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Cruiser
Posts: 261
Sugar Land, TX (Outside of Houston) | Sorry there is not an "Other" Discussion area, but I will post this here since I know we are bound to have some Electricians or Electrical Engineers who ride Visions that can chime in.
One Lesson Learned in Houston - Go ahead and buy a Generator and have it ready to use or to loan to a neighbor. Although there are none available now, there will be soon.
Problem - How do you know the best size for your house. I know a Whole House System is best to run everything, but for those of us who don't have $9,000.00 handy to get one, how can you determine the "Normal Usage" of electricity in your house?
Is there an AMP meter, WATT Meter or something you can "Hook Up" to your electrical panel to see what the total Wattage you use on your house for lighting, microwave, freezers, etc...? And where do you measure, at the Breaker Box?
My dad has a 5000 WATT generator running his Freezer, Refridge, Microwave, TV and lights (and sharing it with his neighbor for their fridge). But it is a crap shoot as to exactly what he can run unless he just turns things on till it trips a breaker.
Any Electrical knowledge out there is appreciated. I gotta at least keep my Battery Tender running to feed the hungry Vision Battery 
Richard |
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Visionary
Posts: 1350
| I am not an electrician.
I think you should decide what you want to keep going when the power goes out. The fridge uses the most power in the house. Wattage is equal to voltage times amps. You know the voltage, 120v. Now look at your fridge and see if there is a tag with the amps. If not maybe a manual or check online. Do that for each piece of equipment you want power for add in extra for peak usage like when the fridge kicks on and that is the amount of wattage you want. So your dad has 5000w divided by 120v so he has 41amps available.
If you don't open the fridge it will last a few days. You can use a gas grill instead of using a microwave. Your bike should be fine without a tender for about 10 days. I know the older bikes had it so the clock would shutdown at a set voltage so the battery would drain at a slower rate and it would last longer. Is that true with the Vision, look at your owner's manual and it may tell you.
I know in my area if you have a generator hooked up it MUST have a control that prevents from sending power outside the house. This prevents someone working on the power lines from getting zapped from your generator. Check your codes.
Hope this helps. |
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Puddle Jumper
Posts: 17
Decatur, GA | Remember to install a "transfer switch" for safety of both the power company and you.
Just maybe this will help you find the right size for you home backup power need:
AM/FM RADIO 175 175 NOTE 1
TELEVISION SET 300 300 NOTE 1
(5) 100 W. LIGHT BULBS 500 500
(10) 100 W. LIGHT BULBS 1000 1000
REFRIGERATOR, 1/4 HP 600 1950 NOTE 3 (CODE G MOTOR)
FREEZER, 1/4 HP 600 1200 NOTE 3 (CODE G MOTOR)
1/3 HP FURNACE FAN 800 1600 NOTE 1
1/3 HP SUMP PUMP, CODE G 800 1600 NON-SUBMERSIBLE, NOTE 3
1/2 HP SUMP PUMP, CODE G 1200 3600 NON-SUBMERSIBLE, NOTE 3
1/4 HP GARAGE DOOR OPERATOR 600 1200 NOTE 1
MICROWAVE OVEN 750 1500 NOTE 1
ELECTRIC WATER HEATER 5000 5000
COMPUTER SYSTEM: CPU,
MONITOR, LASER PRINTER 1500 1500 NOTE 1
DISHWASHER, 1/6 HP 500 1000
PORTABLE ELECTRIC HEATER 1500 1500
UPS SYSTEM 2000 2500 NOTE 1
ELECTRIC FRY PAN 1400 1400
AIR CONDITIONER 12,000 BTU
(1 HP ELECTRIC MOTOR) 1900 7600 NOTE 2 (CODE L MOTOR)
AIR CONDITIONER 24,000 BTU
(2 HP ELECTRIC MOTOR) 2800 11200 NOTE 2 (CODE L MOTOR)
AIR CONDITIONER 32,000 BTU
(2.5 HP ELECTRIC MOTOR) 3500 14000 NOTE 2 (CODE L MOTOR)
AIR CONDITIONER 40,000 BTU
(3 HP ELECTRIC MOTOR) 5000 20000 NOTE 2 (CODE L MOTOR)
1 HP WATER PUMP, CODE G 1920 5760 PUMP LOCATED ON TANK, ABOVE GROUND, NOTE 3
2 HP WATER PUMP, CODE G 2500 7500
3/4 HP WATER PUMP, CODE L 1700 6800 PUMP LOCATED AT BOTTOM OF WELL, INDICATING SUBMERSIBLE MOTOR, NOTE 2
1-1/2 HP WATER PUMP, CODE L 2400 9600
1/4 HP ATTIC FAN, CODE G 600 1200 NOTE 3 (CODE G MOTOR)
ELECT. CLOTHES DRYER, 1/4 HP 6000 8000 NOTE 3 (CODE G MOTOR)
GAS CLOTHES DRYER, 1/4 HP 750 2100 NOTE 3 (CODE G MOTOR)
ELECTRIC RANGE 6" ELEMENT 1200 1200
ELECTRIC RANGE 8" ELEMENT 2000 2000
WASHING MACHINE WITH 1/3 HP MOTOR 800 1600 NOTE 3 (CODE G MOTOR)
NOTE 1: This equipment has solid state circuitry and is extremely voltage sensitive. Make sure your generator yields less than 10% harmonic distortion of it's generated wave-form.
NOTE 2: These motor designs are shown as Code L, with high locked rotor values. A maximum starting watt value is generally (5) times running watts. However, some new air conditioner brands have realized more home standby plants are being purchased every year. A re-design in air conditioner starting loads, has begun, to lower this huge starting demand. If it's important to you, to have air conditioning during utility power blackout, consult licensed electrician to check locked rotor starting amps, to ensure air conditioner will start, while other loads are already in use.
NOTE 3: These motor designs are shown as Code G, with average locked rotor values. A maximum starting watt value is generally (3) times running watts.
NOTE 4: For large offices, using a multitude of UPS systems, always double the total UPS load for generator KW sizing. |
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Tourer
Posts: 548
Mount Vernon, WA United States | Not an electrician but have done a lot of research on this as I am still planning on going "off the grid".
A lot of great suggestions, the most important being, PLAN AHEAD. Decide what you really need if the power goes out, and how you need it. Think outside the box...
Here is a Calculator... it looks pretty accurate. Just add the items you REALLY need. http://www.askmikeb.com/power.htm
Remember you can charge phones, laptop, and portable lamps off the car with a small inverter.
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Cruiser
Posts: 140
| I am an electrician.
First, safety. You must be absolutely positive that you do not backfeed incoming lines. Many linemen have been killed by lines backfed from portable generators. I`ll tell you how I hook up, but if you aren`t 100% sure of what you are doing, hire an electrician to set up a transfer switch. Anyway, what i do is backfeed an unused 50 amp 2 pole breaker in my dist. panel, after opening the main breaker, and dropping out the neutral. Heavy emphasis on the "after".
OK, figuring load is easy. Most loads, you can just add up. Four 100watt bulbs= 400 watts, etc...
Anything with a nameplate will give you power requirement number, in watts. Here`s the catch: Any equipment with a motor, rule of thumb is to double the nameplate rating. This is due to motors requiring very high starting current. You can get around this some by using your refrigerator and freezer (and other inductive loads) in cycles, and dropping off other loads before running them.
I have to add that connecting a portable generator to your house wiring without a break- before- make transfer switch is illegal, and also against the law. And, if you are caught doing it, no utility will ever sell power to you ever again.
Edited by lowtone9 2008-09-16 6:13 PM
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Visionary
Posts: 1484
LaPorte,Tx. | My "87" Octane Electric Company (5000 watts) is running two fridges, two fans, one small room A/C, coffee maker, and assorted lights. In order to run the micro-wave 1500w, we unplug stuff, in order to run washing machine we unplug and etc...... It is a life saver, glad I picked it up two years ago. Oh and I did not wire into the breaker box, I'm hoping I'm on the big electric company soon. Safety note, DO NOTE PUT INSIDE OR IN YOUR GARAGE. Also, shut off before refueling. |
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Visionary
Posts: 3006
San Antonio, TX | For fourteen years I lived in and around Rockport, Texas. My parents had a place between Rockport and Aransas Pass in Palm Harbor. It was your typical "car in the front driveway - boat channel in the back" coastal place. The place was on the bay and had two barrier islands between it and the gulf.
For a few years my father would buy, "Hurricane Insurance" as he called it.
The first year he bought and we installed manually operated aluminum shutters.
The next year he bought a used railroad car generator. This was a big project. The generator was a GM 353 diesel connected to a 20 KW AC Delco Generator that was used to run the refrigeration system on a refer rail car. If it failed the railroad unbolted it, disconnected the fuel and electrical power and put in another unit.
We built a solid poured in place concrete block house for the generator with a concrete roof. We mounted a large muffler on the outside of the block house and it worked great!
The mechanical governor was trashed and a hydraulic governor installed to provide a stable frequency of 60 Hz.
We rewired the incoming commercial power to a new location a few feet away and fed it into a service disconnect. From the service disconnect we routed the power to a manual electrical transfer switch. The output of the transfer switch fed the house.
In the generator room we only kept two 5 gallon jerry cans full of diesel. This was so we could run it every month and log the time. We also had two empty 55 gallon drums. We only filled the big cans once and gave the fuel to my brother for his truck so it would not go bad. The generator used less then 1 gallon per hour under load.
The generator would provide 220 Volts on any two of three legs at a max of 60 amps (a little over 13.2 KW). For the third leg, 110 Volts, we made a panel board and outlets that was set up for the neighbor's refrigerators and freezers. We wanted balance the load on all three legs.
We used it a few times over the years but never for a hurricane. One time a Blue Herron spread it wings over the power lines and the lines burned in two (yea, the bird fried). We were out of power for six hours. It is strange having the only lighted house in an area.
The ground floor of the Concrete Tilt-wall house was at 11.6 feet AMSL. The bottom of oil pan on the generator was at 13.8 feet AMSL.
Later we got Amateur Radio licenses so we could talk back to friends and family in San Antonio without the need of a telephone. Amateur Radio does not need an infrastructure like cell towers or phone lines.
The insurance worked I guess. We never had a major storm come through when we lived there.
Gilbert in 1988 rained on us, winds up to 60 mph and 5 foot tides. When the weather cleared a bit, the people that stayed, setup a guard watch at the entrance to the area. We were cut off by the high tide from the county seat. We could still get in and out of the area, just not to Rockport.
That day people would drive by and want to check things out "for a friend". We would follow then around carrying shotguns in case we had a problem with a snake. Not many people wanted to stay long. The next day a lot of locals returned and we stopped the guard watch plus the road opened to Rockport and we could call the Sheriff if needed. We never lost power.
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Non-Motorcycle Electrical Power Question
