Power outage scramble

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
You know, I'm participating in another thread right now....the what if an earthquake...thread. Certain disasters could render my generator useless. Thinking of getting a solar generator just for basic survival. The biggest ones I've found are about 3K, so they're pretty small. I know people hook up batteries and stuff and build bigger ones. I'm not into that. I don't want a ton of batteries to deal with. I'm talking basic survival .... we have a well that has not been in use and needs a new pump. With a portable solar generator we could pump water up to a holding tank. ... making contingency plans for the what if the current contingency plans does work..... When the big one hits us in northern California, I won't have a fish tank and I most likely won't have a house, and my big generator will be useless for surviving. A solar generator is sounding more and more appealing.
 
Solar is pretty big (more so than the news may say) in Texas. I have several friends who install residential and commercial units. I can’t afford what they sell. But it’s pretty impressive. Originally I looked into running all solar on my house. It was in the $25k range to get my house to be at “normal usage”. I went with the $8k to get a pole put in and did the rest myself. I live outside city limits so don’t need permits for anything except septic. But I know not all states allow that
 
knobhill said:
Here is what I did instead of a generator (I have one, but live in an urban area with rare outages)

Click to expand...
So you said the batteries only last a few hours? I guess the WiFi router/modem must be on battery too? If my power is out, my satilite WiFi router is too. So I guess I won’t get a text.

Great tank and set up!
 
That same set up, with a solar panel to recharge the battery would be ideal for me. If I’m ever away from my place for more than a day, I have people who can be there within hours. Since I have livestock to care for, I can’t go out of town without someone at least checking every few days. So if I can prolong the battery life to a 24 hrs, I’d be in business. Thanks for all the responses
 
  • Like
Reactions: pacu mom
Leebtattoos said:
So you said the batteries only last a few hours? I guess the WiFi router/modem must be on battery too? If my power is out, my satilite WiFi router is too. So I guess I won’t get a text.

Great tank and set up!
Click to expand...

Actually, if your modem goes out, then you would get a text saying the device is offline. It also texts when the device is back online. Very helpful.

I did the math and the air pump is 10watts, the battery is 550va or 300watts. Conservatively, itshould give me 10 hours of air.

I have a solar set up with deep cycle battery at my barn. It runs a hay feeder and lights and night. Ime—it is a challenge because of the Constant power drain. If it isn’t sunny, the battery gets dangerously low on power—and I added a second panel! You would also need some type of switch to turn it on to the solar power in the event of an outtage.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Leebtattoos
knobhill said:
Actually, if your modem goes out, then you would get a text saying the device is offline. It also texts when the device is back online. Very helpful.

I did the math and the air pump is 10watts, the battery is 550va or 300watts. Conservatively, itshould give me 10 hours of air.

I have a solar set up with deep cycle battery at my barn. It runs a hay feeder and lights and night. Ime—it is a challenge because of the Constant power drain. If it isn’t sunny, the battery gets dangerously low on power—and I added a second panel! You would also need some type of switch to turn it on to the solar power in the event of an outtage.
Click to expand...
Yeah I use solar for some of my deer feeders. They work great on 12v rechargeable if the raccoons don’t rip up wires.

What brand is your back up power strip?

Thanks for the input.
 
  • Like
Reactions: knobhill
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom