Has anyone bought a Solar generator for a power outage?
 

Does anyone have any experience with a small solar generator? In case we have a power outage, I am looking for something to run the refrigerator, some portable fans, and a few lights. I don't need a whole house generator - just enough to get by for a few days. Thanks.

There is nothing I am aware of that will run a household refrigerator. Without a substantial investment and being portable running 120volts.

Won't have much sunlight during a storm.

I think he is talking for the 3 or 4days after, before power is restored.

You need about 3500 watts minimum to do what you want to do. That's a roof full of solar cells. A 60-cell array puts out about 300 watts and is about 5 by 3 ft. So you need a dozen of those.

Then (assuming the sun shines during the hurricane and the hurricane doesn't remove your roof full of solar cells), you need somewhere to store the energy, to get you through the night. A 100 amp-hour lead-acid deep-cycle battery costs about $300. You'll need 35 of them to run your stuff for an hour, or 280 to get you through the night. I guess you can park your car in the driveway.

It might be simpler to just buy a gas generator. You can get a 10,500 watt generator that runs on gas, propane, or natural gas for about $2500.

By the way, scale up the math to discover why you can't run a country on solar power, either. You'd need a solar array bigger than the entire state of Texas.

I tend to agree with above comments; however, you can go with a smaller generator. Get the EXACT power requirements for the equipment that you need to operate then look at the available generators. If you can go with inverter based these are very quiet. You will need to make arrangements ahead of time for getting the power into the house. I would suggest a suitable outdoor power receptacle with suitable wiring to a location where you could use temporary extension cords.
Now having stated this, if you are in SECO territory, they have been excellent over the last 9 years with outages that I could count on one hand and most only a few minutes. There were extended outages (during IRMA) in the historic area (lots of overhead lines), and I have heard of some possible problems in the Leesburg area.
Bottom line have not seen the need for a generator in our area of The Villages (just south of 466A) SECO territory.

They are going to sell those solar generators at the new Costco being built in the Villages.

Try googling, there were a couple sites that discussed this and gave ideas. Not going to be as cheap as a gas generator but solar might be in the neighborhood of $1,000.

If it were me I would look into a nice, quiet Honda generator.

I think what rainger99 is asking about is Generac power storage system, electric storage - powered by solar, I do not knowing anything about this storage system, have seen ads for it.

Done alot of this. Here are some numbers.
I have the LiFeP04 batteries. 17 will give you 14 kw of storage. That'll run 200 watt fridge for days. That battery bank is $2500. A hybrid inverter to charge and make electric 240v from those batteries is $3500. It'll charge from ac mains for that total of about $6000. No solar yet. So you go into storm with batteries fully charged and run minimal fridge, lights. 1000 watts for 14 hours is the math.

As usual it's disappointing reading all the inaccurate responses.

You can meet all your needs, which you described as a fridge and a few lights, with a 1,000 watt generator.

How do I know? I did it for five days.

Your fridge draws about 140 watts (yes it is that efficient) with a peak draw of nearly 500 at start up (it runs 50 -60% of the time), a fan draws 30 -120, your router 30, the TV is around 100 or less. As you can see gasoline 1,000 watt generator will serve you well. You will be comfortable and if you have a tankless water heater you'll be able to have hot showers as those only use 60 watts for the electronics.

Now, can you do it with solar? Yes but you won't like it. Let's say your average draw is 300 watts per hour. 300 watts x 24 hours x 3 days = 21,600 watt hours.

At retail on Amazon with solar panels, a solar generator is $1.00 per watt hour.

Back to the small generator, will you be able to have enough gas on hand? Yes, easily. The Honda eu1000 uses .6 gallons every 6.8 hours. If you know a storm is coming top off your cart and fill a five gallon gas can. If there is no power outage use the gas in your car. Simple.

You're honestly better off getting a portable generator like the Honda EU2200 (around $1200) or even a cheaper competitor's model. You can run your fridge and most of your appliances/TV for days on a very small amount of gas. I had a power outage way up north and ran everything I needed like TV, lights and fridge for several days including a 1500w heater with mine (outage was in the middle of winter with below freezing temps).

I would go a different way, I would invest in the battery pack with enough storage to do what you want and then double it.

Then how you fill the battery pack is up to you, purchase power from SECO, use a small solar panel to charge it over a period of months? A bigger panel to change it over weeks, whatever make the most cost sense to you.

If your real concern is the food in the fridge, then I would suggest a chest freezer instead. Keep it cold, and if power goes out and is going to stay out a while, move everything to the freezer and don't open it any more than absolutely required. A new good chest freezer will last 48 hours if it isn't opened. The fridge will last 4 to 6 hours if it isn't opened.

Just buy ford lightning……:)

Solar Generators
 

Take a look here:
Go Anywhere with Portable Power - Lion Energy

I have a setup like that up north. 8 six volt batteries that were around $250 each, then you still have to factor in the solar panels, charge controller and invertor. I don't see a setup like this making any sense in TV. Buying a cheap generator, or just tossing your wasted food each time would still be much more cost effective.

Costco?
 

I've seen a Villages Costco mentioned on a couple threads this morning. Is this sarcasm or wishfull thinking, or has an announcement been made about a new Costco?

Sell your gas car and buy a Hyundai Ioniq 5 Electric Car. Next, buy Hyundai's V2L connector/adapter. Next, buy a 220v car charger and install it in your garage. Now, simply keep your car charged at home and stop buying gas. This will add about $30/month to your electric bill and eliminate your need to buy gas. Next, during a power outage, unplug the car charger from the car. Next, plug the V2L adapter into the car's charger port. This provides you with a 110v power outlet which is powered by your car's large battery. This will run your refrigerator for many many days, plus a few lights and a fan. The car has a driving range of around 311 miles on a charge. The car is around 45k. Order one from Jenkins Hyundai in Leesburg and it will be available in around 2 weeks.

Two observations
 

1. Up north we used a portable generator to power most of house during power outages (wouldn't handle air conditioning but gas furnace OK). Building code made automatic natural gas backup generator impossible. Installed a manual transfer switch so just plugged generator into side of house when needed - no extension cords. Used propane generator so no gasoline storage problems.

2. Upon moving to The Villages, we installed an automatic natural gas backup generator, which is what I always wanted up north. Dumb purchase. Realized since then that it's very unlikely that we will ever lose power in this part of The Villages. I also always wanted a home elevator but one story house . . .

It’s sarcasm.

Now that sounds, repeat sounds, interesting. Would love to hear some feedback from others about this novel idea. If this would work it might be another marketing idea for Jenkins

I have a setup for my wine cabinets. I currently have 3 portable solar generators with a portable solar array for each.

The Bluetti AC200Max w/ 3 200watt solar panels
The new Jackery 2000 w/2 200 watt panels
and an older Jackery 800 w/2 100 watt Panels.

EcoFlow is another good brand.

They are not cheap.

For a refrigerator, I would get an Iceco electric cooler (I have the V42) which will only draw 55 watts compared to the 150-200 watts of a home refrigerator. They can maintain any temperature you want from freezer to wine storage (50*). The bigger ones have dual storage.

The reality is that it will cost you a lot more to power your refrigerator than the value of the food inside of it, unless you have all Waygu beef. ; )

Try a small dual fuel generator that runs on gas or propane.

Gas Generator
 

We lost power during Irma for about 20 hours. We have an inexpensive portable 3500 Champion gas generator that served us well. It ran the refrigerator, coffee pot, table lamp, & charged cell phones. We only used 5 gallons of gas. We did not run it non-stop for the whole 20 hours. Only enough to keep refrig/freezer at required temp. When we bought the generator we also purchased a special heavy duty extension cord to plug into the generator with three prongs coming off of it. You can then plug 3 of your regular extension cords into this special item.

You need a gas generator.

Go to Harbor Freight and buy a Predator generator. Just as quiet as Honda and about 1/2 the price. Very highly rated. You can even convert them to propane.

I'm new to TV, but how often is power lost around here? Coming from an all-electric home North of Dallas, Tx, we managed pretty well over 25 years with only a couple major outages.

What VillageTinker said is all true.....we live between 466 and 466a....during Irma we never lost power. I can maybe remember one time we lost power for a short period of time due to someone hitting a transformer. Seco is good about getting things working quickly. Oh...we've lived here nearly 13 years. The historic side had several issues during Irma....there was flooding, power was out and folks had to go elsewhere. IF you're new to FL and all it's weather I understand the concerns. Unless you have severe health issues I wouldn't put money into a generator that you might never use.

I am more concerned about the possibility of blackouts due to power grid issues than storm related outages. With Biden's green mandate, coal and nuclear power plants are shutting down and there will not be enough power supply when there is peak demand. Also, we may again see interruption of the grid due to cyber hackers. I agree that solar powered inverters appear to be a nice solution but they are impractical at this time. I have a large propane tank for my pool, so I am installing a duel fuel portable Weatinghouse 9500W generator that runs on gas or propane. This will be connected to my main with a lockout switch.

Big problem with the first four words of the above post. How would we drive back and fourth between our two homes that are almost 1,400 miles apart? Better solution would be to simply buy a small gas generator.

Two brands to check out
1. Ecoflow Delta Flow
2. Blueetti AC200max

solar generator
 

I saw one advertised a few days ago: Patriate Solar Generator 1800. Don't know anything about what i was looking at, but it seemed interesting. Check it out and let me know what you think.

I would only want a propane fueled generator, and would never run gasoline in it. Propane does not spoil over time. Sure, you can put stabil in gasoline, but it will go bad eventually. Propane also stores much easier.

This was very informative. Are there any safety problems with the battery units? How long does it take to charge with the 200 watt panels?

Seems strange that the state of Florida allows buried propane tanks.
Just seems it would be a real mess if there's a leak to contaminate the ground from rusted metal over time. :shrug:

The Lion Energy Safari ME holds slightly more energy (922 Wh) than a car battery, and all for a mere $2350. Brilliant!

The Jackery units are Lithium Ion, so come with normal Lithium Ion safety issues (i.e. potential fire hazard if shorted out). I've never had a problem with my phone/iPad/laptop, etc., so I am not concerned. Just pay attention.

The Bluetti is a Lithium Phosphate chemistry which is safer but makes the unit heavier but also increases the useable charge cycles significantly.

Charge times are tricky. Bluetti gives a charge time of 3 - 3.5 hours for 900W of solar input. My 3 panels are rated at 600W, so I would guess 6+ hours with good light conditions. The unit does let you charge while in use which is nice.

The Jackery will be similar but does allow for up to 1200W solar input if you want. I can currently only provide 600W. So again 6+ hours in good light.

The main knock against the Jackery is the proprietary solar panel connections, which makes it more difficult to use third party panels. The Jackery is more plug and play though.

Far from an expert. I was thinking about a small generator capable of running our refrigerator. It is capacitor starting so you need a generator considerably larger than the running watts. Most newer refrigerators are electronically controlled. May not work well with a generator.

Solar, obviously for use at night and for stable supply you need batteries. Batteries store DC so you need to convert it to AC. Both batteries and converting to AC have improved dramatically. I just saw an ad on TV for a Generac system. Of course it is an ad. The system looks like it is designed to fit in your garage with the collectors of course on your roof. Is it worth it?
The answer to that changes if your power is out. Gasoline does not store well.
During a hurricane you may be locked in your home unable to buy gasoline.
We do not have gas, so no stove. People with gas barbeques. There are lights like the coleman that will run off those tanks. We were not in Florida, famous for hurricanes. Hurricane Sandy wiped out our power for 4-5 days. Truly an adventure. Better than it would be here, we had a gas stove. I have a bunch of Colman lanterns. You can read by them.
Might be wise to buy one or two NOW and be sure to buy extra mantles. Like generators before or after a hurricane the will be impossible to find

You may be right. I looked at a generator. Frankly it was listed on the internet. It was unbelievably inexpensive. First of all the company never shipped it. I did get my money back. My research showed we would need 2000 plus watts to run just our refrigerator. If, I recall our refrigerator draws 600 watt start up. A sure to occur problem. I hear you have a generator. Could I borrow it and run my refrigerator? And so on through the villages.

There are always alternatives. I have a friend who bought 180 acres in the woods of North Carolina. Last I heard they were building a waterwheel to generate electricity.