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Newbie Question regarding a Solar Generator

TonyT69

New Member
Joined
Nov 17, 2022
Messages
3
Hello Folks,

I am an absolutely newbie to all of this and I was hoping that you knowledgeable people might be able to answer a question I have. I have an off grid barn in the Pyrenees in France and I am looking to install solar as a replacement for a petrol generator I currently use. The power I require is modest. I have a solar fridge which runs on its own circuit and panels. I only require power for a few lights, mobile phone, Bluetooth speaker charging, a small TV and the occasions my wife uses her hairdryer! My current petrol generator is an 800 watt model. The barn is a renovation project as a holiday bolt hole. I have been looking at the various Solar Generators like Ecoflow, Bluetti etc. My question is whether one of these units can be used as a direct replacement for the petrol generator? Currently the petrol generator plugs into the house via an ordinary plug. I plug the cable into the generator, start it up and it runs everything I need. My question is can I swap out the petrol generator for solar generator without any modification to the current electrical set up. I am sorry if this is a naive question but I can’t seem to find an answer to my question anywhere! Thanks in advance!
 
Yes, you can use the nicer pre-builts as a drop in replacement for the generator, especially if you're currently running on an 800w unit and it's doing the trick. You will need to do some homework however and find out what your Kwh usage is per day to make sure you can get one with enough battery capacity to make it through the night. A simple Kill-A-Watt device plugged into your genny for a few days will give you a running total daily usage average (so plug it into the genny, plug the cord into the Kill-A-Watt, do a normal few days) and then just size the unit and solar panels to fit those needs with some extra.

The mountains out there mean weather is going to be a factor so hit up PVWatts.com or the JRC solar calculator site and plug in your location to see how much usable sun you'll get on average.

You're probably using what, 3-4 liters of petrol a day on that genny? Does it hold down the hair dryer?
 
Thanks Rednecktek for your swift reply…very much appreciated! The hairdryer is a travel model so it doesn’t draw too much for the generator. Yes you’re correct I’ll use on average about 3L of petrol. Thanks for those links I’ll check those out and definitely look at a Kill-A-Watt device to give me a running total of usage. I was looking at the pre-builds as an option because along with mobile panels I can lock the whole system safely away at times I’m not at the barn. My worry was I would need to adapt the current electrical circuits to use it when for ease I was looking for a ‘plug and play’ direct replacement for the petrol genny. Once again thank you for your most helpful input, it is much appreciated.
 
Nope, one of the many benefits to a properly built solar generator is that the things you're plugging into it are completely unaware of whether the power is coming from the grid, a generator, a battery, or a hamster wheel.
 
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