Portable Solar Back Up Generators

[RedlandRanger]

The problem we ran into is homeowners insurance if you add permanent solar to your house. I am planning on a trailer mounted portable system with 12k split phase output and about 40 kw of batteries. All batteries and equipment will be mounted in a room built on the trailer and just plugged into my backup generator plug on the house. That way my homeowners insurance premium doesn't go up 6x. My 14kw generator will recharge the batteries in a couple hours on cloudy days.
Then we will buy a tiny cheap ev for local travel.

Wow - that is not even something I'd considered - that is nuts. With all the natural disasters these days it seems like insurance companies are looking for ways to either cancel policies or boost rates significantly.

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[got3fords]

The problem we ran into is homeowners insurance if you add permanent solar to your house. I am planning on a trailer mounted portable system with 12k split phase output and about 40 kw of batteries. All batteries and equipment will be mounted in a room built on the trailer and just plugged into my backup generator plug on the house. That way my homeowners insurance premium doesn't go up 6x. My 14kw generator will recharge the batteries in a couple hours on cloudy days.
Then we will buy a tiny cheap ev for local travel.

Never thought of the insurance aspect. I have limited feedback on whole house roof mounted systems and yeah, mucho money. My main needs are powering the freezer, the sump pump and at least the basement fridge. It is too difficult to access the the cord to the fridge in the kitchen the way it is mounted in the cabinetry. I wonder if you can isolate the circuit it is on, throw the breaker, and back feed power through another outlet on the circuit.

 

[RedlandRanger]

Never thought of the insurance aspect. I have limited feedback on whole house roof mounted systems and yeah, mucho money. My main needs are powering the freezer, the sump pump and at least the basement fridge. It is too difficult to access the the cord to the fridge in the kitchen the way it is mounted in the cabinetry. I wonder if you can isolate the circuit it is on, throw the breaker, and back feed power through another outlet on the circuit.

That is basically what a generator cutoff switch does. Mine has 6 circuits it drives when I plug in the generator.

 

[got3fords]

That is basically what a generator cutoff switch does. Mine has 6 circuits it drives when I plug in the generator.

Before I had even one electrical engineering class, I made a "cross over" cable that was standard AC outlet male on both ends, the neutral followed neutral, hot followed hot and ground was ground. I had a gas generator I was going to use it with, but never did. Meant to plug into the generator, and plug into an outlet you had stuff on you wanted to power, with either the main open, or the appropriate breaker open.

 

[Brett Fields]

Never thought of the insurance aspect. I have limited feedback on whole house roof mounted systems and yeah, mucho money. My main needs are powering the freezer, the sump pump and at least the basement fridge. It is too difficult to access the the cord to the fridge in the kitchen the way it is mounted in the cabinetry. I wonder if you can isolate the circuit it is on, throw the breaker, and back feed power through another outlet on the circuit.

No no no! Don't backfeed through a receptacle that is likely 14 awg wire. (15 amps) Check out videos on installing a power inlet for a backup generator. 10 gauge (30 amps) bare minimum, 8 gauge (40 amps) better. The proper way is with a transfer switch, the "don't tell your insurance company" hack is to backfeed a breaker in your panel. When the power goes out, shut the main first, then switch on the back feed breaker. Never have the main turned on while the backfeed is on. Also, if you're bringing in 110, you're only energizing half your panel.

You didn't hear any of this from me....
I deny any knowledge of this.

 

[Brett Fields]

I'd love to see a parts list and more details on this. Electrical stuff as a general rule isn't my strong suit, but I can follow what others have done when it works well.

Wattcycle 300ah mini $500
Voltworks 2000 watt inverter. $175
LiTime DC to DC charger 40 amps $200
cable, lugs, fusing, criml tools, heat shrink tubing, other misc. $500ish
$1400ish for a 3600 watt setup?
Add another battery for 7200 watts and still under $2000

This is not comprehensive, I just threw down some stuff for illustration. These are the basic components. You'll spend a bunch in doodads as you expand your system and add features.

 

[got3fords]

No no no! Don't backfeed through a receptacle that is likely 14 awg wire. (15 amps) Check out videos on installing a power inlet for a backup generator. 10 gauge (30 amps) bare minimum, 8 gauge (40 amps) better. The proper way is with a transfer switch, the "don't tell your insurance company" hack is to backfeed a breaker in your panel. When the power goes out, shut the main first, then switch on the back feed breaker. Never have the main turned on while the backfeed is on. Also, if you're bringing in 110, you're only energizing half your panel.

Yeah, having an electrical engineering degree now, I now know it was a bad idea. The idea was to backfeed a single 15 or 20 amp circuit, one breaker. Not the whole house..

 

[Brett Fields]

Yeah, having an electrical engineering degree now, I now know it was a bad idea. The idea was to backfeed a single 15 or 20 amp circuit, one breaker. Not the whole house..

There's just so much badness hidden in the walls. I would never fully trust a circuit of unknown vintage and unknown quality.

 

[Fordup]

I just picked up one of those Eg4 3000 all in one inverters to play with. Boy is it simple with just a couple connections. Probably not good for campers with the solar input voltage requirement but can easily control a generator also. Using one of my 48 volt 100ah golf cart batteries for now for a 3000 watt output 5kw system.

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