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Page 1 of 2 A Generator Charger System where solar and hydro can be added later for greater independence.
This system supplies 120 volts AC electricity 24 hours a day 7 days a week. This makes it possible to wash and dry clothes, operate compact fluorescent lighting, blender, juicer, computer, audio equipment, TV, VCR, DVD player, etc. etc. and live comfortably, if electricity use is managed properly.
Efficiency
The generator is just large enough to handle duties around the home that require large amounts of electricity while at the same time charging the battery bank. These are duties such as washing and drying clothes, charging miscellaneous rechargeable batteries that need to be charged or topped off, taking baths/showers (since this requires the water pump to run more), and vacuuming, etc. Managing the household operations this way is very efficient because many duties that use large amounts of energy, when combined like this, are accomplished during the time in which the generator was going to be running anyway.
Power Demands of Generator During Charging Cycle
| Xantrex DR-1512 inverter-charger at 12 volts |
840 watts
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| Standard clothes washer |
600 watts
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| Grundfos SQ series 1/3 HP submersible water pump with "soft start" feature (8 gpm possible) |
480 watts |
| Propane clothes dryer |
500 watts |
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TOTAL
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2420 watts |
The Honda EU3000is generator is rated at 2800 watts. This means that the generator can constantly handle up to 2800 watts of load (electricity that is being used). If you subtract 2420 watts from the 2800 watts that are available from the generator this will leave 380 watts available to be used for lights, etc. during the charging cycle. If a Staber clothes washer is used instead of a standard washer, another 435 watts would be available for use since the Staber only uses 165 watts to wash clothes.
As the charging cycle progresses the inverter-charger will start “backing off” (using less power to charge). This, along with the fact that the washer and the water pump should be completing their work, means there should be enough power available from the generator to do other duties that couldn’t be done during the first part of the charging cycle such as ironing, etc. Before ironing, you must do the math to make sure that enough of the 2800 watts are available.
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