What is a backup system?

You run a business on grid power, but your grid is not reliable. Sometimes there is no power for 1 or 2 hours, sometimes even longer time. At this occasions a backup system will supply you with the energy you need.
There are two kinds of backup systems:
- The fuel powered AC generator (diesel or gas)
- A battery bank with a combiner (a combination of DC charge controller and a AC inverter)

A generator's energy is stored in the fuel (Gasoline, Propane, Natural Gas, or Diesel) it burns. You must store enough fuel so that you can operate the generator for as long as the outage. Propane is an excellent fuel for storage. When the generator is on, 100% of the capacity of the system is available, if you need it or not. You will have a finite running time if you can not locate more fuel.
Generators are good for larger power requirements. Generators require maintenance, as with all engines. A generator must be maintained otherwise it will not start when you need it. Smaller generators may be portable, larger units are stationary or affixed to a trailer. Generators also require fuel - your generator is only as reliable as your fuel supply. Small portable generators can easily use as much fuel as your car has in it's tank in a day.

A battery/combiner system uses energy that is stored in batteries. Batteries are charged by a number of methods. In most backup systems, the grid charges the batteries and keeps them charged and will recharge them once the grid comes back online. One can use a generator to charge batteries or use the sun.
The combiner is the manager of the system and has two functions:
- Prevents the batteries from overcharging (charge controller)
- Transform DC voltage (batteries) to AC voltage (loads)
Batteries deliver to you the exact amount of power you require at that moment. The running time of the system is directly related to your loads. For instance, if you know the outage will be longer-term, you can only operate the most essential loads; whereas if you know the outage will only be brief you can use up much more power knowing the batteries will be charged up by the grid when it comes back online soon.
Batteries are generally best suited to modest power loads, such as what would be found in a home or office - if you remove the aircondition. Battery based systems vary in size, from the smallest system to operate a few lights and a radio to larger systems that will operate most major appliances. The more you rely on low consumption devices like DC fridge&freezer and energy saving lamps the more a battery based backup system will be suitable.
Battery/combiner systems can be located almost anywhere, does not require the storage of fuel, maintenance, oil changes, etc.

Some systems may be a generator only, some systems may be batteries only. Other systems may involve both generators and batteries, as well as add other charging sources such as solar that can be used year-round.

What is cheaper?
A generator system needs a rather small investment but produce high running costs for fuel, oil changes and maintenance while a battery backup system requiers a high investment and almost no running costs. This includes that the more you will need your backup system the cheaper will the battery system be. So you must consider answers to these questions in order to pick the best backup solution:

Then we will consult you about what solution is better for you.
We have connections to provide you with low consumption and low noise diesel generators but since we are promoting clean energy we present only the less carbon based and far more efficient battery/combiner system in our product list.