[Topspinmo]

IMO unless I had medical problems where The equipment needs power it’s waste of money. 90% of the time power not off for more than couple hours.

[jrref]

Hows about running off your golf cart lol!

[villagetinker]

Everyone, you are missing the point, to get 2000 watts or more out of an inverter, you need a really BIG battery with a lot of capacity, automotive batteries will not work. There are very nice 2000 watt INVERTER based home generators that are quiet, designed to provide this power level and run on gasoline, this is what you need.
Also, NO you cannot take a 12 volt inverter and run it off 48 volts, unless it is designed for that voltage range.

[keepsake]

A car alternator is good for 50 amps. Pull car out of garage of course. 50 amps at 12v is 600 watts. You decide what that'll run, and not run. Fridge/freezers, a few lights, chargers for phones, one TV. No a/c or heat or water heater. No well. No oven or stove.
Have at it.

[keepsake]

Hmm. Golf cart battery can be a storage options, if you keep fully charged. Tell us what you have ? 36v or 48v

[MandoMan]

Originally Posted by Uphillputt330

Interested in hearing from anyone who has installed a house, or partial house, battery as a electricity backup.

I don’t think I’m interested in solar panels (pay off is too long even with incentives). Had a gas powered Generac generator up north that ran off natural gas and kicked in automatically when power went off — but don’t have access to natural gas in our village and don’t want to go the propane route.

I understand that power doesn’t go out very often here but I store some important medicine in our refrigerator and need to protect.

Was thinking that the batteries (Tesla, Panasonic, Enpulse, Generac) that store power from solar might be the answer. Would need to charge from our electric line instead of solar panels. Anyone have any experience with this sort of backup? If so, any input regarding cost, installation, etc would be welcomed. Thanks

Buy two or three styrofoam coolers sized so one fits inside the other. Buy some of those gel packs you can keep in your refrigerator and use for camping. If the electricity goes out, put the gel packs in the smallest cooler and put the meds on a small towel on top and close up the coolers. If you keep them closed except for a few seconds at a time to take out the meds, your meds will stay cool for a week, probably. This might cost you $50 total. My next door neighbor gets a weekly shipment of food from some company. It comes in a styrofoam cooler with frozen gel packs inside and gets shipped to him from far away. The sizes vary. He just throws away these coolers every week. Find someone who does that and you can do this project for free. This is much easier and cheaper than buying an extra refrigerator and batteries and a generator.

[Plinker]

Originally Posted by villagetinker

At full 2000 watt output, your battery will last less than an hour, as you will need to pull over 150 amps (at 12 vdc) to get the 2000 watts at 120 volts AC. Yes, it will run the appliances for a short period, but not for hours. Also, the typical automotive alternator and WIRING will not support this type of loading either. Please be very careful with this setup.

This is how I tackled this issue. Would appreciate your feedback. I purchased a dual-fuel generator (accepts gasoline or propane from bbq, etc.), with a flip of a switch. It has 9,500 watts and 12,000 peak watts. Electrician installed an interlock on breaker box (not a transfer switch). I also purchased a 30 foot, 50 amp power cord and simply plug one end into the plug the electrician attached to the breaker box and the other to the generator. I can run central a/c, lights and two refrigerators with no problem. If I turn off breaker for a/c then I can run hot water heater and most everything else. No, you can’t run EVERYTHING all at once but can pick and choose, as needed. Generator is Westinghouse DF 9500 for $1,100. Electrician charged $700 for install and the 50 amp cord was $275.
Wife is happy ! The electrician commented that this is the exact generator and setup he has and is very happy.

[bdescalzi]

You can run 12 volt accessories off 48 volt golf carts by using an adapter that steps down the voltage.

[villagetinker]

Originally Posted by Plinker

This is how I tackled this issue. Would appreciate your feedback. I purchased a dual-fuel generator (accepts gasoline or propane from bbq, etc.), with a flip of a switch. It has 9,500 watts and 12,000 peak watts. Electrician installed an interlock on breaker box (not a transfer switch). I also purchased a 30 foot, 50 amp power cord and simply plug one end into the plug the electrician attached to the breaker box and the other to the generator. I can run central a/c, lights and two refrigerators with no problem. If I turn off breaker for a/c then I can run hot water heater and most everything else. No, you can’t run EVERYTHING all at once but can pick and choose, as needed. Generator is Westinghouse DF 9500 for $1,100. Electrician charged $700 for install and the 50 amp cord was $275.
Wife is happy ! The electrician commented that this is the exact generator and setup he has and is very happy.

You nailed it, I did something similar back up north, but we had gas heat, so a 2 kw generator was all we needed for almost a week without utility service.

[Chicagodreamin]

Bought this generator last year. Runs off gasoline or propane.

[UpNorth]

Originally Posted by Chicagodreamin

Bought this generator last year. Runs off gasoline or propane.

Many of these generators are designed for construction sites and are LOUD. Run them for any extended period of time and they will drive you and the neighbors nuts. There are smaller, quieter generators (Honda, Yamaha, etc) that may be a better choice, although they tend to be more expensive.