Re: No Backup Gen?
Wouldn't you be better off with Solar and a Battery (11kWh) backup rather than a generator?
In principle yes, but a lot of solar/battery systems cut off when the grid power goes out to comply with G83(?) which mandates that you not leak power back into the grid if it's supposedly "dead", because that could be a risk to line engineers.
It's absolutely possible to get systems with a transfer switch which isolate the grid connection and then use the battery to supply the house (whether whole house or protected circuits) in the same way as a conventional backup generator would. However, a lot of them don't and you'd have to shop around to ensure you'd got a premium installation that will provide mains-out service.
There's also the key point that a solar system is probably running at very limited output during winter or prior to significant weather events (which is when most blackouts tend to occur). It would probably be necessary to having a battery system which has a winter mode and will top up off the mains like a UPS (using mains power to top-up the battery in winter can help prolong life rather than having partial charge cycles). Also, depending where you live, 11kWh may be massively inadequate - if it's not uncommon to get week-long blackouts then you need a proper genny. Of course for the vast majority of us, just being able to run off battery for 12 hours is more than enough to handle transitory events.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
