Loss of power

[HBP]

Hi all,

I thought I would share some of the mechanisms we have in place for dealing with loss of electricity as it seems to be being discussed a bit of late. It happens a few times a year here but fortunately it’s not normally longer than 12 hours. In my youth, I lived in places that lost power for longer periods every winter so it’s just something I expect to happen and being prepared for it is habit rather than a conscious act.

We raise our own livestock and have 2 chest freezers that are usually full of pork or beef. They are low energy freezers so when running don’t draw much power apart from the initial motor start up. We do can a lot of produce but meat is something we don’t do a lot of in the pressure canner. Plus its hard to find a jar big enough for a leg of ham!

To keep the freezers running I have a couple of 1500w inverters. They get used for various projects but each of our vehicles has a big Anderson plug attached to the battery so we can just hook one up and plug in the freezers. With a full tank of fuel and several cans spare we can keep the lights on for weeks if need be.

On our property, we have 2 sources of water. One is a spring down the hill that fills a tank and is pumped around the property for water troughs and taps at the house. The other is a 25,000 Litre rain water tank fed from the roof of the house and sheds. This also has a pump on it as its below the house.

Without electricity we have no running water inside the house. This isn’t really an issue. We can use the gravity fed side of the tank to fill some big drums/buckets/bottles we have and there are water troughs down grade for the livestock. The pumps draw more on start up than any of the inverters I have can supply. I could buy a bigger one and could also finish the generator project that I have been working on for 2 years but its not a high priority at the moment.

We are fortunate that we don’t need electricity to heat the house or cook so that’s one less issue to worry about. Inside the house there are LED torches everywhere and we have candles, oil and gas lamps to use if needed.

I think growing up with regular power issues and periods where the well pump would fail, I have always just assumed it was a normal situation and made sure we always had a backup plan. I guess I also have the advantage of living in a very rural area which makes life a little easier when it comes to leaving your car idling to power the freezer.

[Bosworth]

Interesting post - thank you for sharing.

I think using cars to recharge deep-cycle batteries is often overlooked. A car with a full tank of petrol uses about a litre an hour idling - less if diesel I believe. Therefore a full tank and a couple of jerry cans could easily give a week of low-level generating capability, running during daylight hours.

[Hamradioop]

Interesting post - thank you for sharing.

I think using cars to recharge deep-cycle batteries is often overlooked. A car with a full tank of petrol uses about a litre an hour idling - less if diesel I believe. Therefore a full tank and a couple of jerry cans could easily give a week of low-level generating capability, running during daylight hours.

Will the Alternator be able to charge the vehicle battery and leisure Batteries at the same time, Solar voltaic cells may be helpful for off grid power solutions depending where you are in the world.

[preparedsurrey]

A 1500w inverter will pull over 100amps from the 12v side if you are using 240v UK freezers, that is right on the limit of what a modern car alternator will usually turn out. If you intend to do it for a long period it would be worth getting a larger capacity or second alternator fitted.

You may also need to raise the tickover speed to allow the engine to get that much power from the alternator, cooling would also be a consideration too.

[Yorkshire Andy]

That and some scrote would probably try and pinch the car...

Pop the gear selector linkages off the gear box and fit a steering wheel lock

Ideally a "run lock" as fitted to most emergency vehicles would be great press run lock button and remove the key the second the clutch or brake is pressed the car stops....

Also if charging a battery a split charge relay or more modern smart con unit would be a good send (it only allows charging once the alternator has charged the car battery and prevents back charging

[Yorkshire Andy]

https://www.emergencyequipmentshop.co.u ... relay-unit

http://www.split-charge-relays.co.uk/co ... relay.html

[HBP]

A 1500w inverter will pull over 100amps from the 12v side if you are using 240v UK freezers, that is right on the limit of what a modern car alternator will usually turn out. If you intend to do it for a long period it would be worth getting a larger capacity or second alternator fitted.

You may also need to raise the tickover speed to allow the engine to get that much power from the alternator, cooling would also be a consideration too.

Yes,1500w draw on the inverter would draw that level of current but I would never need to draw that sort of power. A decent chest freezer won't draw anywhere near that and 1500w gives plenty of head room for motors starting and will run a couple of chest freezers with barely any draw on the battery. I have a power meter that I use to monitor the draw and it's usually well under a couple of hundred watts and that's with some lights running and charging various devices.

I have a hand throttle on my 4x4 so will normally run at high idle. The alternator in all my vehicles are pretty beefy (smallest engine is 2.5l) so not really an issue either. I have successfully kept everything running using this technique for quite a few years. It's one of the the many tricks that are useful to have up your sleeve.

That and some scrote would probably try and pinch the car...

Fortunately, not an issue I have but I wouldn't try it with a car parked on the street!

Done a few split charge systems in the past for winches. They work well if you want a second power supply in a vehicle so you don't affect the starting capability.