APOD Firearms

Backup power supplies

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  • Willy

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    Aug 28, 2009
    1,067
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    Ellis County
    That sounds like the way to go. Could you ballpark how much it takes to get you to where you are now?

    www.homepower.com

    They are a bunch of tree huggers, but they have been building and testing all kinds of RE for decades. They even show you all of the federal and state tax breaks. My house isn't situated very well for wind or solar, but I intend to go that route for my next house.
    I have considered a natural gas generator with an ATS, but to go off grid I'll need solar and/or wind.
    DK Firearms
     

    jrbfishn

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    Aug 9, 2013
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    south of killeen
    If you want to build a 12 volt power source, with inverter for small fridge, old mopar altenators a voltage regulator and a small inverter will work. They turn very easy so you only need a small moter to run them. Works well with 12 volt lighting like an rv uses, cheap to build at a junk yard. Older fords work too, but ford voltage regulaters are unreliable


    from a non-recovering coffeeholic
     

    TundraWookiee

    Scruffy Nerf Herder
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    Jan 9, 2012
    2,699
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    Cedar Park
    After Rita came through, we were without power for almost 2 weeks. I bought a Generac 20kw standby generator. One of the best investments I ever made. When the power goes out, it will crank 15 seconds later, then automatically switch the breaker and take over the power generation. Once the main power comes back on it switches back and turns itself off. Connected to a standalone 500 gallon tanks it should run about 2 weeks without needing refueling. Great piece of mind, especially since I am gone so much for work leaving the wife and kids alone.
    We set up my parent's house with a similar setup except its a 280kw Cummins that used to be a backup for a nearby hospital that we bought at auction. It easily powers the entire house and barn (hell it would power 10 houses)...its overkill but the price couldn't be beat. We already keep 500-2000 gallons of diesel on hand at the barn so they would be in good shape for quite awhile. Also have a 6kw and a couple smaller Honda's for smaller and more economical purposes. When I finally settle down I'll probably setup my house the same way.
     

    ZX9RCAM

    Over the Rainbow bridge...
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    May 14, 2008
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    The Woodlands, Tx.
    I have a couple of extra 1K units if you want one. I bought a couple of them with little 6K btu window ac's. I figured if some of the old folks in my neighborhood could use them if we had lights out for any length of time.

    Thanks, but I have one of those "in room" units that route the exhaust out the window, for those times power is out for any length of time, &
    it's more like 15k btu....
     

    Sugar Land

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    Thanks, but I have one of those "in room" units that route the exhaust out the window, for those times power is out for any length of time, &
    it's more like 15k btu....

    I have one like that in my office. My office is on the end of the duct line and don't quite get it. I cut a 6 inch hole in the wall and vent to the garage. It is 12Kbtu and it will bring my office down to 63 anytime of the year. My 6.5 will run everything in my office and the house except for the central air.
     

    Texasjack

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    Jan 3, 2010
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    My neighbor invested in an automatic natural gas fired generator. Powers the whole house. Only down side is that it has to turn over periodically, so it does use quite a bit of gas.

    The biggest problem I saw during Ike with portable generators was that it was nearly impossible to keep them fueled. Most are gasoline powered and gasoline can't be stored for extended periods without going bad. When you look at the price of the gasoline needed to power even just critical devices for a day, it's an amazing cost/Kw-hr.
     

    Sugar Land

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    Apr 7, 2012
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    Sugar Land Texas
    I designed back up power for a living back in the 90's. Some can be very complex. Especially when there is equipment that has to go through a certian shutdown procedure and you can't just pull the plug to shut down.
     

    ROGER4314

    Been Called "Flash" Since I Was A Kid!
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    Jul 11, 2009
    10,444
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    East Houston
    I've been through 2 major hurricanes and tried my systems out under fire with good results.

    My neighbors and I have different philosophies so I could compare my plans with theirs.

    Big outage, but no infrastructure damage, power the refridge with one of two gas generators. I have siphon hoses to borrow gas from my vehicles and 3 five gallon professional grade cans. If the storm is coming, I'm filling gas cans.

    Go to battery only. I have spare 12 volt car batteries that I keep well maintained and charged. I have a large battery charger for fairly quick recharge off of the generators. I had small chargers but they took too much fuel to recharge the 12 volt batteries. Big charger= quick recharge.

    On 12 volts, I have fans, fluorescent tube lights radios all on 12 volts. Run all night and recharge in daylight.

    For hurricanes when the power grid is severely damaged, I write off the refridge/ freezer after the first or second day. I bag it and dump it. I was off grid for 10 days during Rita and keeping the box cold is a lost cause. I use freeze dried and canned food....about a months supply. I just cycled out all of my emergency food and replaced it about 2 months ago.

    Keep plenty of paper plates, napkins and paper towels in stock. No water wasted on washing dishes.

    Sun shower.

    2 porta potties.....enough said. Plenty of paper in stock.

    Water, when I see it coming, I fill a ton of 5 gallon jugs from a hose I keep only for that purpose. I made an adapter for my hot water heater so I can apply a small pressure and get the 40 additional gallons out of that tank.

    Hope that helps!

    Flash
     

    vahtryn

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    Oct 27, 2013
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    Like anything it all depends on the quality of the items you buy. Figure a dollar a watt for panels and toss some in for mounting them up, $3K, 3KW inverter (outback brand) $1600, charge controller (Outback) $500, wire $200, 3 string 48V battery bank, $2700 so a total investment of around $8K.

    I'm in a case of no choice as the nearest utility is over 5 miles away, but with an equipment lifespan of say 20 years (except for batteries) comes out to around $265 a year, not a bad electric bill :)

    I'll agree, roughly 22 bucks a month is a good bill. When I lived in San Francisco PG&E did a program where if you used less electricity than those around you you ended up paying less. Since I rarely use much even though I'm in IT (strange huh?) My lowest bill was 3.85 for one month of service. Then again I also very rarely use heat and haven't used AC in I have no idea how long. I prefer ambient temperatures and air circulation to keep things comfortable.

    Or just layer if it gets too damn cold. If it's hot, well there's always drinking a lot and sweating to stay cool. Sure, you gotta shower before going out or seeing anyone ;)
     

    cajunautoxer

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    Sep 8, 2008
    1,498
    46
    Houston
    I picked up a cheap 9k generator recently and will have my uncle set up my panel for me to hook it up directly to the house. I'm still contemplating a trifuel kit and get a gas line ran to the opposite side of the house. I also lucked out and picked up 3 12k btu portable ac units from Amazon for $360 shipped. So I'm set except for gas of course
     
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