Anker power station?

The $500, 1 kWh unit would work perfectly with the Honda gas unit as backup or even sustainment for longer outages.

Solar panels with micro inverters would be nice if affordable. But I only have a theoretical knowledge of them. If you just buy DC panel(s), you’d also need to source an inverter.

About the Honda generator, there are hacks that let you use a heavy duty, battery operated, drill to start them and still have the pull starter rope. You drill a hole in the recoil starter cover large enough for a large socket and one-way clutched chuck to reach the ‘Jeasus’ nut holding the cooling impeller and flywheel on. Mark which way to turn and done.

Bob Wilson

 

check the anker site. They have solar panels from $70 for the 30 watt and the C800X is $599 normal price

almost everything else on their site is listed at a discounted price with their normal price next to it, so you can see how much you're saving.

The solar panels cost about twice as much when purchased by themselves as they do if you buy them in a bundle. A C1000 unit is $499 by itself and bundled with a - 2 panel foldable - at 100watts is 699 and bundled with a -4 panel foldable - at 200watts is 850.

isn't shopping fun?

 

1100W is the assumption for microwave cooking instructions. Most microwaves allow setting the power level. Setting the current one to low when using a battery could be all that is needed.

Gas introduces safety considerations with CO, and the other emissions could an issue with some health issues.

The consideration started over elderly people starting to have trouble with a 2000W genset, which I take includes starting them.

300W to 700W is being listed as the consumption for a fridge. That battery will just last 1 to 2 hours at that rate. A 100W panel will take all day to charge it. I was looking into these power stations as simple way for peak shifting. For major appliances, I'm better off saving for a whole house battery.

Combined with a lower power generator, it could be used as a buffer to power higher draw, short use cycle items like the microwave. Bob's suggestion of adding drill start to the current generator is probably the best solution.

 

I'm price sensitive about many things, but NOT things that I bet my life on.
For those?
It's "buy once. cry once."

Anker....can recommend. They tend to be affordable, reliable, portable, capable - but that's ME guessing about YOUR needs.
- it's like a car, knife, handgun, flashlight, radio, or anything else.
If there was a 'best out there' there would only be one out there.

 

I once had a big heavy old 1970s microwave I rescued from an alley. It had three selectable power levels and they were actual different power levels. (You should've seen the big honkin' ceramic power resistors inside used to create the medium and low levels.)

Most these days have like 10 selectable power levels and they're not anything other than a duty cycle. Level 6 isn't 660 watts, it's 1100 watts for 12 seconds and just the fan for 8 seconds and repeat and so on. So not very promising for operating on an inverter with a lower output limit.

But it is fun to watch with a potato. Potato jumps around for 12 seconds, lies still for 8 seconds, jumps around for 12 seconds ....

 

The cheap $60 microwaves @ walmart are more ideal for battery based power units, since they're only around 600-900 watts.

FWIW; I'm too paranoid to put my face in that window, while I know that mesh is suppose to breakup the microwave - so it's harmless. I turn it ON and walk away.

 

With your phone in your pocket?

 

The mesh blocks the microwave. The waves are too big to fit through the holes. You could make a microwave oven of just that mesh that would work. Not well, but because of the lack on encasing to keep heat and steam around the food, not loss of microwaves.

 

^ This.

If you're a wave in the visible-light region, your wavelength is around bacterium-sized, a little bigger than viruses, and you zip right through those mesh holes no problem.

If you're a 2.4 GHz microwave, your wavelength is about baseball-sized, and as far as you're concerned that mesh door is a highly polished mirror. You ain't goin' anywhere.



sura electromagnetic spectrum chart at DuckDuckGo

 

There's been many studies on cell phone signals effects on human tissue.

I've tired using my cell phone as a coaster; still unsuccessful in keeping my coffee warm.

 

How many '$tudies' did it take to ban red food dye in the EU?
How many '$tudies' did it take to ban red food dye in the US?

Why the delta, if '$tudies are the end-all be-all?

Disclosures: I don't have a particular problem with microwaves.....but I just thought it was interesting.

 

Quite a few decades ago; I was tasked with making sure cell phone signals didn't interfere with our facility's life support systems. To my surprise, they actually effected a few unshielded sensors in several older life support units. Had to set a policy; No cell phones within a meter of life support units. We actually had to lay the cell phone on top of the sensor to effect it, so I errored on the side of caution.

Cell Phone Radiation: Harmful or Not?
Radiation Effects of Mobile Phones and Tablets on the Skin: A Systematic Review - PMC
Science on Health Effects of Cell Phone and Wireless Radiation - Environmental Health Trust
Facts About Cell Phones and Your Health | Radiation and Your Health | CDC
Do Cell Phones Cause Cancer? | Cellphones and Cancer | American Cancer Society
Cell Phones and Cancer Risk Fact Sheet - NCI

Hurry; no telling when DOGE will shut down some of these departments.

 

I'm not so sure about posting this, but it was an ad google posted for me here at priuschat
It's a 'Jackery Solar Generator 3000 Pro' 3000 wh 3000w solar generator with a pair of 200 w panels - 45% off - discounted sale runs 27Feb2025 - 4Mar2025.

At more than 3 times the on sale price of the smaller Anker C800X / 100 w panel ( the costco deal looks nice ).

But the run time calculations are hard to me to understand, I thought they'd be higher for this unit. ( see attached ).

Jackery Solar Generator 3000 Pro

 

Looks like you get a transfer switch for free with that deal.

I don't think it's LFP like most of the newer ones. So there is a buffer, and listed capacity is the total amount. Doesn't explain the heater and microwave being the same though.

For the price of these, I'd get LFP. It should have a longer life.

 

Make a point, though, of hunting for the input power rating of the microwave. The big number shown on the front and on the box is the watts out of the magnetron and into the food. They're a lot less than 100% efficient, so the power drawn at the plug is quite a bit more.

The input rating might be on a small label on the back, or on the bottom, or inside the door. Pretty much any time I am in a Walmart or a Goodwill or a Re*Store and there are small microwaves there you can see me picking them up and turning them around and turning them over and looking around inside the door, and I haven't bought one yet, because I've yet to ever see one whose input power my inverter could handle.

The most common combination I see has been 700 watts into the food, 1050 watts drawn at the plug. There seems to have been some kind of widespread industry agreement on those two numbers. Naturally, I have a 1000 watt inverter.

Be prepared to work pretty hard for those fried eggs. You might still feel a bit hungry after.

How does your cycling power output compare? — Cycling Analytics

 

Our microwave disrupts Bluetooth transmission to a speaker approx 6 feet away, fwiw.

 

They magnetron likely isn't one that can produce a single wavelength, with non cooking ones small enough to get out. The low end on Chap's chart is paperclip wire thickness.

 

About what I was thinking. Similar to AM radio being disrupted by car's spark plug firing, radio waves are constantly passing through us.

 

I remember hearing 'alternator' whine on the radio in older cars.