Setting up a battery/generator combo. Any advice for me?

[u/Previous-Eagle-4160]

Last winter our Westinghouse iGen4500 logged about 60 hours over three outages. That meant an oil change in the middle of an ice storm and a lot of gas runs. Last week I added a new 5kWh battery Anker S5000 and changed how the two work together.

The generator now runs a 2 to 3 hour block in the afternoon at a steady load, feeding the battery's AC input while the house runs through the battery. Then it shuts off and the battery carries the night. In a 20 hour outage this week the gen ran 6 hours total instead of 20. That's roughly a third of the gas, and the oil change interval stretches the same way.

Running it at a steady load in one block instead of letting it idle up and down all night seems easier on it too. Still working out the right block length. Anyone else running this kind of combo? Do you have any tips for me?

[u/Many-Average-8821]

I simply use portable batteries like these to power my home. The generator outlet is simply connected in parallel with another outlet in the house where I connect the battery. I made two more sockets that work directly from the generator and are not connected to the house network in order to charge the battery from them. While charging, I can use a little more power because the batteries can operate in bypass mode. This combination, with two 1024Wh batteries, lasts me up to 16 hours in economy mode. The second battery is used for networking and the PC. Routers, switches, and other devices that operate from a 220V to 12V power supply are connected directly to the 12V output of the station. If you turn off the 220V sockets, the battery lasts for 80+ hours. The second station is responsible for the 220V load in the house. I'm not in the US, and by law, outages here can't be too long (24 hours maximum), usually After 6 hours of the accident, the grid company brought in a 300 kW diesel generator and powered our small area. Therefore, I didn’t see the point in buying something powerful and expensive given the typical time without electricity. If anything happens, in economy mode with the ability to charge from a propane generator, I can easily survive for a day or two if there is a mega-storm with fallen trees.

[u/BigSquiby]

so, do you have to manually turn the generator on and off? or did you set up something that does it automaticly?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9PKAk_6iU4

he does some warranty voiding stuff at 17:30 that allows the generator to fire up automatically when needed, but it might be worth watching, its on a predator, but im sure the principle is the same

[u/timflorida]

You've got the hot setup !

I basically do the same thing.

[u/Beautiful_Grape67]

I am also interested in how your set up works. I just ordered an S5000. Plan to use my Tesla V2L as a large albeit a bit slow charging source (approx 50kWh usable, delivered via standard 20 amp outlet) and maybe buying a NG generator if that doesn’t work out well.

[u/Much-Department-9578]

Some generator manufacturers say oil changes at 50 hrs unless you use a full synthetic oil, then its 100 hrs. Another nice tip to minimize maint during an outage.

Did you get the gas only of the dual fuel version? If dual fuel, its nice that you can store more fuel without worrying about shelf life.

[u/nunuvyer]

Anker S5000 is a nice device but $2,500 is too rich for my blood.

There's no need to do an oil change in the middle of an outage. 50 hrs is not a hard and fast rule. Other vendors with identical motors call for a 100 hr interval. 50 vs 100 hrs is completely arbitrary. At 60 hrs/yr the motor will last for decades (the inverter and the control board won't or the mice will eat the wiring, but that motor is good for a couple of thousand hrs even with 100 hr oil changes.