[RE-wrenches] Offgrid Generators?

[Jim Duncan]

One other suggestion is, whatever internal combustion device you have, 
switch at first oil change to 100% full synthetic engine lube and never 
go back. Guaranteed 50% longer between changes and far better 
performance. My 2 ¢...

*Jim Duncan Solar Acres Farm 817.917.0527 solarguy2004 at gmail.com*

On 2/27/2020 9:24 PM, Maverick Brown wrote:
> Ray
>
> Your list mirrors mine.
>
> Never. Ever. Ever. Buy or believe you’ll get support of any kind from Generac. I fell for the lure of the ECO GEN and it ate itself one night while helping our off grid home get through a hot cloudy summer day.
>
> For my off grid experience since 2005, I would vote for:
>
> 1. For Big Systems, I’d vote for a Cummins 1800 water cooled unit. 20kw is great genny for a double stack or more of Radians. They work. Period. After a few tries, a couple customers agreed to water cooled and life is grand.
>
> Kohler RES-14 and RES-20 air-cooled units have also been great. For those customers there are big battery banks and the generator is less needed.
>
> 2. Kubota GL11000 or GL7000. I have a few in my customer group. I have the GL6000 at my shop. It can be made auto start. Diesel is man-potable. They always start and run and they are water cooled even though they are 3600 rpms, they are quiet.
>
> 3. Honda inverter generators. I have several customers with different wattages. I love these. Won’t do much good to put a EU2000i on a 2400Ah bank, but the EU7000i can be auto started in some climates with a 3-wire controller like a XW-AGS. Keep the oil changed.
>
> Also. The key here is use vs capacity for use. If you design a system that needs the generator to run every. single. day., you might want to spec a generator that costs more than the solar array. Or have enough battery for a 8x load and solar for 2x or more.
>
> The old adage you get what you pay for is still valid in the off grid world.
>
> Thank you,
>
> Maverick
>
>
>> On Feb 27, 2020, at 4:25 PM, Ray <ray at solarray.com> wrote:
>>
>> I know we have covered this before, but I just continue to be disappointed with the Generac Ecogen.  Very high failure rate, and support is poor.  Service requires expensive on site service. Also the no load AC draw and programming setup is just not off grid ready at all.  I'm still not seeing any other great choices, though.  Here's some other possibilities:
>>
>> 1) Quality portable, like the Honda EU 7000i or Northstar with Honda motor.  Not the best choice especially for autostart, no propane, but at least they can take it in to the shop if it goes down.
>>
>> 2) Kubota (or MQ) diesel. expensive, and possible cold weather start issues?
>>
>> 3) 20+ kW water cooled, 1800 rpm propane model.  Overkill, expensive, but probably will last a really long time.
>>
>> 4) Similar Home standby unit, but Kohler brand.  Kohler used to be great, but now a days I'm not so sure.
>>
>> I just can't keep recommending a generator I know has been giving other customers trouble.  Any new ideas on this age old problem?
>>
>> -- 
>> Ray Walters
>> Remote Solar
>> 303 505-8760
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> List sponsored by Redwood Alliance
>>
>> List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
>>
>> Change listserver email address & settings:
>> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
>>
>> List-Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/maillist.html
>>
>> List rules & etiquette:
>> www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
>>
>> Check out or update participant bios:
>> www.members.re-wrenches.org
>>
> _______________________________________________
> List sponsored by Redwood Alliance
>
> List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
>
> Change listserver email address & settings:
> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
>
> List-Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/maillist.html
>
> List rules & etiquette:
> www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
>
> Check out or update participant bios:
> www.members.re-wrenches.org
>
-- 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches_lists.re-wrenches.org/attachments/20200304/93099b89/attachment.htm>