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Anyone have real world experience with these? Anyone now of a similar device in concept that I should look at? They aren't cheap by any definition and they cost more than the conventional generator we installed some years back. (As they become more common, I hope the price goes down.)
As the long term plan (next couple years) is heading to the southwest,* in a locale there that gets a lot of sun (outside Tucson), I'm doing homework on and off about solar. Probably will go with a combination of solar and propane power for backup power, etc., but I'm not dead set on that. (Maybe a woodstove too for backup heat/cooking,† though it wouldn't be as necessary there as it is here and fuel may be an issue.) The biggest problem I've found with solar isn't the panels and installation, but power storage. A device like this seems to answer that.
Anyway, just curious. Thanks.
* There was a short series of videos on Forgotten Weapons in which Ian went over the off-grid house they have down in the Grand Canyon state. It was powered completely with solar and a small propane generator. As far as I know, however, it is just that gentleman and his common law wife, so their power needs are going to be way less than a family of four and with some small scale agricultural production.
† We've had a number of lengthy outages where we are now in rural Oregon. The combo of a (nearly) whole house generator and a woodstove made getting through them easy. (I say nearly because the heat pump and stove aren't on generator power. Everything else is. We just heat with wood and cook with a microwave or the woodstove.)
As the long term plan (next couple years) is heading to the southwest,* in a locale there that gets a lot of sun (outside Tucson), I'm doing homework on and off about solar. Probably will go with a combination of solar and propane power for backup power, etc., but I'm not dead set on that. (Maybe a woodstove too for backup heat/cooking,† though it wouldn't be as necessary there as it is here and fuel may be an issue.) The biggest problem I've found with solar isn't the panels and installation, but power storage. A device like this seems to answer that.
Anyway, just curious. Thanks.
* There was a short series of videos on Forgotten Weapons in which Ian went over the off-grid house they have down in the Grand Canyon state. It was powered completely with solar and a small propane generator. As far as I know, however, it is just that gentleman and his common law wife, so their power needs are going to be way less than a family of four and with some small scale agricultural production.
† We've had a number of lengthy outages where we are now in rural Oregon. The combo of a (nearly) whole house generator and a woodstove made getting through them easy. (I say nearly because the heat pump and stove aren't on generator power. Everything else is. We just heat with wood and cook with a microwave or the woodstove.)