Lithium battery generators for Dummies PLEASE!!!

[Rebeldad1]

I see mention of these pop up in forums sometimes

How about someone (s) who has and uses one tell up your experience?

We are remote and loose power more often than not during storms. I have 3 generators. Honda EU1000I. EU2000I and a 9500W dual fuel standing by for long outages when everything needs to be run. Well pump especially.

The EU1000I is our goto for evening outages. light weight and sips fuel. We cook (heat) on the woodstove. 1 cable thru the window... Generator runs TV. Directv. Internet. This will run for a couple evenings on a tank. Coffee maker (couple more cables) requires the EU2000I. Can also run the refer and freezer, micro wave. The 9500W will do all and everything but sucks up fuel.
We are at that age looking at all home gen system to simplify messing with everything..

The Lithium generators from a dummies view look like a great answer to most of our needs. Could just put it in a corner.
I dont understand the ratings as to what they can run and for how long?
How long battery is and is it replaceable?
The good and bad?

I am sure lots of you have more experience and guidance.

I'm sure lots of us would love to share in your knowledge. I'm ok now but smart enough to know I need to upgrade for happier days in old age to come

 

[drssg]

I would like to take your thread off topic with the first reply. You're welcome.

Is propane an option in your area? I have a 1000 gallon tank buried in the back yard. It powers the furnace, hot water heater, and backup generator. When power goes out, the generator is running within seconds, and the tank can run the generator for a loooong time. Even if my propane was running low prior to an outage, I would expect that the delivery trucks would still be operational.

Sorry for the detour. Hopefully, somebody else knows something about your OP.

 

[Industrial Toys]

First of all, it annoys me to see manufacturers reffering to batteries as "FUEL". Confuses people who dond't have a clue about energy even more. Or worse, calling a battery a "Generator".

Whole discussion about backup surrounds energy density and storage. What you never know in most outages is HOW LONG WILL THE POWER BE OUT? Anything with battteries is no good if you can't recharge it. Cell sites apparently found this out in TEXAS with rolling blackouts. The "ON" times were not long enough to recharge their batteries.

 

[Rebeldad1]

The opportunity I hear is the Lithium battery's ability to do a much better storage of electricity than the wet cell has ever done.
Most of our power outages are short. Couple hours to 12-14 hours max. A rarity once was a power sub station down for over a week.

A friend bought a new 36' 5th wheel trailer. A gas generator was no longer offered. Lithium battery installed. Same size batteries as his old rv He was told 1/2 the weight and twice the output. A add-on was a solar panel on the roof. The real plus was no noise and no fuel needed.

So back to my post.

What would be a good Lithium generator to replace using my small gas generators? For now I will keep them around to recharge the Lithium battery if needed. The bigger stuff ( well pump, stove etc) I will use the 9500w dual fuel if needed.

 

[LittleBill21]

you need to determine wattage, and length of use. its nothing more then a battery. it will not replace a generator for most people with over a day of no power.

 

[jaydee325]

https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/434517-power-wall-pricing.html

Three different battery solutions (Tesla Power Wall, Generac, and Enphase) are discussed here.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I have an Cummins Onan Quiet Diesel Generator, 7.5 KW that you can stand beside and easily have a conversation. REAL Generators that can run for days and days and days need not be noisy.

 

[oosik]

I have never heard of a Lithium battery generator. So I checked out two of the recommended brands. Both sites recommended use, to power - cell phones, laptops, portable GPS units. Both sites sure used a lot of "high tech" terminology and undefined double-speak. Will they power your refrigerator, by itself, for 24 hours - NO. TV - NO Well pump - NO. Hot water heater - NO.

Sound a awful lot like a toy for the uber rich and those who need to brag about "saving the environment".

 

[Sawyer Rob]

First of all, it annoys me to see manufacturers reffering to batteries as "FUEL". Confuses people who dond't have a clue about energy even more. Or worse, calling a battery a "Generator".

Yup, they will say anything to get them sold!!

SR

 

[ponytug]

Lithium battery "generators" won't do what you want. You have to have a way to recharge them as they are just small batteries, and very expensive batteries. Most of the ones I have seen won't power a coffee maker. Recharge your phone, run your computer for a little while, yes.

The whole house versions are Powerwalls (from Tesla), or Enphase, or Siemens, but you will need a way to charge them up absent grid power. Many folks farther south from you have large solar panel arrays installed already, and it becomes simple to recharge the whole house batteries. If you expect to be out during the winter, you may need a pretty large array to have enough solar power where you are. I would have a look at the thread jaydee325 mentioned. To put it in the ballpark, two Tesla Powerwall batteries would basically match your 9500W generator, (10kW, 26.8kWh) but you are looking at $15,000+/-, with no solar. Enphase and Siemens are more expensive at the moment. It all comes down to how much power you want for how long.

RVs are small (200sqft), low power, are easy to put solar on the roof, and you can get by easily on solar during the summer, if you are just using it for lighting. But you aren't running your RV AC for very long if you don't have a generator onboard. Most RVs have propane heating, propane stoves, and propane powered refrigerators, so the electrical load is quite small compared to a normal house.

Where you are, (I am guessing), I suspect that most cost effective solution is probably a whole house generator off of a large propane or diesel tank. There may be other reasons to prefer a solar system with battery, but given your latitude, solar is going to be pretty weak during the winter. You can add more panels to compensate, but that makes it pricier.

Good luck.

All the best,

Peter

 

[fried1765]

I have an Cummins Onan Quiet Diesel Generator, 7.5 KW that you can stand beside and easily have a conversation. REAL Generators that can run for days and days and days need not be noisy.

Much of the secret there is that it is an 1800 RPM generator.

 

[cqaigy2]

Yes, i had to do a search on lithium battery "generator" to find some DIY solutions. Im most cases, it looked to be fine for small scale applications, but like i said in the other thread linked here. I couldn't get the pencil to cooperate with the budget. I like the idea of something not so noisy, but those options add to the cost, regardless of the method used for electric power.

 

[k0ua]

First of all, it annoys me to see manufacturers reffering to batteries as "FUEL". Confuses people who dond't have a clue about energy even more. Or worse, calling a battery a "Generator".

Whole discussion about backup surrounds energy density and storage. What you never know in most outages is HOW LONG WILL THE POWER BE OUT? Anything with battteries is no good if you can't recharge it. Cell sites apparently found this out in TEXAS with rolling blackouts. The "ON" times were not long enough to recharge their batteries.

Agreed. It is stupid to call them Generators. THEY ARE NOT. The do not generate electricity, they store electricity. in other words a battery and an inverter to convert the DC electricity to AC electricity. Very small scale. A windmill generates electricity, a solar cell generates electricity a steam turbine hooked to a generator generates electricity. A diesel or gas engine hooked to a generator generates electricity, a water wheel hooked to a generator generates electricity. This thing stores electricity (DC) and converts it into another form (AC).

A gallon of gasoline or diesel can generate a heck of a lot of electrical power. And when that gallon is all gone, you have time to go find another one and pour it in. What are you going to do when your battery in your "generator" is done? Nothing, you are done.

 

[ernemats]

Ryobi is coming out with a 1800 watt generator run off 2 of their 40 volt batteries , no details about it on their web site yet, basically I would call it an inverter rather than a generator. It would be nice for running power tools, lights away from an electric source.4V 18 WATT POWER STATION / 4-PORT CHARGER | RYOBI Tools

 

[k0ua]

Ryobi is coming out with a 1800 watt generator run off 2 of their 40 volt batteries , no details about it on their web site yet, basically I would call it an inverter rather than a generator. It would be nice for running power tools, lights away from an electric source.4V 18 WATT POWER STATION / 4-PORT CHARGER | RYOBI Tools

It mentions in the manual the 1800 watt load is for 3 minuets maximum. it gave a couple of other run times, a 50 watt load for 8.4 hours, and a 200 watt load for 4.5 hours.

if we extrapolate out that 200 watt load to 1000 watt load (first lets convert 4.5 hours to minutes we get 270 minutes) we would get 270 divided by 5= 54 minutes. BUT you can't really do that because the battery discharge rates are not linear. I am guessing the 1000 watt load would be less than 30 minutes. This is true usable power, but a far cry from even a small 1000 watt gasoline generator that will run a 1000 watt load for hours on a gallon of gas. But it is quiet, and you can use it inside in the room you are in. You just can't use it very long. For small loads like a laptop, it could run it for according to their chart 8.4 hours. Of course the built in batteries of even my junky old laptop will run it for 12 hours.