generator?

[rockriver]

what has your friend got?
what do you know about?

an associate vacated for a few days and returned today. left vacation area before storm got them..

on the way home he found local power company trucks working on power lines on his road.

power was off, but generator was humming away.
associate had installed a generac standby unit and a propane tank.
time showing on clocks was 12:30 so he thinks electricity had been off for 12 hours. pretty much matches when edge of storm went through his area.

generator had come on automatically.

his problem is that generator is a propane hog...
he cut on a/c unit and generator shifted to a higher gear...

tell us what you recommend. or have experienced.

[prc-104]

Info

I understand how he generator is setup, just like a hospital backup power.

Here's the problem.
If a generator is running, it runs best with at least 50% power draw.
But at any power draw, it's sucking propane.

A hospital needs and gets a lot of power
A house doesn't
Just like a Generator in a Toy Hauler.
It's not on when you don't need AC power.
It has to be on when you want TV, microwave or coffee pot.

What makes our kind of generator usage work right is an Inverter, ie: a Trace SW4024.

The inverter uses 24 volts of batteries. Generally a set of 4 6 volt batteries, either golf carts or L16's
The inverter controls the generator.
You have AC all the time, unless you set it to not activate unless a minimum of 60 watts is asked for for instance.

Otherwise it's in standby.

The commercial power is fed (up to 60 amps) thru it into the house.
Commercial power keeps the batteries up and feeds the house.
When commercial power goes away, the transition to the inverter turning on is instant.
The inverter I described above is rated to 33amps. If more is needed, it will turn on the generator and provide it.
Normally microwave, TV, coffee pot isn't going to bump above 33amps.
When the batteries hit the low voltage you set, it cranks the generator, charges the batteries and feeds the house.
When the batteries are charged, it turns the generator off.

Advantages:
You have AC without having to crank the generator or have the generator running all the time (which is what your friend did).
The fact that the generator puts out effectively full power when it is running is healthier for your generator.

My ranch hasno commercial power so I live off of propane generator, invertor and solar cells.
With the solar cells, the generator hardly ever starts.

Hope this helps some.

Too many people want to do the hospital type where when power fails, the generator runs continuously.
If it's for very long, they'll run out of (or can't afford) the propane.

BTW my references above to AC is for AC power, not HVAC air conditioning.
I don't recommend running HVAC off an inverter.
If you need HVAC, turn on the generator.

[tech]

If you need HVAC, turn on the generator.

I have a setup similar to yours - a pair of stacked SW2512s - and run a window a/c unit on one of them. Solar brings the batteries above the LBCI (13.6v) and runs the a/c off of solar. LBCO is @ 12.8v, so when the sun gets low the battery bank isn't drained but rather switches over to the grid for the a/c. Easy peasy ;)

Main generator can be started automagically, but I leave it in manual mode and have a wired remote start in the house. Just personal preference.

An extended grid-down scenario would require a couple minutes of reprogramming...maybe.

[610Alpha]

What makes our kind of generator usage work right is an Inverter, ie: a Trace SW4024.

The inverter uses 24 volts of batteries. Generally a set of 4 6 volt batteries, either golf carts or L16's
The inverter controls the generator.
You have AC all the time, unless you set it to not activate unless a minimum of 60 watts is asked for for instance.

Otherwise it's in standby.

The commercial power is fed (up to 60 amps) thru it into the house.
Commercial power keeps the batteries up and feeds the house.
When commercial power goes away, the transition to the inverter turning on is instant.
The inverter I described above is rated to 33amps. If more is needed, it will turn on the generator and provide it.
Normally microwave, TV, coffee pot isn't going to bump above 33amps.
When the batteries hit the low voltage you set, it cranks the generator, charges the batteries and feeds the house.
When the batteries are charged, it turns the generator off.

Advantages:
You have AC without having to crank the generator or have the generator running all the time (which is what your friend did).
The fact that the generator puts out effectively full power when it is running is healthier for your generator.

My ranch hasno commercial power so I live off of propane generator, invertor and solar cells.
With the solar cells, the generator hardly ever starts.

Hope this helps some.

Too many people want to do the hospital type where when power fails, the generator runs continuously.
If it's for very long, they'll run out of (or can't afford) the propane.

BTW my references above to AC is for AC power, not HVAC air conditioning.
I don't recommend running HVAC off an inverter.
If you need HVAC, turn on the generator.

This is what I want to do at our new house.

We have Geothermal from previous owner. LP is only for cooking and 1 water heater, the other is electric.

Electric bill from Dec '16 - Jan '17 was $122, unoccupied, thermostat 62 - 64 F, central Illinois, and +2000 sq. ft. I think with the setup that you described above that would be really good. Add in some solar and that would really reduce our need for grid power.

The Power Wall from Tesla looks interesting but they need to come down on price.

[rockriver]

thanks guys... somehow I missed the early replies!
heading off to look at trace products..

[Lowdown3]

thanks guys... somehow I missed the early replies!
heading off to look at trace products..

Trace became Xantrex and later Schneider.

My older Trace 4024 was bulletproof. It sits in a huge metal box now. Always good to have backups. I was told by several repair places that parts and service for that model was becoming a problem and that was about 4 years ago now.

I later bought a Schneider version of the 4024, it was a TOTAL POS and went teats up in under six months- don't buy one.... Their customer service was a fricking joke, seriously that company is ghetto....

Been very happy with my Magnum though.

[rockriver]

men,
thanks loads...
I googled trace 4024 and found some wonderful endorsements. an old report by ok solar was particularly good.
--

the idea of inverter controlling the generator and battery charging ... and switching back and forth!!

I thought that this was a new idea only handled by sma products or outback...
now I hear about a product that is xx years old and no longer sold/serviced any more!!

confirms that I don't know sh___ the problem is that the few solar companies that are willing to work in area of the
world don't either!!

[Bill Foster]

My two cents. Don't forget to stock-up on oil for the generator. After the break- in, usually 8-hrs (consult your manual) most gens say to change oil and filter (if equipped) at the 100 hour intervals. Do the math. If you want to run the gen set 24/7, that's an oil change every 4 days. I have heard that with full synthetic, you can almost double that time, but at $10/qt, that gets expensive. My plans are to only run mine to keep the freezer and fridge cold. I have those battery operated thermometers with wireless remotes to put in the freezers and I'll only run the generator when necessary. That cuts the on-time to an hour or 2 twice a day. At the same time, charge phones, rechargeable batteries, etc. No hair dryer use.

[cpt_sfc]

My gen set went from an expensive onan that lasted from 1970 till 4 winters ago, need to rebuild it but costly. Now I have a 300 dollar champion I start with a remote from the cabin to charge the battery bank in the winter , I have an auto switch over from inverter to gen and back. Only run it in the winter. Summer time no need, but up in DA UP not much sun in winter. Runs every thing I have in the cabin,lights are LED 12vdc.,pump 110 ac,75 amp charger ac,TV Dish VCR. It has run very well and has used no oil and I change it every 100 hours(syn oil) or once a year as it only runs about 3-4 hours every 2-3 day to top off batteries. NOTE first 100 CK and cleanhours ran like crap tried everything, finally called champion they were very helpful. The very nice voice went thru the 100 hour tune up and when she said spark arrester I SAID WHAT!!! yes sir she said you have to take out the spark arrester and clean it or it will not run. SHE WAS RIGHT, I never heard of such a thing, at the time . COLOR ME RED.

[Bill Foster]

Red here too. Time to break out the manual.