I recall speaking to you about this before but you must have some serious "don't even spit on it before you stick it balls deep in my ass" electricity rates for that to even sorta kinda make financial sense.
Nice to know that they're that quiet. I guess it would maybe not be that big of an issue in a residential neighborhood as I think. I keep thinking it would be nice to go solar and do the whole house, and then have generator for backup. It would run mostly in winter as we don't get much daylight hours.
I recall speaking to you about this before but you must have some serious "don't even spit on it before you stick it balls deep in my ass" electricity rates for that to even sorta kinda make financial sense.
It's the fixed fees where they get us, and the fact that it goes up every year. Even without usage you're paying $100/mo if more (goes up every year). Then add the actual usage on top, which also goes up every year. So if I was to go solar, the real way to save money would be to disconnect the actual service. I don't know if they actually allow that though. I heard some stories where they don't allow you to disconnect the service. Some weird code thing about having working smoke detectors (they don't care if they're battery operated, it's a stupid rule).
So idealy I'd try to live off solar, and generator would only kick on to top up batteries at night if required. The big expense would be the inverter though. Everything would be on batteries, the generator would only power a big charger.
I can actually help you design the system, the inverter would actually be relatively cheap. It's the batteries or a much better scenario the nat gas genny that would be expensive.
Especially if you are running a genny for backup power instead of batteries, or at least a huge bank of them, inverters are pretty cheap in the grand scheme of things. I'd wager real money that your inverter will be the cheapest "section" of your off-grid install, even with something as complicated as multiple renewables and a nat gas genny. Best part is, unlike batteries, a lot of inverters are now coming with 20 year warranties and 15 at the very least if you get a decent one.
Edit: If you PM me your address I will gladly send you some lube because man it sure sounds like you need some...
I was looking at 8kw inverters and they were like 10k though there may be cheaper options, I'd want at least two for redundancy. I'd want to design the system so it's always running on inverter as it would also double as a dual conversion UPS. Essentially when turning generator on or w/e there would be no switch over or anything. The generator would just power a bank of rectifiers.
I'm far from a point where I want to design a system though, just something I have on the back of my mind.
I kinda want to learn more about power electronics and might actually design the components myself. Though they'd probably have to be UL approved etc so possibly not worth it, but I'd look into it when I get to that point.
For batteries I'd probably start with cheaper golf cart batteries just to get a feel for it. Then later on splurge on higher capacity ones. But yeah that would probably be the biggest expense.
Are we all sending Red Squirrel lube? Sounds like he needs it.
An inverter that does the "inverting" thing AND charges batteries and is a damn good brand for a bit over $4K.
https://www.altestore.com/store/inv...48a-8kw-48v-120240vac-invertercharger-p11213/
Just for reference, most inverters only convert DC to AC. The second most popular, which is by far less popular, are the ones that are able to handle batteries too which is what you want. They will be a bit more expensive but not nearly as expensive as you seem to think. Like I said, the batteries will be the major cost unless you completely ditch them for the genny which I would highly advise you to look into since the gennys cost is already built in, what is the fuel cost for battery run time versus the batteries. Keep in mind how long you can reasonably expect the batteries to last.
Yeah was looking at those actually at one point. Probably would put two together so it should be able to do central AC, stove, washing machine etc (not necessarily at the same time). But that looks to be in USD. You have to take the list price, and then maybe add like 40%. When you start generator with those though does it actually "switch" or is it always running off the battery? Since I have server equipment I'd want it to be fully passive and the final output to not change at all whether it's running on generator or not. Though chances are I would have a smaller separate inverter for the servers, it would run straight off the battery bank and have it's own low voltage cut off.
I guess we are starting to lean a little off topic there.
PM me, I'll help you out and as far as the equipment I'll score it for you for only 30% more
thanks to some bastard in P&N, I've been reading articles all afternoon.
I knew the Red Cross was a lousy organization, but every time I read about their failures I get more angry.
https://www.propublica.org/article/the-red-cross-secret-disaster
After Sandy hit, they were pissing away money like crazy and helping very few people. That doesnt bother me so much as their executives lying about how wonderful their organization is, and politicians kissing their butts. The Red Cross is so bad you'd be better off mailing supplies to disaster locales. The fuckin Postal Service will be there before the Red Cross trucks arrive.
Paratus... We were very lucky we are in the highest point in our area so we did not get any water... But so many of our friends did... Sorry could not reply have still been very busy with things no time to get online at all... This next week things should be better as most of the bad areas are able to be passed through now but some still cant be... As I said havent been reading this thread much but how are you and your family doing...?