; I appreciate it. We're looking at more the #1 option for now. The one we're leaning toward is a Bluetti - rated very highly, covers all our bases. Not 5 minutes ago, I heard back from good friends of ours who are very well versed in all things preparedness (they walk the talk, big-time) - and that was the one they recommended, too! So we'll do a little more research, but that's what we're heavily leaning toward.

[Sunain]

For those in the Utah/Idaho area, Lion Energy has a system. The one thing you want to look for when searching for solar systems is the battery. You want lithium iron phosphate or LiFePO4, as they don't off gas, you don't have to worry about maintenance, like filling it up every 6 months, overcharging/undercharging. The 8kw standard one could power most your major appliances and it has the ability to upgrade to whole house down the road if you wanted to.

https://lionenergy.com/pages/sanctuary

The Telsa Powerwall is also another decent one but you are paying a premium.

[David13]

I was looking at the EcoFlow Delta 1800 w package. $1,695 includes solar panels.

It looks like the EcoFlow will recharge faster.

I've been here 4 years and the power has not been out much at all.

That could change, but then if you get into long term outages, little stuff like those will not be that helpful.

The whole house unit, which my neighbors have would be. But for long term you also need to look at fuel supply, etc.

And if you get into that, you need the full auto set up.

But, if power is out for say 10 hours, you really don't need to do anything.
dc

[BeNotDeceived]

Me installed a 1500 watt DC to AC converter in me truck, and think it will run me water pump, or one appliance at a time.

[MMbelieve]

I am researching this as well. I came across Bluetti brand and it seems pretty neat.

[Juliet]

I recommend building your own. You get one of those large metal garden carts to hold 4 150 amp AMG batteries, then you add your charge controller and an inverter and walla....5000 watt system. Actually, you can only use about 2500 watts or less between charging.

Then its up to you how many solar panels you want. You could get anywhere between 5 and 17. I have 5 and I figure I can get about 30 minutes of 800 watts a day, but I haven't tested it all the way yet, I have just run small things off of it. I mainly want something that can run an Instapot and cook my rice for me or a 100 watt fan on a hot day. If I had more solar panels, I could run up to the 2500 watts a day.

I did have an amazon list that had all the things you need to buy. Have a fun weekend wiring it together. If you don't understand how to wire it, the pamphlet that comes with the inverter has a great diagram.

If you get 5 solar panels you are looking at a total of $2,400 for everything including the cart to lug it all around which is about $100. Hey, that's about a dollar per watt!

I recommend the bbq cover as a water proof shielding.

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1 ... _=wl_share

you inspired me to put a blog post on it, will need to put up pics too. If I can do it, anyone can. https://www.jbucker.com/current-events/solar-generator

[Sunain]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ec ... -delta-pro

Looks like a pretty neat system!

[Lexew1899]

I am planning on adding an entire solar system to my home when I move, which is in a couple weeks. Building your own system is possible, but depends on a lot of factors, climate, energy needs, if you get freezes, etc. The biggest cost is a good quality battery. Other costs are inverters, charge controllers, wires, overload protection, etc.

If you plan on actually trying to run an AC then the size of your system will need to be pretty large. If you just need a few basic lights and low energy coolers, the system can be pretty small.

I think Fred mentioned he has something to do with solar systems.

[Fred]

Me installed a 1500 watt DC to AC converter in me truck, and think it will run me water pump, or one appliance at a time.

Well, if your truck uses a gallon of gas per hour (estimate), then you are paying $4 for an hours worth of electricity.
Take your hundred dollar inverter and power it with a pair of 6 volt deep cycle batteries which will cost $150 each retail, and connect them in series for a 12 volt system. Now you have FREE electricity till the batteries go dead. Buy a solar panel to charge the batteries and you have free electricity until Christ comes. Longer, actually. If you want more power, just add more batteries. If they go dead before tomorrow, just add a solar panel or more until they are always charged. When you have done this, you can run a welder, compressor, air conditioner, lights, computers, super stereo system, and whatever else, forever. For free. Upgrade your little 1500 watt inverter to a 5000 one and you can run pretty much anything.

[BeNotDeceived]

Me installed a 1500 watt DC to AC converter in me truck, and think it will run me water pump, or one appliance at a time.

Well, if your truck uses a gallon of gas per hour (estimate), then you are paying $4 for an hours worth of electricity.
Take your hundred dollar inverter and power it with a pair of 6 volt deep cycle batteries which will cost $150 each retail, and connect them in series for a 12 volt system. Now you have FREE electricity till the batteries go dead. Buy a solar panel to charge the batteries and you have free electricity until Christ comes. Longer, actually. If you want more power, just add more batteries. If they go dead before tomorrow, just add a solar panel or more until they are always charged. When you have done this, you can run a welder, compressor, air conditioner, lights, computers, super stereo system, and whatever else, forever. For free. Upgrade your little 1500 watt inverter to a 5000 one and you can run pretty much anything.

I haven’t seen any solar panels in Alaska, so that’s probably not an option I tried low sulfur kerosene in an oil lamp, but wasn’t ideal. Tomorrow I’ll get some lamp oil and a CO Detector that shows PPM. I have a wind generator to experiment with too, but prolly not ‘till summer. My little propane heater is good, but I just use spendy little cylinders for now. I found butane cylinders for my little stove that I brought from Saipan at REI. It works for cooking, heating and a little bit of light.