View Full Version : What do you guys do for power backup?
MarshallDodge
03-04-09, 22:26
I have a generator and decent supply of fuel for it but I am starting to think about alternatives such as solar, wind, etc.
What are your thoughts and experiences?
Seth Harness
03-04-09, 22:56
I have a generator and decent supply of fuel for it but I am starting to think about alternatives such as solar, wind, etc.
What are your thoughts and experiences?
I to have a "jenni" 5500watt. Would love to do something with wind if I could afford it...
Problem with a generator is in a bad situation they are nosey and you will have to have someone guarding the sucker as "they will come".
Rule #1 = Never have a generator running at night if you can avoid it. If you crank it, believe me, they will come. (Katrina taught me this)
Rule #2 = Only run it if/when you have to, to keep the fridge/freezer cold (couple of hours per day is more than enough). Don't worry about lights, fans or A/C, we did just fine before all that, so we'll manage to survive. Rechargeable Batteries are great too. ( This coming from someone in southeast, LA)
I have this quiet little Yamaha genny.
http://www.yamaha-motor.com/outdoor/products/modelhome/444/0/home.aspx
I am hoping Nanosolar will start offering consumer thin film solar panels soon.
They should be very cost effective.
http://www.nanosolar.com
Ghostface03
03-05-09, 13:24
My fiancee's parents have been telling us to get a generator like they have. Might have to look into it when my ar list gets taken care of.
Seth Harness
03-05-09, 13:57
I just recently did some work for a couple who made the investment in an automatic back up, that runs on nat. gas. When it sences the powers out, it starts on its own. It runs tests on itself once a week, uber cool. I think it was something like 30,000 watts/30KW, I dont really remember. It was bad-as though, the entire cost was well under $10,000.
A small homebrew genny. Problems with it are fuel storage limitations, and I still need an inverter or more big batteries to charge with it.
K.L. Davis
03-06-09, 13:53
I have the following wired together as an "emergency" circuit...
Fridge
2 Kitchen counter plug ins
master Bedroom ceiling fan
2 Bedroom wall plug ins
Window AC in Master Bedroom
1 Master Bath counter plug in
LED lights in the Kitchen, Bedroom and Master Bath
All of these are hooked to a dedicated breaker box, which can be fed via city power, my gennie or a pig-tail.
I've got a regular portable generator and 2, 15watt panels hooked to 2 car batteries. I've got a 750w/1500w surge inverter. It will run some small stuff for some time. I'd like to go larger with more watts on panels and inverter.
What is good is I can keep my secuity system up at night.
Northerntools had the 15 watt panels on sale at one time for $75 ea.
For me and the small watt panels I would suggest a few diffrent inverters. Large as you can afford a med and a small. I like to almost match my load. The inverter uses less battery on the small one if it can power it.
Boss302(NICE), can you elaborate about "they will come" please? I realize the genny noise will attract some unwanted attention.
I have a Honda EU2000 and a Coleman 5000 watt generator. I have a switch panel that I can switch from the line power to the genny power. It is wired to run our refrigerators, furnace, lights in the kitchen, microwave, outlet in the kitchen, smoke detectors and the well.
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p97/Cummins600/DCP_1084.jpg
I too would love to have a solar power system though. A hundpump for the well and or a small solar system to run the well and refrigerators and I'd be satisfied.
The battery back up systems have improved much over the last few years. They would go good with any solar system you were considering
The battery back up systems have improved much over the last few years. They would go good with any solar system you were considering
What would you suggest?
bigshooter
03-14-09, 00:25
Rule #1 = Never have a generator running at night if you can avoid it. If you crank it, believe me, they will come. (Katrina taught me this)
care to expound?.
I have a 220 receptacle (30a) in my garage that I use to backfeed the whole house with a 6300w portable. The most important thing to remember is open the incoming main breaker, in my case a 200a service breaker to ensure you don't put power back out onto the poles and kill a line worker.
I can run almost everything in my house, I do have to shed loads to run my electric hot water tank or electric stove. It is truly amazing how much power a toaster oven draws.
As far as the running at night issue, marine supply and RV stores have exhaust/muffler setups that you can use to run the generator inside a garage or shed and exhaust outside safely to minimize the noise and attention it brings.
Nathan_Bell
03-14-09, 12:48
Multiple options.
All are loud and diesel. Need to get my noise shelter in this summer if $$ and time permit.
Boss302(NICE), can you elaborate about "they will come" please? I realize the genny noise will attract some unwanted attention.
care to expound?.
I live in Jefferson parish and received about 20" of water. After the first couple of days when Broussard finally brought the pump operators back (that's a story for another day) the wate went right down. I immediately cranked up my genny to salvage what I could out of the ice chests and get the items back into my remaing fridge and deep freeze. The first night, I made the mistake of leaving the genny running, and let's just say that was a long night. After the first couple of knocks on the door we turned it off, but every couple of minutes we would see someone try and hop our fence. We had a couple of windows broken out, and one guy tried to kick down our side door...until I stuck the business end of a 12ga in his face.
My point is, most of the high RPM genny's are loud and can/will attract some unwanted attention. Just be aware of that is all I'm saying.
Let's just say that the experiences I went through during Katrina were a real eye opener.
Those little Honda (EU series) and Yamaha (forget the model, blue colored) generators are on the quiet side - have used them on camping trips in the past. As long as you have fuel, you're set - in eco mode they are very quiet compared to your typical/older generators...
Aray has the right idea about housing it in a shed or other "muffling" device to keep it quiet at night (if you must run one at night, that is). I'd also keep it (running a genny) very limited at night, if at all.
If one could afford it I think that the way to go is off of battery back up. Have multiple charging methods. In town both solar and generator, and if in the country add to those two a wind generator of some kind. All of this would help minimize the run time of a a noisy generator. Differing types of generators might also be handy , so you could have the ability to burn different types of fuel,just in case one becomes harder to come by that another. All of this of course would be VERY pricey, but I think that it would work out the best
bigshooter
03-14-09, 15:17
After the first couple of knocks on the door we turned it off, but every couple of minutes we would see someone try and hop our fence. We had a couple of windows broken out, and one guy tried to kick down our side door...until I stuck the business end of a 12ga in his face.
that's crazy.
I spend quite a bit of time reading through various survival forums and the general idea is that noise = problems in a SHTF situation, but this is the first time I have personally read or heard about it actually happening. definate reality check.
you guys that had to deal with Katrina should start a thread DPP associated thread.
bigshooter
03-14-09, 15:42
to the original question.
I have lived in an apt. for the last 6 years while my wife has gone to school, started to get into prepping about 16 months ago. since then we have moved to the heart (8 blocks from dead center downtown) of the largest city in MN, Minneapolis.
solar and Batt. is way out of my league financially and even if it wasn't my apt is 650sqft.
I have a honda eu2000i with an extended run 3 gallon tank that I made. on four gallons I think it could run for nearly two days straight, if needed.
my "plan" is to place it on the roof and run a cord down to my top floor apt. there is only one access to the roof. after I take my bolt cutters to the padlock and replace it with my own it will be fairly secure. hopefully being three stories up will cut what little noise the honda puts out.
after hearing Boss302's story I am convinced my $30,000 solar array would become a target after I denied access to the sheep.
great way to become on some level energy independant, especially if your in a rural setting, but urban, sub-urban in a real lasting SHTF I see it as a liability.
one 5000 watt genset or two eu2000i's can be thrown in the back of the BOV and get gone alot easier than $30,00 in solar equipment.
to the original question.
I have lived in an apt. for the last 6 years while my wife has gone to school, started to get into prepping about 16 months ago. since then we have moved to the heart (8 blocks from dead center downtown) of the largest city in MN, Minneapolis.
solar and Batt. is way out of my league financially and even if it wasn't my apt is 650sqft.
I have a honda eu2000i with an extended run 3 gallon tank that I made. on four gallons I think it could run for nearly two days straight, if needed.
my "plan" is to place it on the roof and run a cord down to my top floor apt. there is only one access to the roof. after I take my bolt cutters to the padlock and replace it with my own it will be fairly secure. hopefully being three stories up will cut what little noise the honda puts out.
after hearing Boss302's story I am convinced my $30,000 solar array would become a target after I denied access to the sheep.
great way to become on some level energy independant, especially if your in a rural setting, but urban, sub-urban in a real lasting SHTF I see it as a liability.
one 5000 watt genset or two eu2000i's can be thrown in the back of the BOV and get gone alot easier than $30,00 in solar equipment.
Heck, where you are at the solar panels would be covered by snow 11 months of the year;).Just kidding, I used to live only an hour or so away from there
bigshooter
03-14-09, 19:33
Heck, where you are at the solar panels would be covered by snow 11 months of the year.Just kidding
that's no joke, 6 months of winter really is getting to me. it was 5 degrees wednsday morning:mad:
BigJim #1-8
03-14-09, 20:55
I'm considering a propane powered whole house backup.Kohler 17kv seems to be the ticket.
Anyone have experience with these systems??
After a number of hurricanes a fews years back that came through central florida,I installed a 15KW Guardian generator that runs on Natural gas. Haven't had to use it yet.
I'm working on a low RPM Diesel setup. 15kw is enough to run my house, so i'm looking at a 20kw unit. The low rpm setups are quiet....and will be even more so in the building i'm putting together for it.
The thing about solar/wind power is if it comes to long term SHTF as in war or something solar or wind power is alot more vunerable than generators although generators aren't as reliable.
MarshallDodge
04-12-09, 02:34
The thing about solar/wind power is if it comes to long term SHTF as in war or something solar or wind power is alot more vunerable than generators although generators aren't as reliable.
I am not sure why solar or wind would be any more vulnerable than a generator. I would think that fuel for your genny would be hard to come by in a time of war. :confused:
If you are talking about a war in which a battle ensues in my front yard then I am going to have some serious issues, so serious that I won't care about where my power comes from. Except for being built from brick, my house is not necessarily battle hardened. :eek:
In my research so far, it seems that I need to calculate the batteries based on a 20% discharge. Discharging any lead acid battery more than 20% significantly reduces it's life. One site said that you can expect 7-10 years of use from batteries if you take care of them this way.
I am looking into a great big forklift battery. :cool:
I was thinking more along the lines of a bunker where the generator would be protected inside
The good news is that I don't think I will need backup power for 99.5% of the time. Living in subberbia does have benefits.
The bad news is I am not preped for the .5% of the time when I really need it.
i have a noisy gennie and have been kicking around making a muffler box for it. i have one of those steel JobSite workboxes and am thinking of mounting it inside with some fireproof sound deadening material and a air intake/exhaust system to keep the heat down. i'd run a pipe/muffler up through the roof of the garage and have the fuel tank sitting outside the box.
i also have a nice wired house system with the throw switch to cut main power and the big plug in the detached garage, wires are underground running into the basement to a secondary switch box with power draw gauges and switches to move power around the house, fridge, furnace, etc.
these JobSite boxes are really hard to get into when locked and i could bolt it to the floor in the garage. worst someone could do would be take the fuel perhaps.
anyone build something like this?
vBulletin® v3.7.2, Copyright ©2000-2013, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.