2000 watt Hybrid inverter as generator

[colinl]

Sounds like a good plan. What do you consider is the shelf life of a small gas motor? I.e. how long the rubbers and plastics will stay good? Maybe sometime soon sell it on craigslist/marketplace and buy it's replacement for the next X years. Just like keeping fresh gas.

at least 15 to 20 years. you definitely want to use fuel stabilizer additives in a generator and any jerry cans or similar storage, and I would run it annually and check the oil. I would not run a whole tank- just enough to run it 15 to 20 min.

Sponsored

 

[Tallymav]

... like, for your home? 120V 16A is not useless, kinda useful to charge phones, etc and I get that. but you're not running HVAC (not even a window mount) or a full size refrigerator for sure. air fryer and microwave could be useful, but you can cook with propane easier than burning gasoline to charge high voltage battery, to charge 12V battery, to power inverter.

I'm not trying to hate. I'm trying to understand what all is in your plan for emergency power loss? this isn't like a F150 Powerboost generating 7.2kW.

Many good points here. One correction-- you can absolutely run a full size refrigerator with a 2000 watt inverter. My fridge pulls 3.8 amps or about 450 watts.

I have the same setup as op. 2000 w inverter. I have tested it but I have the same idea about use. I will use it as a backup power supply for the fridge and maybe a light and a fan. Even running it twice a day for an hour can potentially save a freezer full of food.

I live in a hurricane prone area about 30 mi from the coast. We don't have outages every year But when they do they can last up to 10 days as crews are clearing trees and restoring lines. I don't think this inverter is the right solution for everybody and every application but it is ideal for what I'm doing.

 

[Flyin Ryan]

I have a 1500w behind my back seat

 

[notgoosemaverick33]

Not sure if this matters to anyone here but my brother has an F150 PowerBoost and he uses the built in inverter to power his home (furnace, well pump, wifi, fridge and freezers, etc) and it works flawlessly. But what I have noticed is a 2000 watt inverter can power a lot of equipment, but if there isn't enough voltage or amperage coming from the alternator, it actually drains the life of your battery.

 

[not null]

Not sure if this matters to anyone here but my brother has an F150 PowerBoost and he uses the built in inverter to power his home (furnace, well pump, wifi, fridge and freezers, etc) and it works flawlessly. But what I have noticed is a 2000 watt inverter can power a lot of equipment, but if there isn't enough voltage or amperage coming from the alternator, it actually drains the life of your battery.

Yes, it certainly won't improve the battery life. I'm guessing the compromise will be worth it to me. Making some wild guess assumptions here: if I knock 50% of the life out of a $250 12v battery, that's a cost of $125. If I save the food in the fridge and freezer, plus 1 night in a hotel, I'm definitely ahead. If I save 2 or 3 nights in a hotel, I've covered the cost of the inverter as well.

 

[MakinDoForNow]

Brilliant! Thank you.

My winter "plan" is a combination of a recent fridge and recent freezer, hot water gas boiler (1 amp circulator pump, plus the igniter) and when those are off, an 1800w induction hot plate.
In the summer we can head to the basement if it's too hot.

In the 0°F winter the basement will be a toasty 50+°F if you R10+ your ceiling.

 

[MakinDoForNow]

It does NOT say power the WHOLE house. The use of a small generator to power individual appliances like fridges , freezers and sump pumps is nothing new. Nobody is claiming that this is a replacement for a 20-30KW whole hose genset.

Heck, I have a nat gas generator, 11KW, that is wired to provide power to the critical circuits. AC ain't one of them.

HRG

If you wanted to get serious capstone green energy smallest 65kw Genset will burn pretty much anything around farm after prepping it. They have an "air bearing" which is corrugated and uses air molecules to keep metal surfaces apart!

 

[paneubert]

Spamming this to all the "Mav as a generator" threads I know about.

If anyone is interested in how to permanently disable the 30 minute max idle via ForScan (so you don't need to go into the screen menu and disable the max idle every time), I think I figured it out. I will edit this post once I have absolute confirmation.

 

[bik77]

Can we keep this simple? Just use the alligator clips.
Ford Maverick Hybrid DIY Power Generator? - YouTube
No warranties issues - just remove inverter then not used.

 

[not null]

Can we keep this simple? Just use the alligator clips.
Ford Maverick Hybrid DIY Power Generator? - YouTube
No warranties issues - just remove inverter then not used.

3 months ago my Ford dealer replaced my battery with AGM battery under warranty. It was the second time I'd had it in for a deep sleep issue.

They didn't say a thing about the connector.

 

[TimeOutside]

Can we keep this simple? Just use the alligator clips.
Ford Maverick Hybrid DIY Power Generator? - YouTube
No warranties issues - just remove inverter then not used.

3 months ago my Ford dealer replaced my battery with AGM battery under warranty. It was the second time I'd had it in for a deep sleep issue.

They didn't say a thing about the connector.

1) I'm not sure that alligator clips would properly support 2000 watts. They certainly won't support the proper cable size needed for anything more than a very short distance.
2) My experience is the same as not null's. So far I've been in for service four times. Each time they have physically inspected the battery. No issues. Once they replaced the battery under warranty. No issues.

Before using alligator clips, I would want to use a cable size and voltage drop calculator to assure what I'm doing will support the wattage.

 

[Mavster Mechanic]

Spamming this to all the "Mav as a generator" threads I know about.

If anyone is interested in how to permanently disable the 30 minute max idle via ForScan (so you don't need to go into the screen menu and disable the max idle every time), I think I figured it out. I will edit this post once I have absolute confirmation.

I don't know what this refers to.
In my XLT with physical key to turn; I have left mine in park; running, for 3 hours one time.

I never changed any factory settings.

 

[bik77]

3 months ago my Ford dealer replaced my battery with AGM battery under warranty. It was the second time I'd had it in for a deep sleep issue.

They didn't say a thing about the connector.

I don't have a good experience with the dealer and would not take chances. Even with disconnect I will certainly remove anything if I go there.
Amazon.com: Nilight Jumper Cables for Car Battery 2 Gauge 20 FT Booster Cable Heavy Duty 800 A CCA with Carrying Bag Jump Start Emergency Kit Pickup Truck RV Vans SUV : Automotive
Cut this to the size and add terminals for inverter connections.
or maybe just use the cables that came with the inverter....

 

[paneubert]

I don't know what this refers to.
In my XLT with physical key to turn; I have left mine in park; running, for 3 hours one time.

I never changed any factory settings.

Perhaps it is specific to "push to start" vehicles. My truck has a setting in the menu structure that allows you to "override" the "max 30 minutes idle" setting. It only applies for the current drive session, sort of like how drive modes only apply to the current session (you can't have it default to Sport mode as an example).

I have had times where I was sitting in my truck for 30 minutes idling and it did pop up and warn me that the truck was about to turn off unless I put it in drive or otherwise showed that I was still there. I thought I had solved this in ForScan with a combo of some of the "police" settings (the cops like to have theirs idle forever), but it was spotty with if it actually functioned as described.

Edit: Here is a summary from Google.

" Ford's "30 Minute Max Idle" is an Auto Engine Idle Shutdown (AEIS) feature that turns off your parked vehicle after 30 minutes to save fuel and reduce emissions, but you can often disable it temporarily in the SYNC/Instrument Cluster settings or use aftermarket programmers for permanent removal, which is useful for job sites or running accessories. To turn it off temporarily, find "Vehicle Settings" in your screen, select "30 Minute Max Idle," and toggle it off, though it usually resets to 'on' with the next restart. For permanent solutions, programmers or hardware bypasses are available, as Ford designs this feature to be a default setting. "

Sponsored