I see the word "transfer switch" in your request. That means hooking it up to supply your house, or at least a subset of your house circuits. None of these are going to run your A/C, electric drier, or similar high load devices. Nor will any of the portable gas generators either. If you're careful and smart about what circuits you turn on you can get away with lighting, your fridge, and some small stuff like that. The 240V port is limited to something like 25 or 30A depending on what you buy. That's only two of your normal circuit breakers (typically 15A). If you're not using the full 15A you can turn on more. But the more you turn on, the more you'll risk tripping a breaker on the generator.
1. Look at all the circuits that are connected to the transfer switch. Figure out how many you REALLY want to have on and list everything connected to them that you want to have powered.
2. Add up all the Watts or Search for any generator sizing calculator online and add up the total load. It doesn't need to be that precise, you're just looking for something rounded to the nearest 1000W
3. THEN you can start researching what can supply that demand.
3b. If you're considering electric, figure out how long you want the battery to run between recharges. Those solar panels don't work well at night if the battery is only going to last 12 hours. Load (watts) x time you want to keep it running (h) = Watt-Hours.
No skipping ahead to Step #3, or you'll be disappointed with the results just b/c the plug shape happens to match.
Good luck!
========Why we chose a battery generator=======
Perhaps others have solved the problem more elegantly, but we picked up a Jackery for my wife's work. She has sump pumps that she needs to keep running during a power outage at their dog training facility.
So we have some unusual requirements that may or may not also apply to you.
With the Jackery we got the one with two expansion pods. You can pull off an expansion and charge it with solar while the main unit keeps running. That's our plan right now.
The batteries can run indoors. Running a fuel generator needs to be outdoors, and it needs to be pretty far away from the building, but it also can't get rained on and you can't put in any enclosed area like a garage. For my wife's particular location, that basically eliminated everywhere.
How do people run their portable generators in a storm? All the permanent ones come with storm housing. Best I've seen is some silly looking tents you can buy for your portable ones.
The generator / battery needs to be around dogs, puppies in particular. They're not always the smartest.... So having a generator throwing carbon monoxide and hot exhaust was a liability they didn't want to deal with.
My work ending up buying Jackery's for all the senior mgmt so they could keep their work computer / cell phones charged as our area has had frequent power outages due to weather. I've used it, units are well designed and easy to use. Competitors may be just as good, I don't know.
1. Look at all the circuits that are connected to the transfer switch. Figure out how many you REALLY want to have on and list everything connected to them that you want to have powered.
2. Add up all the Watts or Search for any generator sizing calculator online and add up the total load. It doesn't need to be that precise, you're just looking for something rounded to the nearest 1000W
3. THEN you can start researching what can supply that demand.
3b. If you're considering electric, figure out how long you want the battery to run between recharges. Those solar panels don't work well at night if the battery is only going to last 12 hours. Load (watts) x time you want to keep it running (h) = Watt-Hours.
No skipping ahead to Step #3, or you'll be disappointed with the results just b/c the plug shape happens to match.
Good luck!
========Why we chose a battery generator=======
Perhaps others have solved the problem more elegantly, but we picked up a Jackery for my wife's work. She has sump pumps that she needs to keep running during a power outage at their dog training facility.
So we have some unusual requirements that may or may not also apply to you.
With the Jackery we got the one with two expansion pods. You can pull off an expansion and charge it with solar while the main unit keeps running. That's our plan right now.
The batteries can run indoors. Running a fuel generator needs to be outdoors, and it needs to be pretty far away from the building, but it also can't get rained on and you can't put in any enclosed area like a garage. For my wife's particular location, that basically eliminated everywhere.
How do people run their portable generators in a storm? All the permanent ones come with storm housing. Best I've seen is some silly looking tents you can buy for your portable ones.
The generator / battery needs to be around dogs, puppies in particular. They're not always the smartest.... So having a generator throwing carbon monoxide and hot exhaust was a liability they didn't want to deal with.
My work ending up buying Jackery's for all the senior mgmt so they could keep their work computer / cell phones charged as our area has had frequent power outages due to weather. I've used it, units are well designed and easy to use. Competitors may be just as good, I don't know.
Statistics: Posted by markcov — Tue Oct 08, 2024 10:26 pm — Replies 8 — Views 224