so today I got my driveway flooded and could not get down (drive is 1/4 long) and then the power went out. They said it was going to be 8 plus hours though. Luckily they fixed it in just a couple.
I walked around the neighborhood since I thought I heard workers. It turned out to be a neighbor more than a 1/4 mile away  with their generator running. Wow are they loud when everthing else is silent.
was looking at some of the goalzero and humless systems that are battery backups for the home for short SHTF. They also make solar back up to them. I guess they charge and when power is cut out they kick on and are pretty silent.

What is a good one? Anyone use these systems?  thanks

Cost vs power and runtime is the issue.

Unless you have very limited power requirements a generator is much less expensive.

I was looking at Tesla the other day after someone posted here.

I think it was $5K + for a 1 day battery unit. Supposedly would cover my home 1700 sqf, though we only paid $1000 for a dual fuel gas/propane whole house genny. We had to run for a week once, a battery system would only past a day than SOL after that.

Get a Yeti 200Ah jobbie, a couple of Honda 1000s/2000s and you're still under the price of a Tesla.  Use the Yeti for when 'quiet' is necessary and use the Honda's (Yamahas/Robin-Subarus) for when noise isn't an issue.

If power outages are a problem, or longer term service is needed, then go diesel or tri fuel.

Chris

Thanks for the great replies
I'm still without power though I just got out my property with the wife for dinner.

Mini shtf. Half the roads blocked and washed out, most still with no power. We got over 6" rain today and more is on its way. Police directing traffic and flooding everyplace.

Just down the road from me in a large lot subdivision the culvert under the only road in washed out and it was like 5' diameter.

Interesting day,


Posting from my iPhone and eating dinner to the dim light of a hand crank led light Attached File

The goal zero and anker big units are mainly helpful for cpap users to sleep safely during outages. As someone said it wont compare to a gas genny in terms of cost vs performance. What is a very handy and cost effective option are usb battery banks. 10k or more mahs. Each one can juice your phone a few times, one 13kmahs brick can run 2 usb stroller fans for like 8hrs which is enough to keep you comfy on a warm night. We use them for all sorts of things so I have a basket in my kitchen that always has a few charged up. I even have one as part of my edc. And in shtf they can be recharged via those folding solar panels. I have about 6 of those too from various makers and wattage. I do recommend anker for the banks and panels.

You have a lot to decide on.

I started small.  A used 1k watt gas generator and some extension cords.  With care, that 1k watt generator can run a window ac unit.  So I could cool off the bedroom in the summer and get a good night's rest.

It may or may not run your fridge or freezer, getting a kill a watt will let you learn what you appliances need for running.

It would certainly charge up the smart phone and laptop and some other small rechargeable things, and do all of these at once.

I had propane for cooking and a percolator coffee pot to make coffee and in the winter I had propane for heat and kerosene for heat as well.

Sure a nice big whole house generator rules, it also might cost you 10k to 20k to get installed. 

A bunch of batteries or something are cool, but they go bad over time and some need more upkeep than others but generally you do not want to just ignore a battery.

These days I am up to a much larger generator, still have the small one for little stuff.  I learned that good extension cords help the generator do its job better.

I do have some batteries around as well.  But I don't have anything that automatically kicks in.  I personally don't want it because at my price level it is not to be trusted.

OP, I've also been looking into battery banks, for the same reason as you: generators are loud and attract attention.

I'm considering a solar panel system with SMA inverter. Unlike most grid-tied systems this inverter allows you to use solar power when the grid is down. As long as I can keep my fridge cold and electronics charged, a few days without power isn't too bad. I'm not trying to run my entire house on backup power. That would require a much more expensive and complex setup.

Nice. If you don't mind me asking, how much do you have in your solar setup, batteries, and charge controller?

tag

bump for info on Paul's setup.
I'm looking at AGM batteries now and trying to decide on a brand/type.

Thanks