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Back-up power
For many years our hunt camp was 'electrified' using standard automotive light bulbs and sockets, 1157's in fact, that way we had low and high light level options. The place was 'wired' with 10ga. primary wire and standard houshold switches and a couple of plugs for 'portable' lamps. We even had a water system, a 45 gal. drum in the attic was the storage/pressure supply system and it was kept filled by a 12v. transfer pump normally used for fuel, etc. The power supply was a pair of large 12v. deep cycle batteries. Charging was accomplished by means of a home-made 'generator', a high capacity (100 amp.) truck alternator, mounted with, and driven by an old lawn mower (8 hp.) motor. I can't ever remember running out of power from the batteries, and recharge was simple, put a half tank of gas in the engine start it and leave, by the time it ran out og gas and stopped running, the batteries were all topped up.
Best of luck.
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Back-up power
Because of health concerns this past winter we had some modifications done around the house. One of the chronic problems that finally got fixed was the problem of starting a frozen generator in less than ideal times and temperatures.
The fix turned out to be surpisingly easy and cheap!! The electrician found that there was more than enough room in the conduit that runs from the shed where the generator lives (the pool equipment building actually) to the house. They fished some new wires through and put a new, full-size battery (like you would put in a P/U) in the basement next to the panel, for extra measure the battery is hooked to a timed 1 amp. trickle charge to keep it full & happy. The whole setup worked very well when tested in temperatures of -25C. (-12F. to the rest of the world).
I assume it would be just as effective to strap a reguler battery to a hand-truck and keep it handy in the garage or similar, then just wheel it out to the gen-set when you wanted to start it.
Best of luck.
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Tom, if you have heavy enough lines from the gen. set to the transfer switch in the house it may be possible to back feed the load lines with 12v. using special solenoids (which cannot transfer if there is 220v. in the mains) to start the genny then they transfer the lines back to 220v. service.
This was the first suggestion of my electrician, but since I had so much space in the conduit I opted for new cabling, especially since it wasn't a long run and I had a couple coils of welding cable I bought at a garage sale for $20 that were the right length. I had thought about rigging some sort of heat, etc., for the battery in the shed, but by putting it in the house I figure it will be more likely (since it's easier) that I will check the water in the cells, etc.
Best of luck.
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A friend made his own battery 'warmer' keep batteries, removed from vehicles for the winter, from freezing in his unheated (unless he's working) shop.
He made a shallow plywood box slightly larger than the 'footprint' of six batteries, the number he needs to over-winter. He then lined the bottom and (short) sides with 2" styrofoam SM (blue foam sheet) and made little wire 'stands' to hold a peice of heater cable (looks like extension cord, meant to be wrappped around a pipe to keep it from freezing) an inch up off the foam, then poured in 2" of concrete (sand mix, no stone) and trowelled to a real smooth finish inside. The cable is made of special thermo-reactive material, as the temperature drops, its resistance changes, elictricity starts to flow creating resistive heat, as the temp rises, the process reverses and the heat gradually fades to nothing. He claims the total cost was about $20, mostly for the cable, but not including scraps of material already on-hand.
What he ended up with is basically, a well insulated, thermostatically controlled, electrically heated patio slab sitting on the floor. The concrete makes a very effective heat-sink, regulating temperature fluctuations. Most importantly, it can NEVER overheat the batteries and warms them slowly from the bottom, and only makes heat as the temperature dictates, in fact he leaves it plugged in year-round.
Maybe this is something you could for your generator battery Tom.
Best of luck.
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That's funny Tom, we used to do something along the same line, albeit on a larger scale, as a kid.
Our version involved a propane tank a gopher hole, a spark plug soldered to a LONG length of wire, an old car coil & a 6v. battery. I'll just leave it at that for now......
I personally don't like the idea of a battery on charge or even mechanically warmed in a confined space, but that's just personal taste I suppose.
Best of luck.
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11-26-2002, 07:53 
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