Quote from: K-Dog on Nov 22, 2024, 03:18 PMYou kept the gas cost down by using it to charge batteries. Most people don't buy batteries or have the knowledge to charge and use them. They just run the generator and plug stuff in. An inverter runs a few hundred. Our pure sine wave 3000 watt model is $499. You also need a battery charger which is only a hundred or so but don't forget all the cables and cords. Total cost for the charger and cables will be over a hundred for sure.
Granted most people don't know as much as I do, but you don't need to be a rocket scientist or spend a lot of money to keep the basic power running for a typical McMansion or condo.
The battery charger I used for keeping my deep cycle batt charged all the time was the same one I have in my emergency car kit to charge the car battery if it won't start on a cold morning. It was a good one, $60. I also had a $30 trickle charger.
Power inverters, pure sine wave is nice and not that expensive anymore, $200 maybe but really I never had a problem using cheaper square wave ones. When you plug in a laptop. the power supply converts it to DC anyhow. $100 will buy you a good enough inverter.
I had a big 100AH DC batt for RVs I used, but you can use smaller ones. Now I set up my EV wheelchair which runs on 2 45 AH 12V batts wired in series for 24V to power the chair. I added a separate 12V circuit to power my 1500W inverter. The chair is now my personal backup power supply. The Gulag here of course has a big ass institutional genny that kicks in automatically with a power outage, so I don't really need it. Anyhow, your batt cost anywhere from a low of $60 for 1 12V Deep Cycle 35AH batt to maybe $150 for a 100AH RV or Marine DC Batt. Assorted extension cords, $50-100, depends how big your house is and how far you gotta run the wire from the outside genny to the inside batt and inverter, and then from that setup to the fridge and computer etc. In my 1 bed apt with the genny on the porch, I had 3 extension cords with multiple power outlets covered everything.
Al together, with the Genny, Inverter, DC power supply, Batt and wiring, you're still under $1000.
RE