Generator How To

If it's cloudy most of the day, it's likely your batteries will not get fully charged. If the batteries get too low during the night, the system will turn off.

When charging with your generator, remember:

1. If your generator has an "eco" option, turn it off.

2. If your inverter has shut off completely, get your generator ready, then turn on the inverter, and then charge with the generator.

3. If your batteries got too low, and your Inverter is still powered on, it's likely not outputting any power to the house. If you want to use house power while you are charging with the generator, you will have to flip the Inverter switch off and then On (the power switch is on the underside of the Inverter). Now read #4, below.

4. While charging with a small generator, turning on power hungry appliances can overload your generator or result in the inverter not sending power to the house. If this happens try turning off the master AC breaker (so the house has no power), and then when you are finished charging, turn the master AC breaker back on. (note: if you have a stand-alone battery charger, this does not apply.)

5. Non-inverter generators are NOT recommended for charging directly into your Inverter, they may appear to work but will shorten the life of your inverter, so if you have one. If you have a Non-inverter generator, you need to get a stand alone battery charger, and program it correctly! Ask me to get you the right one and I can set it up correctly for a fee.

6. If your batteries run low and the system shuts down, it won't hurt things to leave the system off. You can run the generator later if you like, or just wait until the sun comes out.

7. You don't have to run the generator until the batteries are fully charged, how long you run the generator depends on when you think the sun will be out again.