Charging from a generator

[Racerx22b]

Have you even tried charging off your generator?

I was running mine earlier this week to test it out and just for kicks tried to charge my car off the 5/20 plug and when I plugged in my UMC the green light flashed a few times then went out. I was not able to charge at all.

I have a high quality Honda EU6500 generator that actually powers my house with 1 AC unit running so it's not a matter of not enough power. I didn't try the 220v outlet as I don't have the correct adaptor. I think that the UMC sees the power as "dirty" and turns off as a safeguard.

 

[brkaus]

Have you even tried charging off your generator?

I was running mine earlier this week to test it out and just for kicks tried to charge my car off the 5/20 plug and when I plugged in my UMC the green light flashed a few times then went out. I was not able to charge at all.

I have a high quality Honda EU6500 generator that actually powers my house with 1 AC unit running so it's not a matter of not enough power. I didn't try the 220v outlet as I don't have the correct adaptor. I think that the UMC sees the power as "dirty" and turns off as a safeguard.

It could be a ground bonding problem.

Hack-charging on a generator

Look at the first two posts on above.

 

[MikeQ]

Yes, I've charged. I have an EU7000is and it works fine. Like the above post, you need to make a bonding plug.

I've charged at 29amp on mine with no issues.

You make a plug that connects ground to neutral and insert it in one of the 110v. I then use a 30amp to 50amp adapter to the UMC.

 

[DiamondHands]

Glad to help. We had nothing but twigs and leaves down on our property. So many people have it so much worse. We had whole house backup power so we were never without power. I know if I was in worse shape, people would be there for me. Gotta pay it forward.

Good to hear!

Being relatively new to the whole hurricane thing, I need to start learning about home backup power solutions. That Honda generator that you and @Racerx22b endorsed seems like a good place to start. And maybe impact windows...

 

[MikeQ]

We just put plywood over the windows but we're inland.

One thing I should mention is that our A/C unit on the house is a 5 ton system and a newer design that actually runs on DC power. It has an inverter on both the compressor and air handler. These systems run at extremely low speed for a good portion of the day and only ramp up when they need to. This is why I'm able to run the whole house on a 7kw generator. A traditional system would probably draw too much power initially when the compressor comes on. Our old A/C would pull about 6000 watts under normal load and startup could be as much as 2.5 times that. The new system was running consistently @ 2500watts throughout the day during the storm. That's another nice feature of the EU7000is. It has a digital display to let you know how many watts are being demanded. It was interesting to go around turning things on/off to see how it affected the generators output.

 

[Racerx22b]

Good to hear!

Being relatively new to the whole hurricane thing, I need to start learning about home backup power solutions. That Honda generator that you and @Racerx22b endorsed seems like a good place to start. And maybe impact windows...

Impacts are nice but they still break. Very expensive to install and then replace. Accordion shutters are the way to go. 10mins to close and same to open. You won't even break a sweat. And they're cheaper. My only exception would be if you have 2 stories. Impact on 2nd floor and accordion on 1st floor is the way to go for any windows you can't open on 2nd floor.

 

[Solarguy]

We just put plywood over the windows but we're inland.

One thing I should mention is that our A/C unit on the house is a 5 ton system and a newer design that actually runs on DC power. It has an inverter on both the compressor and air handler. These systems run at extremely low speed for a good portion of the day and only ramp up when they need to. This is why I'm able to run the whole house on a 7kw generator. A traditional system would probably draw too much power initially when the compressor comes on. Our old A/C would pull about 6000 watts under normal load and startup could be as much as 2.5 times that. The new system was running consistently @ 2500watts throughout the day during the storm. That's another nice feature of the EU7000is. It has a digital display to let you know how many watts are being demanded. It was interesting to go around turning things on/off to see how it affected the generators output.

Mike,
Can you tell me what brand your new DC AC unit is. I'm considering a replacement. I have an older Trane right now and the compressor unit actually has two separate compressors in the one housing so I can wire it to only run on the smaller of the two compressors when I need to run it on the generator. A bit of a PIA to do but it works. I do have the same Honda EU7000 (11 year old version) and love it.

 

[MikeQ]

Mike,
Can you tell me what brand your new DC AC unit is. I'm considering a replacement. I have an older Trane right now and the compressor unit actually has two separate compressors in the one housing so I can wire it to only run on the smaller of the two compressors when I need to run it on the generator. A bit of a PIA to do but it works. I do have the same Honda EU7000 (11 year old version) and love it.

It's a Trane 5 Ton system. It's the XV Series. We have an XV18 with a TAM8C0 air handler.

 

[Racerx22b]

I installed the Lennox XC20 3ton and 2ton units about a year ago with the matching variable speed handlers (the ones w the huge MERV filter) and the Honda generator barely hiccuped when they kicked on. And once on, the Honda generator ran in eco mode as long as I didn't have a bunch of other things going on. These AC units are amazing. They are whisper quiet outside.

 

[MikeQ]

I installed the Lennox XC20 3ton and 2ton units about a year ago with the matching variable speed handlers (the ones w the huge MERV filter) and the Honda generator barely hiccuped when they kicked on. And once on, the Honda generator ran in eco mode as long as I didn't have a bunch of other things going on. These AC units are amazing. They are whisper quiet outside.

Same experience. Most of the time you can stand right next to my compressor outside and not realize it's running. That's a really nice feature for us too since the old compressor was horribly loud and right outside my kids windows.

These systems also tend to keep the humidity lower in the house because they run more frequently. You also get a very steady temperature for the same reason. With a lower humidity you can set the thermostat higher and it feels the same.

The only thing I regret about our system is not doing it years earlier. I checked our bill for July against our bill for the previous year and we're saving about $170 a month during the summer.

 

[MikeQ]

Another great energy saver has been our variable speed pool pump that operates on the same principal as these A/C compressor motors. It has saved a lot of electricity as well and is also quieter. The pump is a Hayward Tristar VS. I was also running this along with the A/C, lights, etc.. with the EU7000is.

Really my entire house ran normally with the generator with the exception of the water heater. That pulled too many amps with everything else running.

 

[Racerx22b]

@MikeQ

As long as I turned off the AC unit I was able to use my water heater without issue. Since your generator is slightly bigger than mine you should've been able to do the same. I only did this twice as my solar water heater took care of business once the clouds cleared from the storm.

I also have the Hayward variable speed pool pump. I ran it a few hours a day when we would run errands with my AC off just to be safe.

I have the same experience as you... The entire house would run as if nothing was wrong. I just had to be sensible with my power loads.

 

[MikeQ]

@MikeQ

As long as I turned off the AC unit I was able to use my water heater without issue. Since your generator is slightly bigger than mine you should've been able to do the same. I only did this twice as my solar water heater took care of business once the clouds cleared from the storm.

I also have the Hayward variable speed pool pump. I ran it a few hours a day when we would run errands with my AC off just to be safe.

I have the same experience as you... The entire house would run as if nothing was wrong. I just had to be sensible with my power loads.

Yeah, I figured if I powered things down I could get the water heater to come on. I really didn't need hot water that much. I just tried to see if I could do it with everything else running. We'd been out in our neighborhood removing trees from the road and helping neighbors remove some dangerous trees so the cold shower really felt good.

 

[Larry Chanin]

Using Camper Mode in the Tesla Model S P100D to Power House during Hurricane Irma Power Outages?

Larry