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diy solar

Looking for a dependable solar battery generator

Kiwiwi

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Jan 24, 2021
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I’m looking for a dependable solar battery back up generator that can support an indoor refrigerator and some small devices if I was to loose power in Vegas
 
I’m looking for a dependable solar battery back up generator that can support an indoor refrigerator and some small devices if I was to loose power in Vegas
Having an idea how much energy your fridge uses in a day and how many days (or hours) you want to prepare to be without power will go a long way to directing your decision.

Two easy ways to get an idea of how much your fridge consumes is to buy a "kill-a-watt" meter and use it to track how much your fridge uses over a few days, or you can get a ballpark by looking at the 'energy star' sticker which will list kwh per year and divide by 365
 
I agree with measuring your load first, so you know what capacity you need. I recently got a Bluetti AC200P for basically the same purpose. I have a fridge in the kitchen and a separate freezer downstairs that I would like to power during a power outage. I have a gas generator, so the main purpose of the battery pack is to power loads during the night (so I only need to run the generator during the day).

With my Kill-a-watt I already knew roughly what those appliances consume. I had started putting together a separate system with a Battle Born battery and inverter when I heard about the Bluetti and decided to buy it. My current plan is to use the BB (1200 Wh) with inverter for the fridge and AC200P (2000 Wh) for the freezer, since the freezer draws more power. I recently ran a test during the day of running the freezer off the AC200P. Over 10 hours the AC200P charge dropped from 100% to 31% (0.72 kWh total according to the Kill-a-watt). This is good enough for my needs, and during the night (with nobody opening the door at times) it should be even better.

I have not seen any real problems with my AC200 so far, but a number of others have reported various issues and Will has stopped recommending them. Based on that, I would pass on it right now if you really need dependability - wait till they shake out the early manufacturing issues. However, I believe the older Bluetti models EB150 and EB240 have a solid reputation. And the (expensive!) Titan is supposed to be the Cadillac in this market. I haven't found any others so far that I would trust for heavier loads like appliances. I think my future purchases in this area will be components for custom DIY systems.
 
Here is a link where a fella did an experiment with a Titan Generator, powering a freezer and a separate frig. He compared both of them being fully powered via the generator and then put timers on the outlet only allowing 15 minutes every hour to draw power. His experiment resulted in a large battery charge savings doing it this way with little if any loss of temperature. I really thought it was clever:
. If you don’t care to go to a direct link, look up on YouTube: “Titan Solar Generator Review Used in Practical Scenarios”.
 
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