Got it,
El Belga said:
Hi,
I have a 1.5 K Trace invertor with 2 batteries. It really works very well. Once the batteries are charged, we can stay more or less 6 or 7 hours without power (without playing the fool and switching on every light and fans of the house of course) The main problem is that we have between 2 or 3 hours of power every 12 hours... So this is not enough to charge the batteries (I think a 8 batteries invertor would even need much more time to charge). With such a generator, I will at least be able to work (did I mention the fact I was "workolic" ? :classic: In fact I don't want to be obliged to tell my clients I could not do their job because I had no light) and to have a few lights, TV and fans.
Knowing that, I would guess that a 6K (minimum) generator would do the job of both recharging your batteries and operating the electrical devices that are presently hooked up to your inverter.
Although we are very short of street power hours, it can be done with additional batteries. I am operating exclusively with an inverter, despite the lack of street power and I manage to get enough charge to not run the batteries down.
To accomplish this, I have energy efficient bulbs (16 watt with 70 watt luminescence), I turn off all unnecessary electricals during power outages, set my PC to go into standy within 10 minutes of non usage, monitors to shut off after 2 minutes and I keep my inverter's charge rate to the maximun.
This solution would save you a lot of money, noise, fumes and grief.
Bear in mind that you may not be able to add batteries to your existing ones, if they are more than a couple of months old, as the old ones would constantly drain the new ones and reduce the efficiency of your set up.
If you had to buy 8 new batteries at an approx cost of 4,000 RD apiece, (or less) the total cost would be less than 50,000 RD and I do believe that would be the end of your problems.
I operate the bar, restaurant and five rooms with 12 batteries. I act like Scrooge when the power goes out, but it works and I'm tickled pink that I don't have to dick around with a mechanical generator, run around buying fuel, listen to the noise and breathe the fumes.
It's not a bulletproof system, as the power could go out for 2 days and mess up the plan, but you could keep the 2 old batteries with an occasional charge for exceptionally long outages, so that you can at least run your PC.
Marco.