huckmonkey
New Member
- Nov 22, 2012
- 8
I am currently living off the grid in two travel trailer parked side by side with an addition built in betwee. I am running a motomaster 3300 watt peak, 2400 watt continuous gene, with a modified sin wave 1750 watt inverter on 8 deep cycle 6volt batteries wired to 12 volt with a kozi baw win pellet stove. So far no problems. I dont yet leave the stove for long periods timeby itself because i dont trust the batteries to last and not have the stove shut down without cooling off properly when the voltage drops and the inverter turns of automaticaly. That said, i only run the gene in the evenings for a few hours with the stove plugged into the inverter. When i go to bed, the genne runs out of fuel and the inverter keeps running the stove for a few hours until i get up. By then the voltage has dropped to about twelve volts. I could probably fill the gene full, let it run for about 6-8 hours, then when it runs out, the inverter would probably run the stove for an additional 3-5 hrs of the batteries alone. When the gene is running it is charging the batteries with the trailers chargers as well as a scheumaker (canadian tire) charger set at 20 AMP. I also run about 20-25 amps of solar, although it probably isnt that high in the winter. As said above, as the voltage dropps without the genne running, the lower it goes the faster it dropps. The inverter shows that the stove draws 50-70 amps. The system is slightly weak. That is why i dont run the stove while im at work. But it works great while im at home, and if only used in emergencies, the generator fuel costs would be alot cheaper than the gen running space heaters. It take alot of batteries to work well, but if u can find slightly used deep cycles on line for a decent price it can be a decent emergency . Mine works well but i babysit it as its a fairly new system that i dont trust alon yet with my stove for fear of low voltage and the inverter shutting off and the stove over heating. If i had double the bateries and a couple more solar panels i would probably trust it. Basically i could run it for about 6-10 hours alone between the gen and batts after gen runs out, but i drive truck for 12-15 hrs so i dont leave it alone