Power Outage Kit (Batt, Inverter, Charger)

[mudeprived]

The power went out 5 or 6 times this year and at one point it was out for three days. I need to gather up a kit that can handle my Castle Serenity when we lose power.

I do have a 1000 watt inverter that I use with my truck but it does not work with the Serenity. It would overload and shut down within a second or two of ignite mode.

So I can source another truck battery no problem but need suggestions on a good charger and inverter that does not break the bank. I am probably better off buying a Predator Generator from HF but that requires gas and gas is not cheap.

Any suggestions?

 

[kjeremy2]

The power went out 5 or 6 times this year and at one point it was out for three days. I need to gather up a kit that can handle my Castle Serenity when we lose power.

I do have a 1000 watt inverter that I use with my truck but it does not work with the Serenity. It would overload and shut down within a second or two of ignite mode.

So I can source another truck battery no problem but need suggestions on a good charger and inverter that does not break the bank. I am probably better off buying a Predator Generator from HF but that requires gas and gas is not cheap.

Any suggestions?

I’ve used a predator inverter and they sip gas. Just an idea. Trip lite sells ups’s that are good I hear haven’t used one though.


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[Dataman]

You need Sine Wave Inverter I bet. I got this one

Aims 1250 Watt 12V Pure Sine Wave Inverter Charger PICOGLF12W12V120AL
12V 100AH Battery

Give me 6 hours real world run time on my Harmon XXV Pellet Stove

About $600. I wanted somthing for short term power outages. I can do about 6 hours and then 2-4 on another battery. I have run 2 tests and documented it here. I keep 7k Generator for other things and charging batteries. I plan on Dual Fuel (Propane/Gas) Inverter Genny later on.

Aims 1250 Inverter

• Dataman
• Sep 17, 2018
• 3

Aims Inverter with 100ah battery

 

[kjeremy2]

You need Sine Wave Inverter I bet. I got this one

Aims 1250 Watt 12V Pure Sine Wave Inverter Charger PICOGLF12W12V120AL
12V 100AH Battery

Give me 6 hours real world run time on my Harmon XXV Pellet Stove

About $600. I wanted somthing for short term power outages. I can do about 6 hours and then 2-4 on another battery. I have run 2 tests and documented it here. I keep 7k Generator for other things and charging batteries. I plan on Dual Fuel (Propane/Gas) Inverter Genny later on.

Aims 1250 Inverter

• Dataman
• Sep 17, 2018
• 3

Aims Inverter with 100ah battery

Does this stay plugged in all the time or just when the power goes out? I’m new to that side of it. I just always used a generator.


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[Dataman]

It says plugged in all the time. Keeps battery 100% that way and 10ms switch over.

 

[jp57]

I’ve used a predator inverter and they sip gas. Just an idea. Trip lite sells ups’s that are good I hear haven’t used one though.


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Which Predator? I just bought the 3500 a few months back. Haven't really used it yet on my stove.

 

[Rneal55555]

The manual for your stove says it only draws 402 Watts during ignition and 77 Watts when operating You really should be fine with a 1000w inverter.

 

[kjeremy2]

Which Predator? I just bought the 3500 a few months back. Haven't really used it yet on my stove.

The biggest one they have which I believe is the 3500 ? It runs our fire prevention trailer and it was very quiet and used one tank of gas all day so not that bad in my opinion.


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[minux]

Don't bother with batteries. Get an inverter generator. Can be had for about the same cost of the battery kits with substantially better run times as long as you have gasoline.

 

[Dataman]

Your still going to need UPS or Inverter to step in to allow time for Generator. What happens when you pull the plug on stove on full burn? Smoke in House? Inverter fills the times that it's not really practical for generator. 2am, short power outages etc. J

But if you can't afford both flip a coin.

 

[minux]

Have you looked into buying a $5 power alarm? When the car batteries run out of juice, which is not long, you are back to a full burning stove cold stopped.

Is the concern no one is home when you loose power? Have you looked at automatic transfer switches? I would much rather go the generator route than deal with car batteries.

 

[Corey]

The manual for your stove says it only draws 402 Watts during ignition and 77 Watts when operating You really should be fine with a 1000w inverter.

Good point there. A common issue is not having enough wire gauge between the battery and the inverter and/or having too long of a run. Given 400 watts of actual power draw and figure ~60-70% conversion efficiency, you could be looking at 650 watts of input power or more. Considering a ~12V battery... could be drawing around 55 amps or more. So you're entering the zone of needing "battery cable" sized wire between your battery and inverter and/or keeping the inverter very close to the battery.

 

[kenora]

Good point there. A common issue is not having enough wire gauge between the battery and the inverter and/or having too long of a run. Given 400 watts of actual power draw and figure ~60-70% conversion efficiency, you could be looking at 650 watts of input power or more. Considering a ~12V battery... could be drawing around 55 amps or more. So you're entering the zone of needing "battery cable" sized wire between your battery and inverter and/or keeping the inverter very close to the battery.

Since voltage loss over distance becomes a huge issue I choose to butcher a 4 gauge booster cable (most Canuks have a couple old booster cables lying around...the joys of starting a car with a dead battery at -35c).

My pelpro 130 draws 350 watts for about 5 minutes during start up and 130 watts continuous.. that makes the draw on the two 12v deep cycle 80 amp hour (each) batteries negligible... especially if its running in constant mode.

My UPS with the original 18 ah batteries (two 12v 18ah batteries in series to make 24v) used 10g wire for the battery connections so the step up (in size/down in gauge) to 4g more than supports the extra 18 inches of wire that had to be grafted on so I could mount the batteries under the UPS.

So far.... I have experienced several power outages for "maintenance" on the system (here in the northern bush the power Co does this when they disconnect customers to work on a line upstream somewhere...sometimes announced, often a surprise).. they average 2-3 hours... my UPS has provided the juice to bridge these gaps without a hiccup..

In an ideal world I would get a Honda or Yamaha inverter gen set (2kw is my wish) for loooooooger power failures but those are once every couple of years... my testing has demonstrated my UPS can last 6 hrs or more (successfully tested mine to 5 hrs so far). The trick is robust equipment; mine was used... my UPS was purchased for $75 from kijiji with dead OEM batteries... two new 80ah deep cycle batteries were $80/ea and the wire and connectors were scrap.

The best system requires both the ability to bridge short (whatever that means to you) power outages with a UPS or similar system and a good gen set to bridge the longer ones (days/weeks). No one is able to jump out of bed at 0 dark 30 when the power goes out and fire up and hook up the gen set in .01 seconds...but a UPS can.

 

[Dataman]

No one is able to jump out of bed at 0 dark 30 when the power goes out and fire up and hook up the gen set in .01 seconds...but a UPS can.

Which is why Inverter with Battery or UPS with Battery is needed. If the stove fills the room with smoke you have to act fast. Why keeps Generator with Extension cord hooked up ready to go in .10 second? Only Superman and the Flash

 

[JC1]

Did you find an inverted
that worked. I’m looking for the
exact same setup I have a Castle Serenity and want continuous back up power

The power went out 5 or 6 times this year and at one point it was out for three days. I need to gather up a kit that can handle my Castle Serenity when we lose power.

I do have a 1000 watt inverter that I use with my truck but it does not work with the Serenity. It would overload and shut down within a second or two of ignite mode.

So I can source another truck battery no problem but need suggestions on a good charger and inverter that does not break the bank. I am probably better off buying a Predator Generator from HF but that requires gas and gas is not cheap.

Any suggestions?

I’ve used a predator inverter and they sip gas. Just an idea. Trip lite sells ups’s that are good I hear haven’t used one though.


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[WiscWoody]

For under $400 you could get a inverter generator and hook it into your panel using a two pole breaker with a jumper between the poles to energize both bus bars. Just make sure your main breaker is off when you run the generator and when you renergize the main make sure the generator two pole breaker is off. If you forget it will just trip, I know I’ve forgot to shut it off a few times. This way youll have power for many things in your home When the power goes out.