Indoor Generators

Janice

Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2016
Location
Mississauga
Does anyone have an indoor solar charged generator that they could share their opinion on. I note that there are several brands, such as the Goal Zero 39004 Yeti 1250 Silver/Black XX-Large Solar Generator Kit.
 

nathan

Super Active Member
Website Affiliate
Joined
Mar 27, 2016
Location
sarnia
I'll be watching this as well. There are lots of great techi guys here who must have an opinion on this :D
 

AdInfinitum

Super Active Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2012
Location
Thorndale, Ontario
It's really just an inverter no real details I could see on batteries that come with it if any and the panels are extra. Seems like crazy dollars for what you get compared to purchasing panels, charge controller and batteries to suit your needs.

An interesting marketing ploy to refer to it as a "generator" when it's really a battery backup/charge controller.
 

Canadianeh

Active Member
Joined
Sep 20, 2016
Location
T-dot
It's really just an inverter no real details I could see on batteries that come with it if any and the panels are extra. Seems like crazy dollars for what you get compared to purchasing panels, charge controller and batteries to suit your needs.

An interesting marketing ploy to refer to it as a "generator" when it's really a battery backup/charge controller.

For some of us that is not familiar with this type of build, would you kindly please list the parts that I need?

the product quoted by Janice is pretty expensive north of $1200
 

AdInfinitum

Super Active Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2012
Location
Thorndale, Ontario
For some of us that is not familiar with this type of build, would you kindly please list the parts that I need?

the product quoted by Janice is pretty expensive north of $1200
Before I get into a build some of the realities as they are trying to sell a glorified battery backup. If you want a battery backup it would be far easier and cheaper to charge it with hydro than to purchase solar panels unless it is very small. Battery backups are only limited by the amount/size of batteries you are willing to buy and store...no free lunch here either a big backup will involve a lot of bulky/expensive batteries.

If however you are attracted to the image of an actual solar generator that will just provide power to run things when the power is off and the sun is shining the main calculation is...current solar panels provide approximately 8 watts per square foot so if you want to just run your 100 watt heater you need to set up about 13 square feet of panels....want to run more? Just add up the wattage and do the math...then if you want power when the sun goes down you add batteries to store your excess....if you have room for many many square feet of panels then we can discuss the rest of the build...lol
 

Canadianeh

Active Member
Joined
Sep 20, 2016
Location
T-dot
Before I get into a build some of the realities as they are trying to sell a glorified battery backup. If you want a battery backup it would be far easier and cheaper to charge it with hydro than to purchase solar panels unless it is very small. Battery backups are only limited by the amount/size of batteries you are willing to buy and store...no free lunch here either a big backup will involve a lot of bulky/expensive batteries.

If however you are attracted to the image of an actual solar generator that will just provide power to run things when the power is off and the sun is shining the main calculation is...current solar panels provide approximately 8 watts per square foot so if you want to just run your 100 watt heater you need to set up about 13 square feet of panels....want to run more? Just add up the wattage and do the math...then if you want power when the sun goes down you add batteries to store your excess....if you have room for many many square feet of panels then we can discuss the rest of the build...lol

I am interested the first option which using hydro to charge battery. Not using solar panel. Would you please let me know what I need to buy to build one? I understand you can use deep cycle marine/atv battery?
 

Janice

Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2016
Location
Mississauga
I am totally lost. I cannot afford the $1200 thing I posted, and I do not understand much of what you guys are talking about. Right now I bought a UPC for my son for Christmas. However, he s already ready for a bigger tank. However, I cannot get him one until I can sort this issue out, as I cannot invest any more money in this hobby unless the tank is protected. Our tank is in our daily room, and there is no possibility of having an outdoor generator that is routed into the house like lucky Thang has. Can anyone explain a workable option to me that would power a 120G tank for a reasonably lengthy period of time and that can be inside a house-ie no gas, etc.?
 

AdInfinitum

Super Active Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2012
Location
Thorndale, Ontario
I am totally lost. I cannot afford the $1200 thing I posted, and I do not understand much of what you guys are talking about. Right now I bought a UPC for my son for Christmas. However, he s already ready for a bigger tank. However, I cannot get him one until I can sort this issue out, as I cannot invest any more money in this hobby unless the tank is protected. Our tank is in our daily room, and there is no possibility of having an outdoor generator that is routed into the house like lucky Thang has. Can anyone explain a workable option to me that would power a 120G tank for a reasonably lengthy period of time and that can be inside a house-ie no gas, etc.?

Usually larger tanks have lower bioload/gallon than small systems and generally have more surface area for gas exchange as well. I have a generator but it isn't hard wired (wish) so I don't bother to get it out unless the power is expected to be off for more than 8 hours or so. I have never had any issues or losses with outages in that range but I do not crowd my tanks. BTW most reef inhabitants are very resistant to temperature drops. Occasional currents from the deep ocean can drop the temperature in a part of a reef by 15 or more degrees in a matter of minutes. My tanks have dropped into the high 60's many times during winter storms over the years with no ill effects. The priority for a backup is to run a water circulation pump (even a small UPS will run a low voltage Tunze or Jebao for quite a while) to maintain gas exchange and if I'm home I will periodically scoop containers of water from the sump up into the display to keep both moving. If you are in a small town like me where outages can often run into days, a generator is a must just to keep the furnace and water heater running (both gas but everything needs power to run these days). As long as you can keep your house from freezing and you can keep your water flowing a bit, tanks are pretty resilient as long as you don't load them up to the max at the best of times.
 

TORX

Administrator
Staff member
Website Admin
Joined
Nov 27, 2010
Location
Blenheim, Ontario
Website
www.thefragtank.ca
Thank you for putting it as a link. i still don't see how to get to post 19 by scrolling down.

He was just being smart. If you click on the first link, then you will see each post has a # in the top right of each post/comment on that site. Much like ours, only here it is on the bottom right of each post. Your post was #16 and mine #17.
 

Canadianeh

Active Member
Joined
Sep 20, 2016
Location
T-dot
Thank you for putting it as a link. i still don't see how to get to post 19 by scrolling down.
Please don't take it as an offence. If you don't know, I rather show you how to find the post# rather than just give it to you. And no I was not being smart as @TORX indicated. All you need to do really just to scroll down as I have already said.

See the picture below. I know some are more visual than reading an instruction. The one that I circled with an arrow shows the post #
 
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