Edit: Ouch, 500 dollar range I don't know if this is even a good idea, but I think I'm in the right board because to me a generator, maybe, would be a real improvement for my little apartment. My apartment is 550 sq ft and one br and bath. I think ventilation is important and I am very lucky to have big, picture windows (2) and slide in from the sides to open. I rarely use any heat as the other apartments around me keep theirs so warm, makes me sweat to think about it, lol We have power outages often, at least it seems often to me. I'm just guess'timating but I would say in a year we can have 5, maybe more. And they can last just hours, or days. What I need most from a generator is to charge phone, laptop, kindle, small things. I really would like a generator but wonder how they actually work for folks, maybe that need the same things as I do or similar power needs. I found some info on a doityourself forum I go to on occasion. Here's just a couple bits of info that encouraged me about having one, but I still have to "shop" before I spend here's a link to the whole article, but I'll put in a couple snips that caught my eye: https://www.doityourself.com/stry/generatorpower "If you have occasional needs during a brief power outage to simply run a few small appliances or lights, then a standard generator with a side valve (SV) engine of 2,000 watts is a realistic choice." "Carbon Monoxide Detector: This is essential if you have a generator. They are battery operated, and you should have extra batteries. This can save your life, for a small expense." Don't understand if I would need this or not. There's a lot more in the article of course, but mainly wondering what you think about the (SV) and 2,000 Watts? Feel free to ask me more questions. I figure I can afford a small portable but need to know opinions on the size I should get, watts etc?
You would need to have your generator outside on your balcony, and this is probably what the carbon monoxide warning is all about, @Denise Evans . Then, you have to have enough fuel to run the generator, usually gasoline, the ones with propane or diesel are more expensive, and you also need to be able to start it, which is not always easy to do. If the power is out from a storm, it is probably not a good time to try to drive somewhere and bring home several 5 gallon cans of fuel , assuming you can even carry that much anymore. I can’t. If all you are going to charge is small appliances, then looking into a solar powered charger might work better for you. Robin gave us one, and we also have the little rechargeable lanterns that we make sure are charged up before a storm hits. If you get a power bank that you can plug usb adaptor into, then you keep it charged up, and will have plenty of power to run phones and tablets, etc when the power is out.
I'm sorry I didn't include more of the article yvonne because the generator that's for suggested for an apartment is fully electric, no gasoline. I added about the Carbon Monoxide because I didn't know for sure if the electric one would give that off. I don't have a balcony here, one reason I dream of moving, but for now, I have to stay where I am. The other suggestion looks like it would be doable for me too! I just wonder if solar needs actual Sunlight, or just light? We actually have Sunlight often, but I wonder once the batteries are charged, how long to they last? The Power bank is something for me to look into. It might be pretty spendy as well, but I'll sure look. Thanks so much!!
So, essentially, you are taking about a giant battery backup device , which you would keep plugged in and charged up like we do our power banks , and then use that to power things when your electricity is out, I guess is what you are saying. We never need to power large appliances, like refrigerator, so just the power banks and charging up all of the phones and tablets and lanterns works fine for us. When Bobby was running the rescue mission and we had the ice storm and had to use a generator, it was an awful experience, because we could not go anywhere to get more fuel, and could only run it an hour or two at a time, so i could make food for the people at the mission, and then we turned it back off again. We were around a week without power, so a battery-powered generator would not have lasted long enough for us either. Hopefully, some of the guys here who know more about generators than I do will be able to advise you better, Denise.
That's ok Yvonne, I have a different situation here. Also, they call the plug-in type generators for I didn't know the difference, or that there were at least 2 kinds I found on that link I don't think my needs are enough that I should go for the 500 dollar item, but I'm just thinking how bad it was when we lost power for 3-4 days. It was a weekend, and it went out on Thursday later afternoon. If you can imagine 40, some disabled, and at least one bedridden I know of, going into panic mode, it was awful to say the least. This was when we had the huge fire and it took out our power-station, or I guess it didn't burn, but they had to shut it down as it was just too close to the fire. But the least "little" wind and rain takes out our electricity usually several hours, not days like the fire did. But it's the thing about being prepared make me keep thinking about this.
One thing to keep in mind is that LED lights take WAY less power than incandescent ones. So if you haven't already, make sure you have LED lights around so the battery generator lasts longer. Some people use strings of the LED-type Christmas lights, and lay them along the floor (down halls or around the room) for illumination, and go so far as to remove many of the bulbs only leaving every 3rd or 4th in place to conserve even more power. I bought these nightlight/emergency lights at Walmart for around $10 each: They have a battery in them and light up when the power goes off. There are various modes to use them as a standard nightlight or just as an emergency light. This is the only model I found where you do not have to have them in "Nightlight" mode in order for the emergency light function to work, if you like it dark when you sleep (even though the instructions say otherwise.) There are also bright LED lights in the top so you can unplug it and use it as a flashlight, so you always have a fully charged flashlight handy (I keep one in my garage for this purpose.) You can unplug it from the wall and use the soft emergency light anywhere as a lamp (the emergency light has a Hi/Lo setting.) I have 5 or 6 of them throughout the house (kitchen, dining room, bathrooms, living room, hallway.) I bought them over 3 years ago and they still work fine (we had an outage last month), although I had to replace one because it started flickering all of the time (I use that one in the garage.) It's an interesting experience when power goes out after dark, because the television and regular lights go off, but the place is still illuminated. It takes a moment to process what's going on.
Ok @John Brunner thanks so much and I'll take a look at places I have to plug them in, then read again how they function because I don't like the white lights being on all the time. But the low setting might not bother me I had some round ones that have stickies to stick wherever you want, but they didn't hold and kept falling out/down, especially when I wanted to use them under-cupboards. Yours look a step up from mine though thank you again
@Beth Gallagher has a couple of small battery units for charging stuff when her power goes out. She wrote about them here.
Denise, we have a couple of these... https://www.amazon.com/Halo-Portable-Laptop-Charger-Starter/dp/B07FM85W13/ref=sr_1_4?crid=1ZJ9SH9CG3OBC&keywords=halo+bolt&qid=1706808115&sprefix=halo+bolt,aps,316&sr=8-4&th=1 They can be carried in a vehicle as a charger/emergency jump starter, but they also have 110 outlets and can be used to charge USB devices. We use them to power lamps when our power goes out but they wouldn't work with large appliances. You can buy larger "backup power" units that will run stuff longer but the prices go up exponentially.
The white lights are not on all the time...that's why I purchased this model. They only come on when the power goes out, just like the emergency lights in stores and businesses. And you can turn the light completely off if you want to, even when the power's out. And I had some of those same sick-on ones. I put one in my truck as a courtesy light for the rear seat passengers. And you're right...the adhesive does not hold.
Yes, wasted money there for sure Yours sound good, and sorry I did read about "only come on" when electricity goes out, other lights etc. I'll be looking at them for sure. Edit: Wow, just took a look and this looks like mine but I didn't look real close at it since it was given to me. I wonder if it will do a batter jump?? I'll check it out as I have to do an errand today I'll take a look at these too, although I have a good gadget in my truck to charge my phone and laptop. Be nice to not have to go out in the weather to do that though. We also get quite a bit of vandelism, vehicle break-ins and car theft too. But I try not to think about it when I had to put my stuff in my truck to charge it when we had the huge Fire.
I've seen Generators advertised for outside of houses, that will come on when all electricity goes off, but not for apartments.
That link I posted is pretty good and covers generators for small apartments to businesses Cody. Amazon has the smaller ones, 2000 Watt side-valve they're called.