Just Got a New Generator

[Sneakers]

My Honda 3500 isn't an EU, but still pretty quiet, especially in eco mode. I got a propane conversion kit for it. Runs well under load at speed, but has issues with the idle. Can't seem to adjust it out. Might take it off and go back to gas. It was incredibly smooth and reliable on gas, even considering it's age.

 

[Kinnakeet]

Anker Solix F3800
View attachment 177846

I've been looking at whole house battery backup systems for a while, and decided on this one. Pretty impressive for it's size.
120/240VAC outputs, 6000watts continuous, surge to 8000. Standard L14-30 plug so it just plugs into the generator port outside.
3.8KiloWatthour battery, expandable to over 26Kwh.
2400watts solar input
Recharge from 120VAC plug @1800w is about 2 hours.
120VAC UPS ports, 20ms cutover.

This will run everything in the house (not all at once...) but not for long. Turning off the high usage devices will extend the life dramatically. I can run the furnace, pellet stove, hybrid hot water heater, lights.... basically normal living. As I see fit, I'll add to the battery stack.

With the addition of a Smart Home device, it is a full time backup with a 30ms cutover when the grid goes down. A second F3800 can be added for a total of 12,000 watts continuous and 52.8Kwh.

I could have built a system with lots of solar, an All-in-One solar charger/inverter, etc..... like ItsBob and BadGirl did, but that's WAY more than I want to spend to go totally independent. I just wanted a backup with enough power to carry me thru an outage without having to drag the generator out, hook it up.....

Naysayers and those with non-constructive negative comments, keep them to yourselves. This is what I choose to do, if you don't agree, e

How many amps is that 50?

 

[Kinnakeet]

Coinkydink...I was over by my welding truck yesterday and decided it had been too long since I'd started up the welder (it's also our 8KW backup generator). *click click*.

The Honda 2000 and 3000 EUs always start and run...my brother uses those regularly on construction jobs. The 12KW Generac backup for the apartments is still not hooked up to the new propane tanks. I'll get a round tuit one of these days. The 15kw Onan generator on back of the old F-150 has not been started in many years...was "running when parked" though and will surely need a complete fuel system cleaning to run again.

I'm prepared to get prepared....

Or the power comes back on 20 minutes later

 

[Kinnakeet]

I have a 7500 watt generator I leave in my shed exhaust blowing out the doors and I have a 150 cord I made if the power will be out for a while I turn off the main breaker and backfeed the power thru the water heater breaker all lights and refrigerator work I have never tried running my HVAC,so far I have been lucky and only had to do this 2x 1x after setup the power came back on on 20 minutes the other time I ran the thing for 10 hours or so.

 

[Gilligan]

Or the power comes back on 20 minutes later

Worst experience for us was in 2003..Hurricane Isabel. 11 days keeping generators running on my own compound and for elderly mum-in-law and her husband a few houses up the island from ours. Had some good friends that daily hauled in gasoline, ice and water for us after the island road was opened back up.

 

[phreddyp]

Worst experience for us was in 2003..Hurricane Isabel. 11 days keeping generators running on my own compound and for elderly mum-in-law and her husband a few houses up the island from ours. Had some good friends that daily hauled in gasoline, ice and water for us after the island road was opened back up.

Yeah S.M.E.CO had their hands full after that one!

 

[Sneakers]

How many amps is that 50?

Yes. 6000W / 120V = 50A. At 240V it's 25A.

Worst experience for us was in 2003..Hurricane Isabel. 11 days keeping generators running on my own compound and for elderly mum-in-law and her husband a few houses up the island from ours. Had some good friends that daily hauled in gasoline, ice and water for us after the island road was opened back up.

I was out for 7 days. Ran my poor little 2200 watt Honda in overload nearly all week. Showers at work, lots of BBQ, but the fridge/freezers were ok.

 

[Gilligan]

Yes. 6000w / 120V = 50A.

I was out for 7 days. Ran my poor little 2200 watt Honda in overload nearly all week. Showers at work, lots of BBQ, but the fridge/freezers were ok.

Well..I was at work...so no help there. Neighbors came over to completely pack our refrigerators and freezers. We had some great cookouts too. LOL.

 

[Sneakers]

Well..I was at work...so no help there. Neighbors came over to completely pack our refrigerators and freezers. We had some great cookouts too. LOL.

That's one of the reasons I that when my hot water heater needed replacing, I went with a hybrid. Only draws 600w to make hot water, you can do that with any 240v source.

 

[phreddyp]

That's one of the reasons I that when my hot water heater needed replacing, I went with a hybrid. Only draws 600w to make hot water, you can do that with any 240v source.

Where is the water heater located is it in a conditioned room?

 

[Sneakers]

Where is the water heater located is it in a conditioned room?

Basement. Helps offset the dehumidifier usage.

 

[Sneakers]

So, just a couple of observations. 1st off, needs more battery. The onboard battery (3.84Kwh) Is great for short term outages, but a 1000w load drains it in no time (3-4 hours). And typically the efficiency of any of these systems is around 80-85%, so it's really between 3.0-3.3Kwh effective.

Infrared imaging shows the 12AWG wire I was using for solar charging was getting warm. It's only a few degrees (image makes it look terrible, but it's not...) but I wasn't anywhere near the rated current max for the wire. Tells me I'm losing charging watts to resistance/heat. Had another cable, 10AWG and only 50' instead of 100', so put connectors on that. Should be better.



Overall, pretty impressed with the operation and integration. Noticed that if I charge it using the 120VAC wall plug set to the max of 1800 watts, the line cord and plugs get pretty hot. I had to reduce the charge rate, set it to 600w just because.

My only real complaint is the solar input and charger. Most solar chargers prefer higher voltage and lower current, but Anker seems to like lower voltage. Makes it a bit tougher to get to 1200 watts (per port x 2 for 2400w total) because it's real easy to exceed the 60V max input per port, meaning paralleling the solar panels and using much heaver wires. And if you fall below 32V, it restricts the charge rate to a max of 10A vs 25A for 32-60V. It would be so much better if the input voltage were much higher allowing the amps to be much lower.

The other thing I'm seeing is when the sun ducks behind a cloud or there is high overcast, the input watts drops to WAY below what I would expect. Like from 500w in full sun to less than 100w. I know I've seen much better overcast performance from my homebuilt solar charger. Going to run an experiment. I'm going to put the max solar charge into my homebuilt with 300Ah battery, then output 120VAC from the 1000w inverter into the 120VAC charge port on thee Anker. Yeah, I'll incur losses thru all the transfers, but I'll bet I get higher and more consistent charging in low light.

The saga continues....

 

[Sneakers]

Going to run an experiment. I'm going to put the max solar charge into my homebuilt with 300Ah battery, then output 120VAC from the 1000w inverter into the 120VAC charge port on thee Anker

Well, this won't work. At least not while the Anker is in use. I forgot that if you plug in the wall plug charger, the 240V is disabled. But I will try it anyway at some point, just because.

But I did confirm with Anker that if you're using the Smart Home panel (expect to get one eventually) and have a generator port on your main panel (like I do), you can plug in and turn on the generator. The Anker will go into standby and charge up quickly from 240V.

And someone would ask... why not just use the genny and forget the battery backup? Big difference is that the genny will run and consume fuel regardless of what's being used. Lots of waste when you have a big genny and only a fridge and lights. If you use the battery backup, you only use exactly how much power you need to run the items, no more, extending the available reesource. Then use the genny to charge it up, and turn it off again. In an extended outage, this maximizes your genny fuel and total runtime. Combined with solar input extends it even further.

Yeah, yeah.... I know. An exercise in futility. Will I ever need this scenario? Who knows. But it's fun to play, and the prepper in me likes the idea of being prepared.

 

[Clem72]

So, just a couple of observations. 1st off, needs more battery. The onboard battery (3.84Kwh) Is great for short term outages, but a 1000w load drains it in no time (3-4 hours). And typically the efficiency of any of these systems is around 80-85%, so it's really between 3.0-3.3Kwh effective.

Infrared imaging shows the 12AWG wire I was using for solar charging was getting warm. It's only a few degrees (image makes it look terrible, but it's not...) but I wasn't anywhere near the rated current max for the wire. Tells me I'm losing charging watts to resistance/heat. Had another cable, 10AWG and only 50' instead of 100', so put connectors on that. Should be better.

View attachment 177907

Shouldn't use power-carrying cable when coiled, it's rated with the expectation of passive heat dissipation which can't happen if it's bunched up. Also might get just the tiniest bit of extra heat from resistance due to induced magnetic fields.

 

[Sneakers]

Shouldn't use power-carrying cable when coiled, it's rated with the expectation of passive heat dissipation which can't happen if it's bunched up. Also might get just the tiniest bit of extra heat from resistance due to induced magnetic fields.

I'm aware. It was 12 AWG wire carrying about 10 amps, so I wasn't overly concerned about that.

 

[jrt_ms1995]

I'll get a round tuit one of these days.

Here you go; no thanks necessary.

 

[Clem72]

Well, this won't work. At least not while the Anker is in use. I forgot that if you plug in the wall plug charger, the 240V is disabled. But I will try it anyway at some point, just because.

But I did confirm with Anker that if you're using the Smart Home panel (expect to get one eventually) and have a generator port on your main panel (like I do), you can plug in and turn on the generator. The Anker will go into standby and charge up quickly from 240V.

And someone would ask... why not just use the genny and forget the battery backup? Big difference is that the genny will run and consume fuel regardless of what's being used. Lots of waste when you have a big genny and only a fridge and lights. If you use the battery backup, you only use exactly how much power you need to run the items, no more, extending the available reesource. Then use the genny to charge it up, and turn it off again. In an extended outage, this maximizes your genny fuel and total runtime. Combined with solar input extends it even further.

Yeah, yeah.... I know. An exercise in futility. Will I ever need this scenario? Who knows. But it's fun to play, and the prepper in me likes the idea of being prepared.

As long as your experimenting, how is it with spiky power requirements? Could you put a big capacitor in-line to cover inrush current for large motors starting?

 

[Sneakers]

As long as your experimenting, how is it with spiky power requirements? Could you put a big capacitor in-line to cover inrush current for large motors starting?

Not something I'll test. There are a plethora of videos out there with people trying to overload it with all kinds of high-draw devices. Seems to handle everything just fine as long as you don't exceed the 6000watt limit for more than a few seconds. The most I'll do is turn on my central air. if it handles that, I'm good.

Here's a good tester. Advance to 4:30.

 

[Clem72]

Not something I'll test. There are a plethora of videos out there with people trying to overload it with all kinds of high-draw devices. Seems to handle everything just fine as long as you don't exceed the 6000watt limit for more than a few seconds. The most I'll do is turn on my central air. if it handles that, I'm good.

Central air is a good example though. Might be a 3-ton unit with a 3500w average draw, but startup requires between 3-4x that amount which might put you close to twice your rated output. Is that damaging (to your battery, charge controller, or HVAC?). At a minimum I would install an oversized start capacitor for the HVAC to help lighten the load.

 

[Sneakers]

Central air is a good example though. Might be a 3-ton unit with a 3500w average draw, but startup requires between 3-4x that amount which might put you close to twice your rated output. Is that damaging (to your battery, charge controller, or HVAC?). At a minimum I would install an oversized start capacitor for the HVAC to help lighten the load.

I'd probably opt for an EasyStart on the a/c, but since I couldn't run it for very long, I'd do without and use a window unit. Thinking emergency concede more than normal conditions.