13 July 2012, 12:17
Right, I've decided that I need a backup power supply. This is the one department I'm lacking in (unless you speak to the wife).
The Choices:
- Genny
- solar panels and battery array
- giant 00111001 sized hamster wheel
The Generator:
I've been looking at these for a while, maybe I'm mistaken, but to get one to power my household goodies I'm gonna need a big diesel gen, 4.5kv or something in that range. But these are out of my price range.
Solar Panels:
Ok, so these are great, free power from the sun etc, and batteries to save all that lovely power - but it ain't always sunny, and they're quite expensive, especially when you get to the batteries etc.
Hamster wheel:
I'm too lazy
The Compromise:
So I may be wrong here (or just plain stupid) so please correct / ridicule / generally abuse me if I am indeed being retarded, but I'm thinking that I could get a smaller petrol genny, just a wee little one, and use that to charge an array of leisure batteries. That's got me an immediate source of power (I'm in a hurry to get this up and running) with the disadvantage that I need fuel to run it. But I should be able to add in solar panels and a charge controller at a later date?
Whaddya think? Is this a viable option to get me a backup power supply ASAP with the view to move it to a more sustainable source in the future?
The Choices:
- Genny
- solar panels and battery array
- giant 00111001 sized hamster wheel
The Generator:
I've been looking at these for a while, maybe I'm mistaken, but to get one to power my household goodies I'm gonna need a big diesel gen, 4.5kv or something in that range. But these are out of my price range.
Solar Panels:
Ok, so these are great, free power from the sun etc, and batteries to save all that lovely power - but it ain't always sunny, and they're quite expensive, especially when you get to the batteries etc.
Hamster wheel:
I'm too lazy
The Compromise:
So I may be wrong here (or just plain stupid) so please correct / ridicule / generally abuse me if I am indeed being retarded, but I'm thinking that I could get a smaller petrol genny, just a wee little one, and use that to charge an array of leisure batteries. That's got me an immediate source of power (I'm in a hurry to get this up and running) with the disadvantage that I need fuel to run it. But I should be able to add in solar panels and a charge controller at a later date?
Whaddya think? Is this a viable option to get me a backup power supply ASAP with the view to move it to a more sustainable source in the future?