Has anyone bought a Solar generator for a power outage? Has anyone bought a Solar generator for a power outage? - Talk of The Villages Florida

Has anyone bought a Solar generator for a power outage?

Closed Thread
Thread Tools
  #1  
Old 06-20-2022, 03:34 PM
Rainger99 Rainger99 is offline
Sage
Join Date: Oct 2021
Posts: 2,710
Thanks: 1
Thanked 2,068 Times in 961 Posts
Default 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.
  #2  
Old 06-20-2022, 03:51 PM
Keefelane66 Keefelane66 is offline
Platinum member
Join Date: Feb 2022
Posts: 1,855
Thanks: 930
Thanked 2,101 Times in 808 Posts
Default

There is nothing I am aware of that will run a household refrigerator. Without a substantial investment and being portable running 120volts.
  #3  
Old 06-20-2022, 03:55 PM
MrFlorida MrFlorida is offline
Platinum member
Join Date: Feb 2021
Posts: 1,897
Thanks: 100
Thanked 2,603 Times in 935 Posts
Default

Won't have much sunlight during a storm.
  #4  
Old 06-20-2022, 04:28 PM
Papa_lecki Papa_lecki is offline
Sage
Join Date: Nov 2020
Posts: 2,521
Thanks: 90
Thanked 3,176 Times in 1,179 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by MrFlorida View Post
Won't have much sunlight during a storm.
I think he is talking for the 3 or 4days after, before power is restored.
  #5  
Old 06-20-2022, 04:52 PM
Blueblaze Blueblaze is offline
Veteran member
Join Date: Feb 2021
Posts: 710
Thanks: 1
Thanked 1,299 Times in 376 Posts
Default

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.
  #6  
Old 06-20-2022, 05:12 PM
villagetinker's Avatar
villagetinker villagetinker is offline
Sage
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Village of Pinellas
Posts: 11,073
Thanks: 3
Thanked 8,177 Times in 2,975 Posts
Default

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.
__________________
Pennsylvania, for 60+ years, most recently, Allentown, now TV.
  #7  
Old 06-20-2022, 05:17 PM
tophcfa's Avatar
tophcfa tophcfa is offline
Sage
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: Wherever I happen to be.
Posts: 7,674
Thanks: 3,594
Thanked 11,217 Times in 3,558 Posts
Default

They are going to sell those solar generators at the new Costco being built in the Villages.
  #8  
Old 06-20-2022, 05:18 PM
Bill14564 Bill14564 is offline
Sage
Join Date: Nov 2020
Location: Village of Hillsborough
Posts: 7,248
Thanks: 2,247
Thanked 7,660 Times in 2,991 Posts
Default

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.
__________________
Why do people insist on making claims without looking them up first, do they really think no one will check? Proof by emphatic assertion rarely works.
Confirmation bias is real; I can find any number of articles that say so.


Victor, NY - Randallstown, MD - Yakima, WA - Stevensville, MD - Village of Hillsborough
  #9  
Old 06-20-2022, 07:24 PM
Decadeofdave Decadeofdave is offline
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2019
Location: Marblehead, Ohio / Virginia Trace
Posts: 472
Thanks: 268
Thanked 554 Times in 236 Posts
Default

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.
  #10  
Old 06-20-2022, 07:46 PM
keepsake keepsake is offline
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2020
Posts: 263
Thanks: 3
Thanked 102 Times in 60 Posts
Default

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.
  #11  
Old 06-20-2022, 08:04 PM
M78BC M78BC is offline
Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2021
Posts: 1
Thanks: 47
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Default

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.
  #12  
Old 06-20-2022, 08:11 PM
MrChip72 MrChip72 is offline
Veteran member
Join Date: Apr 2022
Posts: 833
Thanks: 46
Thanked 725 Times in 346 Posts
Default

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).
  #13  
Old 06-20-2022, 08:15 PM
MartinSE MartinSE is offline
Platinum member
Join Date: Feb 2022
Posts: 1,883
Thanks: 100
Thanked 1,723 Times in 666 Posts
Default

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.
  #14  
Old 06-20-2022, 08:30 PM
Topspinmo's Avatar
Topspinmo Topspinmo is offline
Sage
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Somewhere over the rainbow
Posts: 15,130
Thanks: 7,606
Thanked 6,256 Times in 3,227 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rainger99 View Post
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.
Just buy ford lightning……
  #15  
Old 06-20-2022, 10:09 PM
PJ_Smiley PJ_Smiley is offline
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2020
Posts: 152
Thanks: 1
Thanked 214 Times in 77 Posts
Default Solar Generators

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

Tags
generator, solar, power, outage, lights


You are viewing a new design of the TOTV site. Click here to revert to the old version.

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 05:03 PM.