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.