I live in a rural area where power tends to go out fairly often, and can stay out for quite a while. I have been thinking about getting an LP generator or converting my old 4000w Dayton generator to LP (flo-jet carb on it is trashed), then the other day at an auction, I picked up a fairly good size LP generator for $40 at an auction.
It was just too good a deal to pass up, even though I knew nothing about it at the time. I got it home, and after a little research, I found out it was a mid 1960s high capacity 12v generator with a water cooled 4cyl Hercules ZXB engine. Hmm. I didn't really need a 12 volt generator, but I did want to see if it would run. I checked the oil, and it looked like it had just been changed. After a little wiring cleanup and filing the points, I hooked up an LP tank and gave it a go. It fired instantly, and to my surprise, ran like it was brand new.
My first thought was to pull off the 12v generator head and swap in a 240v unit, but then I got to thinking about battery banks, inverters, and the possibility of adding some solar panels at some point. That was all fine, but the real kicker was the fact that, because we don't use much electricity, with a 12 volt generator backing up a 12v battery bank, I would be able to wire it to idle down when the batteries are charged, then speed back up when the batteries need a boost, thereby increasing fuel efficiency without sacrificing functionality.
Here is where things get interesting.
We have two separate meters. One is the main power for the house, the other powers the chicken coop, workshop, and the refrigerator in the house. (the original house service was too small...40 amp or so) so they ran the fridge off the secondary meter/service.
Now that we have replaced that old service on the house, both panels are 240v (two 120v legs with a neutral for those of you outside of North America). Unfortunately, I need to be able to run both legs on both panels because I have a few necessary things on each one. Obviously, I will use a separate inverter for each panel, but for all my looking and reading, I can't seem to determine which kind of inverter will actually run both 120v legs with a common neutral wire in a 240v panel. I don't actually need to run anything at 240v when on backup power, but I do need both 120v legs operational.
With all this, keep in mind, this is just planned to be a backup power supply at the moment, so I can't go spend $1000-2000 per inverter. After some reading, I was surprised to find that the "Power Jack" inverters have been performing decently well. I'm a guy who doesn't mind learning and tinkering, so those may be a possibility.
Looking at this unit, it seems that it will run two 120 legs with a common neutral wire, but I am confused by the part that says "Can not L1+N+L2", but then you have the 240v output that says "L1 N L2"
Will this unit run both 120s at the same time, with full wattage (I assume half to each leg)? Is there another option that I don't know about?
On a side note, I figured the question might come up regarding batteries and two fairly large inverters. I actually have (3) used 36v forklift batteries that each have a couple bad cells. I plan to pull the good cells and make a big 12v battery bank.
Thanks,
Phillip
