How To Choose A Portable Generator
89First, The Questions....
If this is your first time to purchase a portable generator for any reason, there are a number of factors that need to be considered. The following is not necessarily a comprehensive list but should at least narrow down the choices to a manageable few.
1. Will noise be a factor? It may seem a bit odd to place this as the first consideration, but it really is important. If you will be using it only in locations so remote that neighbors couldn't even hear a shotgun going off, then it's not a factor. If it will be used only for emergencies such as a major power outage during a hurricane, then the neighbors will most likely have other things to worry about and it's still probably not a factor.
Conversely, if you'll be using it as your only power source in a crowded development with neighbors packed on top of each other like sardines in a can, it most certainly is a consideration. Likewise, if you or your significant other just plain hate noise pollution (as I do), noise is a consideration.
2. How much power will be needed? This one can be tricky. For one thing, there's a huge difference between "needed" and "wanted". Secondly, first time users need to know that rated wattage on any portable generator out there is much greater than the realistic usage available. Pam and I try not to use much more than one quarter of the rated amount if the time of usage is going to be longer than a few seconds of surge.
3. How critical is the cost of fuel? I'll limit the discussion of this issue to machines using gasoline as fuel--simply because we have the most experience with those--but the same question applies to generators (portable or not) powered by diesel fuel or propane. In general, the power output of the unit far outweighs the brand name on this point: Figure out the size needed first, after which it does pay to compare fuel consumption figures between makes and models capable of producing the desired output. That is, Brand A's 5000 watt machine may use less fuel than does Brand B's 5000 watt machine...but no matter how fuel-stingy Brand A may be, its 5000 watt machine will not be able to get by the gas pump as cheaply as any brand's 1000 watt model.
We've found this power-versus-fuel-cost problem to be most easily handled by having two generators, not one, on hand at all times. The 900 watt unit runs as much as 16 hours per day and is powering the computer I'm using to write this Hub. The 5500 watt machine, which is actually an entirely different brand and cost less than the much smaller workhorse, is used only in brief bursts for brewing coffee, microwave cooking, pumping well water, and other high-wattage tasks.
4. Are sensitive electronics involved? By "sensitive electronics", think computers. We've used "coarser" electrical power to run TV sets and air conditioners and just about everything else, but the personal computer--to be safe, anyway--needs the security of a "smoother" sine wave of AC current. Every good solar installation uses an inverter for just this purpose as well.
An Illustrative Example
There are way too many possible choices when you take all four parameters into consideration. It can be terrifically confusing. What's worse, if those four factors are not studied with some serious thought, it's quite possible to wind up spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars for a huge generator you can't afford to fuel (on the one hand) or perhaps a wimpy thing that will burn out almost immediately from being overloaded (on the other hand).
Let's take a look at the steps we followed and the results that...uh...resulted.
1. The noise factor. For me even more than for Pam, noise is a huge factor. I detest unnecessary background noise. With that in mind as I began searching the Internet for our "first and most important" portable generator last March (which would be used in our new digs in Cochise County, Arizona, come April), I always looked at the decibel rating. Nothing over 60 db (decibels) was even considered.
2. The power requirement factor. Having "been there before", we knew we could get by with a small 1000 watt generator for the long-running stuff. Essentially, that amounts to one television set (including the preamp which improves antenna reception), one laptop computer (with the printer turned on only as needed), and one 60 watt incandescent bulb (we refuse to use flourescent lights). Total: Somewhere around 200 watts of "draw" after dark (when the lamp is turned on), around 140 watts during daylight hours.
We did discover that we needed a much larger unit to power the well that was already in place. Thankfully, the man who sold us the land also came up with a 5500 watt Troy-Bilt unit (powered by a 305 cc Briggs & Stratton engine). He purchased it initially, and we are reimbursing him as we can. Yes, we believe we bought from the right gentleman! Since we are free to use it any way we choose, we fire that one up whenever we need to brew coffee (675 watt coffee maker) use the microwave (900 watt draw), etc. It is seldom on for more than 20 minutes per day, which is good in two ways: That big beastie sucks down gas pretty fast, but still not a lot with such short running times...and the engine should last just about forever.
3. The fuel factor. For our primary unit, this was absolutely crucial. I was leaving a high paying job as a truck driver during hard economic times with no job guarantee in Arizona. As it has turned out so far, I still have not succeeded in getting hired for a new "day job" some three months after our arrival in Cochise County. (No donations, please. I am drawing my Social Security and supplementing that with writing articles on the Internet. Our land purchase is secure, and we won't starve.)
But the point is, it's not that difficult with a larger generator to end up either drastically limiting your times of power availabilty or paying a whole bunch for gas every month. If you're not volunteering to subsidize the oil companies, pay attention to this factor. If we ran our 5500 watt Troy-Bilt 14 hours a day, the fuel cost alone (at 07/06/09 prices) would be running nearly $1600 per month!!!! OUCH!!!!
4. The sensitive electronics issue. I knew being able to go online "at will" was important. Although unaware that within a month or two I'd give up entirely on local job hunting and begin writing online full time, there were other needs. Various Internet searches...email...online banking...posting song videos...maintaining my poetic humor website.... Even with the right generator, I've already blown up one of my two precious laptops. (Not the fault of the power source; another issue entirely.)
ONCE ALL FOUR FACTORS WERE EVALUATED, THE DECISION TURNED OUT TO BE NO DECISION AT ALL.
It came down solidly on the side of one little lightweight machine in particular: The Yamaha EF1000iS. Don't get me wrong. Yamaha does cheat a little: Though rated at 1000 watts in the online advertising, the user's manual admits its output is really only 900 watts. But that is still enough for our immediate needs, and the lower output means it's a real fuel sipper.
Checking this out night after night produced the following findings:
1, Nothing else on the market was nearly as quiet. A similar Honda model came close, but no cigar. The two were comparable at higher rpm speeds, but the Yamaha's economy switch--which allows it to run at 1/4 load at onl 47 db, quieter than normal human speech--beat the pants off the Honda's 52 db rating for the same load.
2. Rated run time for the Yamaha was a full 12 hours on a full tank at 1/4 load. Nothing else came even close. That 12 hours is on a fuel tank capacity of only 0.66 gal. (and we do even better than that in practice), which means we're getting by on roughly $50 to $55 worth of gas per month...not $1600!!
3. The "i" series for both Yamaha and Honda have internal inverters as part of their technology. To state what this means in the simplest terms, electricity that goes through and inverter comes out "clean" and very safe to use for computers and other sensitive electronics. Either the Honda or the Yamaha appeared perfectly functional in this regard, but the Yamaha had already won the match on the other two points.
Besides, we'd already owned a Yamaha and really appreciated its quality and durability...not to mention that this new one only weighs 27 pounds right out of the box!
Your portable generator needs may, of course, point toward an entirely different machine than either the little Yamaha or the much heftier Troy-Bilt. With that in mind, the links below reach a number of what we've found to be the better sites handling brands of interest. Have some fun. Take an hour, check out a few different makes and models, apply the criteria. When you're done, you should be able to impress the dickens out of your spouse with your newfound knowledge regarding the exact generator that is just right for you.
Thanks for reading,
Ghost32
Links To Top Sites For Portable Generators
- Portable Generators, Home Generators & Pressure Washers | Briggs & Stratton
A solid Briggs & Stratton site with ease of navigation for parts as well as complete units. The people who run this site helped me find the Model Number on the 5500 watt generator we've trusted for years to pump our well water. - Mitsubishi Engine North America, Inc.; Mitsubishi Generators
Like Subaru, Mitsubishi only sells through dealers. The site doesn't "feel" all that friendly, either... but the specs look A-ok. - Subaru Robin - Generators
We didn't know until right now that Subaru made generators, but if they make 'em, they make 'em right. Too bad they don't sell online but only through dealers. - Coleman generator supplier
Coleman is the brand we used to power an air conditioner in Montana for two years. It was hardly quiet and sounded a bit rough when it was running, but it did run and never failed to start. - Honda Power Equipment - Generators
Honda has generators that are either "even better than Yamaha" or "almost as good as Yamaha" depending on who you ask. - Troy-Bilt Generators and Pressure Washers - Generators
These are powered by Briggs & Stratton engines. - http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/NTESearch?storeId=6970&N=0&Ntk=All&
A site well known to people living off grid. Sells half a dozen different well known brands of generators. The link is a clear contender for "World's Longest" but does take you straight to the generator page (Northern Tool sells a LOT of stuff.).
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p.s. Fullriver Sealed Maintanance Free Deep Cycle AGM batteries (100 ah 12volt) have approx. 12 year lifespan...which are worth it for around $300 each...deepcycle wet cell fumers will last a few years longer...but are just not worth all the hassle...trust me:)....& a cheap China 1000watt Inverter can be ebay-ed for $150....& the good news is that solar panels are finially getting alot cheaper...25 years ago we were paying $500 for a 55 watter...the other day i bought a 140 watt china one (Rich Solar)for $680.....so for example, with one 100ah AGM battery plus one 1000watt Inverter...& one 100 watt solar panel...u can have a pretty good power setup for UNDER a grand....it all depends what u want to run...u size your setup to meet your LOAD requirements or u adjust that to suit what u can afford....i also hated or couldn't afford to buy gas for geny...the other thing to remember is to NEVER let u batteries go BELOW 50% charge....so a 100 ah AGM battery will give u 50ah 's of energy before needing recharging...my TV for example uses 4 amps...50 divided by 4 = 12.5 hours of TV...well in practice i prob.watch a few hours a night if that...so (in this example)i'd have plenty of extra power for lights etc....& if the sun shines the next morning
that solar panel will be replacing used amps...if it doesn't (winter) then thats when u may need your backup geny to boost their voltage/recharge....with my 10 solar panels..even on a grey overcast day...they pump out up to 6 amps or around 50ah's a day...my 12volt fridge that i only run during day & turn off at night..uses approx. 30 ah's a day...so even on grey no sun days, i still have the ability to watch 4 hours of TV a night WITHOUT using any power from batteries....& on those sunny days...got heaps of power...up to 200ah's a day...which is Half my battery bank capacity...again work on 50% of your battery ah (amp hour) rating....the first thing i do before i buy an electrical appliance is turn it upside down to see how many amps or watts it uses...VOLTS x AMPS = WATTS....or WATTS divided by VOLTS = AMPS....solar panels usually produce 18 volts ...so a 100 watt panels will produce 100 divided by 18 = 5.5amps.....GET IT...hows your maths?...well this is about as good as mine get :)....5.5 amps x 5.5 hours of sunlight = 30 ah's a day from one 100 watt solar panel...just enough to run my fridge...ok to take away camping or if u can't afford anymore panels...so thats why i have 580 watts of panels on house roof...got lights (minor power needed)computer & tv etc. to run...so it all depends what u want to run & FOR HOW LONG....knowing what i know now...my goal is to have enough power to run everything i need/want to & keep my batteries voltage working within the 70% to 100% capacity range or (12.3 volts to 13volts)...a good digital voltage readout 'Regulator' (forgot to mention that)is also part of this setup...20 amp one's are around $200....it protects batteries from overcharging & tells u voltage & how many ah's came in that day & how many u used etc...plus the better ones can do alot more...mine turns my fridge off when battery voltage gets down to 12.5 volts...& turns it back on again when voltage rises(sunny morning)to 13 volts.....(in a camping auto situation this would be when u start the engine & car alternator raises battery voltage)....anyway sure hope this helps someone out there... GB
Dave, thanks for the data. We're planning to (when we have the $) to go with wind rather than solar as our primary power source. Plenty of wind around here, or at least it seems so, and I've picked out a pretty cool wind turbine. Or could make my own, depending on the learning curve.
Either way, I'm glad to have the battery data--knew nothing about AGM until your posts. Once we do get some air power going, of course, the generators will be relegated to backup status.
ok sounds good if a very windy place....i used to have a 200 watt wind geny...not enough wind here & was not runnin most of the time...the solar panels on the other hand put out every day...so stuck with them...sold wind geny to guy from central Oz....i always like the English 'RUTLAND' type...start putting out at slower wind speeds than most...the model 913 in particular i love = http://www.emarineinc.com/products/wind_generators ....if we were rich Ghost ....a complete alternative setup would have solar, wind & geny backup...they all can have a part to play....& ofcourse if u had a perminent creek flowin past... even HYDRO...which are really efficient...puttin out 24/7.....yep those AGMs are amazing batteries...they use them in antarctica because unlike normal batteries...they only self discharge at about 4% a month compared to normal batteries which do that in a week...so u can leave em sit for a year & they still have 50% charge left....they also charge up much quicker & give out more power quicker...& will charge up to 100% off car alternator compared to 80% for normal lead acid battery...they even work under water & can be mounted anywhich way...never have to add water....don't give off fumes..so can have them in cupboard anywhere inside....Fullriver China brand has the name & rep....& is good value for $ compared to the big brand names like Lifeline & Optima which are more than three times the cost of a Fullriver... http://www.dcbattery.com/fullriver.html .i'm about to buy another 100ah China AGM for an incredable $180....prob. pretty much the same inside anyway & $120 cheaper than my Fullrivers....will take that one with me when i go on the road to run my camping 12volt fridge....plus around 120watt solar panel (2 x 60 watters joined by hinges so they can fold up)....plus my old regulator & one of my low voltage cut out switches i made up from a kit...this i can set to turn fridge on 13 volts & off at 12.8volts...this protects battery better than my old regulator can....basically this setup has the fridge running mostly directly off the sun & leaves the battery fully charged...batteries love that...only took me 25 years to work it out:)...always been abit slow....the only other thing i can think of about wind genys is that the location is everything...i used to get real bad wind turbulance off the big trees behind my place...used to knock it around & reduce its output...as well as blocking the wind from one direction....wide open spaces with plenty of Wind & HEIGHT are what Wind Generators love....GB
ok ...first of all EVERYTHING is SOLAR....wind sun fossil fuels plants life etc etc.....u can never get away from it...& u certainly can't get light years ahead of it burnin fossil fuels in a gasoline geny...thats just gunna be noisey & expensive....& generally a pain in the bum/butt.....photovoltaic panels are the closest things humans have to plant leaves...they just sit & convert the sunlight into energy...no moving parts...no maintainace, no oil or gasolene or noise...i checked out the wind genys on that website u gave me & they looked ok...if wind 'always' blowin high up above ground out your way...should be a big improvement on what your doing now....& in future on that long dark night of the soul....your wind geny maybe worth its weight in gold...Good luck & GB
Thanks. I'll take all the luck I can get, and I won't turn down any of God's blessings if I can help it, either.
Great questions that need to be answered prior to purchasing a portagle generator. Many of the newer more efficient portable generators produce around the 58 dbA range which is not too loud and inverter generators help with some of the sensitive equipment like computers.
True enough, John. We're already needing to replace the small Yamaha--not the machine's fault, but our desert heat and heavy usage have taken a toll. Will be sticking with Yamaha but moving up to the 2000 watt version (actually rated to handle 1600 watts, but they call it a 2000). Believe that should be just enough extra horsepower to let the generator breathe a little easier with the 300 watt loads we frequently draw.
Hope to have a wind turbine up and running within a few weeks, after which--hopefully--the generator(s) should have much less "steady work" to endure.
I was looking for a reference article on choosing a generator to show one of my clients and yours came up. Great job. Are you in the generator field?
No, I'm not "in" the generator field--just USE generators in the field...!
super helpful--I have been searching for info (relatively unbiased--as in not from the manufacturer) about generators. I really appreciate the timely info.
You're very welcome.
I was very pleased to find this site.I wanted to thank you for this great read!! I definitely enjoying every little bit of it and I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you post.
informative hub!
Coleman Generator, this site's computer flagged your comment as probably SPAM. I think that's probably accurate, but I've "un-SPAMMED" what you had to say as a springboard to add my own evaluation of Coleman Generators specifically.
To other readers: We've had Colemans. In general, they are relatively cheap, noisy as a rock party at Satan's weekend digs, don't last any longer than any other brand, and tend to hog gasoline. That said, we did run a through-the-window air conditioner on a Coleman generator for a couple of summers in Montana, and it did do the job for which it was designed...loudly.
We'd never buy another one. Our current "big gennie" that handles heavy applications is a TroyBilt with a Briggs & Stratton engine, as stated in the above article, and does the job nicely.
JGuthrie, thanks!
I always have a difficult time when it comes to a portable generator. I agree with one of your main points above, though. Noise is a huge issue. For me, a quieter generator is a must.
Thanks for the tips and advice.
The noise factor is so critical for us that right now, as I'm typing, power is supplied by a Yamaha ef2000i, which is a lot quieter than most--and it STILL drives me nuts from a distance of about 80 feet through a closed window with the exhaust pointing away from us.
Be nice when we finally get the wind turbine to function....
i wonder if buying a portable solar panel is better than getting a generator. At least the portable solar thin film does not create pollution problem.
Valid question, but I think not...at least for us. Firstly, one doesn't just buy a solar film and wind up "good to go"--there's the controller, battery bank, and invertor to add to that. Secondly, solar panels aren't cheap if you want to produce any significant wattage. Thirdly, they DO produce pollution:
1. All of the components require pollution-producing equipment to manufacture.
2. The battery bank off-gasses constantly--just the way it is. So much so that every producer of inverters warns the user NOT to place the inverter in the same case with the batteries themselves--the vapors, coming in contact with the electrical connections in the inverter, can ignite and either burn or explode.
Thirdly, the total system (solar panel, controller, battery bank, plus inverter) is fairly bulky even when considered "portable"--unless you're settling for teeny-tiny wattage, which is usually less than satisfactory. Our smaller generator (which is still our primary power source, though that will hopefully change shortly as I work to get our wind turbine going) weighs well under fifty pounds and takes up less than two cubic feet of space.
Onlythebestblog, I denied your comment, but ONLY because of the link you included. Please note, down at the bottom of the page, where it states, "Comments are not for promoting your hubs or other sites". Since you're new to HubPages, I strongly suspect you were simply going with the other line, i.e. "...but URLs will be hyperlinked". In some cases, I do approve those--but not where the link seems promotional, as yours did.
However, I liked what you had to say. If you'd care to re-post the text without the link, I'll definitely approve it.
Great info on generators. We just purchased a 33 foot travel trailer and are shopping for generators.
I am torn because I want the quiet regular operation of a Yamaha or Honda, but need the power of a larger one for my 15,000 BTU A/C. We will not be using the A/C all day and most likely never at night.
We also just purchased 17 acres in Mariposa, CA, near Yosemite, and will be "camping" there a lot while we build out dream log cabin house. 100% solar of course.
Thanks,
Bruce
I was looking at the Honeywell 5500 watt for our A/C needs. However, I can only find info like "Over-sized muffler for quiet operation " instead of an actual decibel number. I have been told that most camp sites do not allow generators over 68 - 70 decibels.
Do you know any sites that I can get this info? I even tried the Honeywell site and found nothing. Also, do you know the decibel output of your Troy-Built
byale, I totally understand the AC situation. My wife doesn't do well without it.
Unfortunately, no, I don't know the decibel level for our Troy-Bilt. Lowe's has plenty of ads for them online with specs listing the noise level at "0.0", sort of like Obama promising Obamacare won't raise the deficit, I guess. Only Lowe's! (Can you tell that in general I tend to avoid that store?)
All I can say is this:
1. I can't find any Honeywell noise data either, and neither could the reviewer at this pretty dandy link you might want to check out:
http://www.reviewportablegenerators.com/quiet-port
As the reviewer states, the fact that Honeywell isn't putting the noise data up front is not encouraging. But he did manage to find decibel data on quite a few models.
Also, I'll take a wild but at least semi-educated guess on the Troy-Bilt at: 72 decibels. In other words, noticeably louder than the Yamaha, not so loud I don't dare pull the starter rope without wearing earmuffs but definitely too loud for a campground. At least I'd never have the nerve to fire it up in one.
If you're primarily going to use it on your acreage, however, you might be able to "muffle it yourself". That is, both of our generators are situated in a way that points the Yamaha muffler directly at Pam's bedroom window (in the house I just built by hand) at a range of something between 15 and 20 feet. With the thermopane window closed, it's barely audible, but with the window open, it's definitely offensive.
But there are reasons (too long for this post) we don't want to reposition the engine, so in a few days (after finishing 2 other projects), I'm going to "baffle" the thing. We have lots of sandbags left over from building the home, and also a pile of rocks (2-3 inch diameter) and plenty of 4-point barbed wire. And stucco premix.
So I'm going to build an earthbag wall between the generators and the house, cover that with netting wire, stucco the whole thing, and then paint it. The net result will be a structure that will look pretty cool (only about 20 feet long, maybe less, but more than a foot thick). It will also have short right-angle walls at the corners, and at least once in the middle, for both structural strength and to protect our gas cans from the sun (for the past 15 months, they've been pretty much right out in the open--one finally burst, but it was many years old).
That's maybe a bit fancy for your situation (duh), but the point is, there's always a way. And while the instructions always say never run these machines "inside" or even "near" anything, that's B.S. to a degree. For the 3 years we lived on the mountain in Montana, our gennies lived in small sheds, just with plenty of airspace around them and one side completely open to the great outdoors. Never had a problem except once when a shed blew over in the wind.
Well, a lot of info well presented. Thanks for the help. I'll be getting my generator soon along with solar panels.
Good for you!
You'll be ahead of us at that point, too. Had a wind turbine going for a while, but it broke down "forever". No solar panels. Just generators!
Tons and tons of material here to be considered. I was considering purchasing a portable generator a few years ago when our electric went out. I know that Uncle Sam was paying for part of this. I'm likely going to get one of these for my garage & house soon.
They're handy to have. Our larger generator broke down last night--we suspect a short in the washing machine may have caused way too much power drain, which is not a good thing. Won't know for sure until (a) the shop takes a look at the generator and/or (b) our son tries the washer at his on-grid home (where a short would blow the home's circuit breaker but no more than that).
Despite short funds at the moment, we can't ignore this...since that's the only generator we have that is big enough to pump water from our well into the 500 gallon batch storage tank. No gennie, no washie uppie.
Great blog, its very informative and will help a lot of people choose the correct generator for their needs. Thanks for the Information
Inverter Gen, I deleted/denied your comment because of its link to your highly commercial page. The comment itself was fine; if you'd care to post again without the link, it will be approved. But as you can see below, "Comments are not for promoting...other sites."
Wow, this is a long tips. Thought this does not apply to me for the moment, but I would direct people whom I know to this piece should that need guide on buying a portable gen.
Thanks, Ken.
How do you keep your food cold ? Doesn't seem like you have enough wattage to run a fridge ?
You're right. Our refrigerator (a 19 cubic foot model) is powered by propane. Made in America, even!
So maybe for an emergency system, a small Generator 1KW - 2KW, and a fridge that can be fueled by propane ? Anything else I'm forgetting ? Thanks ahead of time.
Hmm...well, I'd guess that depends on "how emergency" you mean. If you're thinking long term enough to need a fridge, you'll want to keep cooking in mind. Propane power also works well for that. We've used the little Coleman camp stoves, the kind that take a screw-on 1-pound bottle of propane.
For more serious, longer term cookery, though, that's a pretty Mickey Mouse solution. Currently (for the past year plus) we've gone with a heavy duty two-burner camp stove, propane powered, which will be replaced with a regular propane range when the budget allows.
Then there's heat, at least during the winter. For us, propane one more time. In our earthbag-walled home, a 20,000 btu ventless wall heater designed for supplemental use only...is actually enough to heat the entire home all winter long (because of the way I built the place). However, even in a standard "stick built" house, a heater like that could keep a room or two comfortable.
Hope this helps....
You have a very comprehensive hub right here. Thanks for sharing.
You're welcome, and thanks for commenting.
Good Forum but I thought we were talking about Portable Generators and user experiences on price,need,quality,etc?
Wind, Solar, etc. are good topics and warrant research too, but don't you think that would fit nicely in another forum topic? We really wanted to hear more from PG user's.
Side Note; Get ready for another "False Flag Attack" very soon! infowars.com
Thanks,
Inglorious Bastards :-}
We hear from every PG user who's come along and been willing to post. Don't see the point in totally restricting things to that on days when there's a shortage of PG commenters, though.:)
dave7 2 years ago
Gidday Ghost,....gee genys up there HALF the cost of down here...unreal...anyway wanted to tell u about all the generators i've run into the ground over the last 25 years & how i am now very close to not using one at all....just added two more solar panels to my weird & wonderful collection put together as $ was available over that same time period....on a cool sunny winters day my 10 panels (580 watts @ 12volt) are the same as a 35 amp battery charger...in summer because of heat factor those same panels will be same as a 20 amp battery charger...also just replaced my 15 year old dinosaur fumers with 4 x sealed 100 ah Fullriver AGMs ...(400ah) ....originally designed for U.S. military u can sleep ontop of these things...they are amazing batteries...with many superior features & abilities that normal batteries don't have....the solar panels & batteries combined with an INVERTER....115v AC up there (240vAC down here)...& rated to run ur LARGEST LOAD (usually the washing machine)...u can live cheaper & quieter WITHOUT usin ur BACKUP Geny....i.e. chose sunny day to wash clothes etc....only use geny & BIG battery charger (30amps or more) to boost batteries voltage if a week of no sun etc.....& do ur washing at same time....it has takin me 25 years to work out i need a smaller battery bank & a larger solar panel bank...so batteries can recharge quicker & always be at a HIGHER voltage (increases lifespan)....for years if has a huge battery bank & not enough solar panels to charge it....most use 24volt systems or higher but i choose 12 volts because it was cheaper & many cheap 12volt auto stuff could be used simply......some of my power outlets in house have 12volts DC & some are 240v AC via interter (which i turn off everynite...so no high voltage EMR in house wiring overnite..its campin here)...but with power to run everything i need (minus a welder...need big 5 KVA geny for that)...my backup geny is a quiet Subaru powered 1700 watt Inverter type (not to be confused with the Inverters that run off Batteries)....it can put 30 amps into my battery bank via big charger if they need boosting & run a 1 HP Jet pump for high pressure water (firefighting) or the Onga 1 HP transfer pump for filling the domestic water supply HEADER Tank (which gravity feeds house)...different pumps do different jobs....my big inverters (1000watt or more) will also run pumps via batteries & sun etc.....so with Genys....get one that will run ur BIGGEST load...if that's a welder get a 5KVA one...but if u like me can live without a welder, then the quiet sub 2KVA ones are the go....best wishes, dave