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Old 01-13-2021, 12:29 PM   #1
BRL
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Chevy Power Story...sort of.

Hauled a Honda generator to my sisters house in my very cool '69-60 miles away, some time before Christmas and gave it to her.

Power went out at 12:30 this morning here.

...not a problem.

I have a lawnmower powering an extra internally regulated GM alternator, that goes to an extra truck battery inside my cabin. (yes it's vented)

The setup powers an 800 watt-120v inverter, and I also have 12v car lights located in various places inside the cabin running directly off the batt.

Oh, and I have a wood stove in here and a RV stove/oven with full propane bottles up in the garage.

I'm doing alright if I do say so myself!



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Old 01-13-2021, 12:35 PM   #2
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Re: Chevy Power Story...sort of.

Very Nice! Livin'-the-dream, so to speak.

How many amps can your system put out for the 120 volt side?
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Old 01-13-2021, 12:37 PM   #3
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Re: Chevy Power Story...sort of.

All I know is it's 800 watts and is powering my PC right now.
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Old 01-13-2021, 02:13 PM   #4
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Re: Chevy Power Story...sort of.

.

LOL!!!!

Now ya got me thinkin'

I've got a lawnmower, an alternator, some wiring, tools and time....

-klb
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Old 01-13-2021, 02:30 PM   #5
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Re: Chevy Power Story...sort of.

Reminds me of Red Green,lol
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Old 01-13-2021, 08:36 PM   #6
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Re: Chevy Power Story...sort of.

Plenty of gas?
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Old 01-13-2021, 08:59 PM   #7
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Re: Chevy Power Story...sort of.

Oh yea, 5 gal. for whatever, 1 gal. mixed 2-stroke, and a gallon of diesel for cheating on starting a fire in the pit.

Had the mower from another address, but my home here doesn't have much of a lawn to worry about...jealous?

HA!

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Old 01-13-2021, 10:24 PM   #8
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Re: Chevy Power Story...sort of.

Your power plant is awesome!
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Old 01-13-2021, 11:28 PM   #9
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Re: Chevy Power Story...sort of.

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Originally Posted by sick472 View Post
Very Nice! Livin'-the-dream, so to speak.

How many amps can your system put out for the 120 volt side?
According to Ohms law (Volts X amps = watts), that would be 6.67 amps... And that's not subtracting the power loss due to heat in the inverter.. Depending on the efficiency of the inverter, that could be 30 - 50% loss..
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Old 01-14-2021, 12:29 AM   #10
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Re: Chevy Power Story...sort of.

That sure doesn't sound like much, but the 12 volt car lights work good and so does the computer, modem, router etc.

As long as all that works during an outage, I'm doing good.
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Old 01-14-2021, 05:36 AM   #11
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Re: Chevy Power Story...sort of.

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That sure doesn't sound like much, but the 12 volt car lights work good and so does the computer, modem, router etc.

As long as all that works during an outage, I'm doing good.
I didn't mean you have 6.67 amps total available current. If you have the system wired correctly, and if I'm understanding what you have, Your 12V lighting system is on the same side as the input for the inverter.. 12 volts DC into the inverter -- 120 volts AC on the output.. Estimating the power loss in the inverter, you have about 5 amps available current to run your AC items off the inverter...
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Old 01-14-2021, 08:25 AM   #12
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Re: Chevy Power Story...sort of.

Nice calcs Rusty. 5 amps are better than 4 OR none. Hope the power is back on BRL!
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Old 01-14-2021, 11:58 AM   #13
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Re: Chevy Power Story...sort of.

Are you using a surge protector???
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Old 01-14-2021, 01:29 PM   #14
BRL
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Re: Chevy Power Story...sort of.

Power is back on, no surge protector.

Should I have one?

Do people have one when they hook up an inverter to their vehicle battery?

Have used this setup for 10 years or more without any problems.

Except the weak plastic starter cog broke on the cheezy Briggs & Stratton pull start engine, and I now just wrap a rope around it.

I remember when those things were made of steel...geeze, I'm old enough to remember when cars were made of steel and not so much plastic too.
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Old 01-14-2021, 01:39 PM   #15
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Re: Chevy Power Story...sort of.

It sounds like a nice setup.
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Old 01-14-2021, 01:43 PM   #16
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Re: Chevy Power Story...sort of.

Quote:
Originally Posted by BRL View Post
...<snip>... I'm old enough to remember when cars were made of steel and not so much plastic too.
Yup...I think this board is full of us.


-klb
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07 335 sport turbo 6sp
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Old 01-14-2021, 07:46 PM   #17
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Re: Chevy Power Story...sort of.

Just got two new batteries, and my cabinet is already set up for two. (more capacity)

You can see the ammeter off to the right to make sure they're charging, along with a light to excite the alt. field, and a cigarette lighter for...um, lighting cigarettes, and the Black & Decker inverter in front.

The batteries also fit the truck and my 73 VW bug as well.

Also have the plug connector hooked up for a battery tender to keep them fully charged up when not in use.

Can hardly wait for the next outage!


Last edited by BRL; 01-14-2021 at 08:21 PM.
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Old 01-14-2021, 11:17 PM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BRL View Post
Hauled a Honda generator to my sisters house in my very cool '69-60 miles away, some time before Christmas and gave it to her.

Power went out at 12:30 this morning here.


...not a problem.

I have a lawnmower powering an extra internally regulated GM alternator, that goes to an extra truck battery inside my cabin. (yes it's vented)

The setup powers an 800 watt-120v inverter, and I also have 12v car lights located in various places inside the cabin running directly off the batt.

Oh, and I have a wood stove in here and a RV stove/oven with full propane bottles up in the garage.

I'm doing alright if I do say so myself!



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Old 01-14-2021, 11:18 PM   #19
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Careful this **** is addictive.
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Old 01-14-2021, 11:40 PM   #20
BRL
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Re: Chevy Power Story...sort of.

...so is being a showoff.

WOW that is AWESOME!

...bet it ain't powered by a lawnmower though.
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Old 01-15-2021, 10:36 AM   #21
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...so is being a showoff.

WOW that is AWESOME!

...bet it ain't powered by a lawnmower though.
Lol not trying to show off, I started about the same as you. I built a lighting system for the wife’s garden out of a little power wheels battery a cheap inverter and one of the harbor freight solar panels. It work so we’ll i thought I’d try to make a little bigger one for the house to use for nessesaties if the power went out, well, I got a little carried away! Now I can flip a couple of switches and run the whole house off solar! Just warning ya, it’s addictive!
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Old 01-15-2021, 11:30 AM   #22
BRL
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Re: Chevy Power Story...sort of.

I know you ain't trying to show off.

That is a cool solar powered system, but it rains here more often than not this time of year, so only seasonal sunshine and I would assume, charging.

Besides, the lawnmower was free to me and I hated to see it go to waste.

Think I'll flip the main breaker box switch to "off" and pretend the power went out tonight.

God I'm weird!

BIG FUN!

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Old 01-15-2021, 03:35 PM   #23
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I know you ain't trying to show off.

That is a cool solar powered system, but it rains here more often than not this time of year, so only seasonal sunshine and I would assume, charging.

Besides, the lawnmower was free to me and I hated to see it go to waste.

Think I'll flip the main breaker box switch to "off" and pretend the power went out tonight.

God I'm weird!

BIG FUN!

I got so excited a few days a go when it was storming and the lights flickered! I was like “bring it on!”
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Old 01-15-2021, 05:14 PM   #24
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Re: Chevy Power Story...sort of.

You better not mess................with mother nature.
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Old 01-15-2021, 07:34 PM   #25
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You better not mess................with mother nature.
True!
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