You joke, but I remember a reddit thread where some guy got neck deep in oil futures and was asking questions about being forced to take physical delivery of tankers of oil. It was hilarious.
Generator Question
- Thread starter spierceisu
- Start date
You want mobile power? Here is mobile power . . . . or a mobile meth lab, your choice.
Hey no joke- couple guys I work with, one trades corn on the side (grew up on a farm, used to be a professional trader). He talked other guy into buying a future contract, who then forgot all about it for most of a year.
Three days before the contract date, he got a call from the brokerage asking "do you REALLY want 2000 bu of corn dropped in your driveway, or do you want to sell this contract?" Luckily, he was on the right side of it and made a little money, but he almost ended up with the actual corn.
Look at your electric bill to see what your average use is. For a whole house, I would think $10,000 plus easy. The ones that are portable, that you can pull around on wheels will work, but for certain things at a time. Find a place that does generators not Lowe’s or somebody like that. The small ones work fine, just not doing the whole house like you do normally.
How's the noise? My dad has a medium sized Honda and it's super quiet.
Sometimes in the Tailgate lots people put their cheap generators near me due to the noise . . .
It's actually pretty quiet, not as quiet as the onan diesel on the race hauler but a lot quieter than those ones used on construction sites.
I am curious about this too. BatteriesPlus sells portable battery banks that operate the same as gas inverters. I would be really interested in one due to ease of use, but will they last?
Look at your electric bill to see what your average use is. For a whole house, I would think $10,000 plus easy. The ones that are portable, that you can pull around on wheels will work, but for certain things at a time. Find a place that does
Have a 6500W Generac we purchased in the 2000 derachio. Ran extension cords to the fridges and freezers. Since then put an outlet outside and throw switch in the electrical panel along with a meter to monitor the power draw off the generator. Throw individual breakers for what I want on and can run most of the house. Always keep and rotate 10 -15 gallons gas. Downside is that sucker is loud.
I have a 6500w running 8000w peak Generac Homeline portable generator with a panel interlock kit. It can run everything in my house except for the AC which we can live without. To me, being able to heat the house in the winter with the generator was equally as important. Luckily a NG furnace doesn't use very much power.
If anyone is getting a portable generator for home backup, make sure it is an inverter or low THD (clean power) or you can get "dirty" power and cause problems with the chips/boards in equipment equipment. Some of the cheaper Chinese generators aren't low THD.
If anyone is getting a portable generator for home backup, make sure it is an inverter or low THD (clean power) or you can get "dirty" power and cause problems with the chips/boards in equipment equipment. Some of the cheaper Chinese generators aren't low THD.
I got pretty into "solar" generators building out a camper van. The main thing to know is that you absolutely only want one with LiFePO4 battery cells because they last way longer and have no risk of catching on fire (unlike lithium ion batteries). The next thing to know is that if you don't have solar or a wall outlet to charge it, then it's not going to run a house very long. I put 460 watts of solar panels on my van roof and can run a tailgate all day (a couple crockpots, a tv, and a mini fridge) if it's sunny. However, if you try to do anything heating or cooling you're going to blow through power immediately. Even leaving a tv on for 5 hours might kill a 1kwh battery.
The two best brands are Ecoflow and Anker.
I have the ecoflow delta 2, and highly recommend it because:
- It can run anything that a regular 15amp wall socket can run
- Has really fast recharge rates
- is way cheaper than the comparable Anker ones
- Is light enough to carry around and be portable
- Refurbished on ebay probably means somebody returned it after using it once, and mine looked to be factory fresh
EcoFlow DELTA 2 Portable Power Station 1024Wh Certified Refurbished, LiFePO4 | eBay
The solar to XT60 charging cable is included in EcoFlow portable solar panels. Support one DELTA 2 extra battery or DELTA Max extra battery. Specs of DELTA 2. LFP (LiFePO4 battery). Max Device(s) Power (with X-Boost).www.ebay.com
I wouldn't bother getting a bigger one unless you're going to permanently install solar panels somewhere. And if you're permanently mounting a good amount of panels on your roof then don't get a "solar generator" because they're way overpriced at the higher battery storage amounts. Actually, if you're trying to backup a house in general, get something like this EG4 battery and "All in one" inverter/charger for ~$5k.
EG4-WallMount Indoor Battery 280AH | 51.2V | 14.3kWh & EG4 6000XP Off-Grid Inverter Bundle 8000W PV Input | 6000W Output | All-In-One Solar Inverter [BNDL-E0009]
Signature Solar provides solar panels, off-grid solar systems, grid-tie, and hybrid systems. Quality solar inverters, bifacial solar panels, complete solar kits, solar batteries. Featuring brands such as EG4 Electronics with their solar battery, LifePower4 and EG4 LLifePower4 and EG4 LL
signaturesolar.com
All I want is something that can power my refrigerator, my deep freezer but not necessarily at the same time, sump, and some random small things like cell charger and hot plate if needed. I really like the idea of a battery because: 1) I can store it in my home and don't have to take it outside to use it, 2) easy enough for my wife to use (not a sexist comment, she is not mechanically inclined), and 3) I don't have to store fuel (If I did get a gas powered generator I would purchase a dual fuel and use propane).I got pretty into "solar" generators building out a camper van. The main thing to know is that you absolutely only want one with LiFePO4 battery cells because they last way longer and have no risk of catching on fire (unlike lithium ion batteries). The next thing to know is that if you don't have solar or a wall outlet to charge it, then it's not going to run a house very long. I put 460 watts of solar panels on my van roof and can run a tailgate all day (a couple crockpots, a tv, and a mini fridge) if it's sunny. However, if you try to do anything heating or cooling you're going to blow through power immediately. Even leaving a tv on for 5 hours might kill a 1kwh battery.
The two best brands are Ecoflow and Anker.
I have the ecoflow delta 2, and highly recommend it because:
- It can run anything that a regular 15amp wall socket can run
- Has really fast recharge rates
- is way cheaper than the comparable Anker ones
- Is light enough to carry around and be portable
- Refurbished on ebay probably means somebody returned it after using it once, and mine looked to be factory fresh
EcoFlow DELTA 2 Portable Power Station 1024Wh Certified Refurbished, LiFePO4 | eBay
The solar to XT60 charging cable is included in EcoFlow portable solar panels. Support one DELTA 2 extra battery or DELTA Max extra battery. Specs of DELTA 2. LFP (LiFePO4 battery). Max Device(s) Power (with X-Boost).www.ebay.com
I wouldn't bother getting a bigger one unless you're going to permanently install solar panels somewhere. And if you're permanently mounting a good amount of panels on your roof then don't get a "solar generator" because they're way overpriced at the higher battery storage amounts. Actually, if you're trying to backup a house in general, get something like this EG4 battery and "All in one" inverter/charger for ~$5k.
EG4-WallMount Indoor Battery 280AH | 51.2V | 14.3kWh & EG4 6000XP Off-Grid Inverter Bundle 8000W PV Input | 6000W Output | All-In-One Solar Inverter [BNDL-E0009]
Signature Solar provides solar panels, off-grid solar systems, grid-tie, and hybrid systems. Quality solar inverters, bifacial solar panels, complete solar kits, solar batteries. Featuring brands such as EG4 Electronics with their solar battery, LifePower4 and EG4 LLifePower4 and EG4 LL
I see on BatteriesPlus they are selling one that will do what I want but is $1500. Damn that is steep. What you shared seems like the better option, thank you.
Yeah with solar generators you're paying a whole lot for convenience. I really like that there's no maintenance, no fumes, they're quiet, and I can use them anywhere I just want a temporary outlet.
But if I'm being honest they're not very practical for extended grid down situations (unless you actually set up solar panels), and the one I linked will probably not last a full day with your suggested use case. I actually have a "gas generator" built into my Prius, and I'd use the car to recharge the solar generator battery in extended grid down scenarios.
edit:
You might also qualify for a 30% rebate on any solar system with a battery storage amount above 3kwh, but refurbished units do not count for that, and the ebay link in my last comment is only 1kwh.
We got a generac 9kw standby unit about 4 years ago. Our thinking is that if the power goes out, we're ok with the AC and Dryer not working. 9kw was plenty big enough to run our sump pump, refrigerators, lights and outlets, etc. It wasn't worth the cost to jump up to the 24kw (or bigger) to be truly whole house.
It doesn't matter anyway, since we got it the power hasn't gone out a single time.
It doesn't matter anyway, since we got it the power hasn't gone out a single time.
We thank you for your sacrifice. I'm the one that bought a snow blower and got us all an early spring a couple years back...
When I used the generator for our house the first time, I found out when the contractor finished our basement they tapped into random things. I
Threw on the water heater and my wife’s elliptical downstairs beeped that it was powered up. The furnace turned on the basement TV. It was a mess.
Threw on the water heater and my wife’s elliptical downstairs beeped that it was powered up. The furnace turned on the basement TV. It was a mess.
