Alternate power source.

0patience

I live in an area whether frequent power outages are common.
So I was looking into a generator to run my pellet stove, some lights, TV and internet.
All of the generators I looked at were either cheaply made or really expensive.
Not to mention fairly noisy.

So I started looking into alternative options.

The other day, a friend showed me this set up that he had at his house for his well house.
Now, understand that the well pump he has is fairly large, computerized and also runs a filtration system, so it takes about 2KW on start up and usually uses about 1500 watts, when running.

He has 6 deep cycle golf cart batteries, hooked up to a 5KW inverter to power the well house.

He has a 400 watt solar panel kit, which consists of 5 solar panels and a 30 Amp solar charger to use solar power to charge the batteries using solar power.

Then has a vertical axis wind mill attached to a 90 Amp Delco internally regulated single wire marine alternator, that can charge the batteries with wind speeds down to 3 mph.

Solar kit was $500.

Inverter was about $500

All 6 batteries about $600

And incidentals, like wiring, support brackets, etc, About $250.

So for a bit less than $2,000 during a power outage, he is able to run his well house during a power outage for quite some time. 
If there is enough wind, it will keep up with power usage quite well.

We are considering setting this up at our house, so when the power goes out, we can at least run most our living room without any problems and the best thing, no noise of a generator running.

Thought some might be interested in this. Or not. 

Yakster

Thanks, need something like this for my MIL country house but I'd be afraid of theft or vandalism. 

genareddog

Depending on the wattage you need, Honda eu series generators great quality and you can't heat them run. A bit pricey but well worth it.

0patience

One of the reasons why we are shying away from a small generator is that a few years back, our power was out in the entire area for 5 days and there was no fuel to be purchased. So when we ran out of fuel on the generator we were using, that was it.

With something like this, we get enough wind that if it did run low on power, we would only have to wait an hour or so for it to generate enough charge to get the pellet stove going again.

And we are looking at a vertical axis windmill over a standard one, is because I can place 2 vertical axis in a small area, versus needing considerable room for a standard prop style one.

The other thing is that during the summer, on those few days when we need A/C, we could connect the air conditioner to this set up and run it off that, without having to pay a bunch extra on our power bill.

matkn293

I think this would be a great setup and virtually no maintenance. I know a guy that has a "country" house and the cost for electrical service to his house would cost a lot of money so he started going solar and supplements with a generator when on the property. Works out well for him. 

i am not sure what AC you are running and it sounds like you have some your homework on this. That would be the biggest concern I see is making sure you have enough power for that AC unit. Running that will drain your reserves pretty quick. 

matkn293

You could even make this a touch more "automatic" with a small sub panel and a double pole, double throw disconnect switch used as a manual transfer switch. 

0patience

matkn293 said:

i am not sure what AC you are running and it sounds like you have some your homework on this. That would be the biggest concern I see is making sure you have enough power for that AC unit. Running that will drain your reserves pretty quick. 

The A/C unit draws 2300 watts at start up and uses 1700 watts while running. The 6 batteries and the 5kw inverter are enough to run it for several hours with no wind or sun.
If the wind is blowing and the sun is out, the 90 amp alternator and 400w solar panels are enough to extend it out for most the day,

It is a small portable air conditioner, so doesn't draw near as much as a home unit or one that cools the whole house. The NW doesn't get terribly warm, only a short part of the summer and most houses don't even have AC. So we went with a small one that will basically cool the front porch and give us some relief on real warm days.

matkn293

That sounds extremely viable and you sir have done your homework. 

0patience

So I started on this.
3000 watt, 6000 watt surge inverter. 
3 deep cycle batteries to start.
Looking to get more later.

Currently, will power our portable air conditioner for almost 3 hours, before the inverter starts beeping. The air conditioner uses roughly 1000 watts..

Found a single wire 100 amp alternator to use for the wind generator, which at 50% will keep the batteries level at 1000 watt use.
Got a line on 200w solar panels and charger module for $279, so gonna look more into it. Roughly will provide a 10 amp charge on the batteries during daylight hours.

If I can get a 6 hour run time for TV, pellet stove, computers and extra for running the microwave if needed, I'll be happy.