Has anyone installed Base back up power and power service?

spinqueen222 :
I put in a generator. Is that what you want to know.

spinqueen222 : I haven't but my neighbor did. He installed two units and seems quite happy with them.

I'm interested in this topic and will monitor.I don't have base power nor know anyone that does. I've only heard 3rd hand that it supplies power for 72 hrs. I know there are a lot of variables and didn't hear if that's a full house or charging a cell phone.

Those are about $800. Real good for computers, fridge, sump pumps, etc for about 2 or 3 days. A lot better than those 650 volt amp jobs (Cyberpower) at Best Buy. They last about an hour and cost $200.....basically a high cost surge protector. I have 3 of those things now I'll get the Base backup since we have so many brownouts lately.

I have it. Had two units installed back at the beginning of April. All good.
Any questions I can answer?

Donnawisdom :
Was wondering how the Base power system worked for people. I don't think it is a generator, it is a back up battery that will power your house for 72 hours.

We have one and so far very happy. Our power goes out a lot and it has switched on a couple of times already. If we need more than 72 hours, we will just leave. That gives you time to plan ahead and you can decide what to do at that time. Sure is a lot cheaper than a generator.

spinqueen222 : My son and DIL have Base. The battery unit, that sits outside is about the size of an air conditioner (big) and takes up space in the yard. Also, they install the switchgear to power your panel. So far, it has worked well for them for brief outages, but they have not had any long duration outages yet.

jwardl : I believe the batteries can be recharged with a small generator quickly? I worry about the city infrastructure being able to handle the backflow of multiple surges during our common outages. Cutoff fuses may become a problem for the grid at the city level. What is the delay in power transfer?

Zz98721 :
Yes -- *if* you ask for the genertor port, which comes at additional cost. I didn't, but it would allow you to extend the life of the backup, limited only by your electrical use, generator fuel available, and your willingness to get outside to maintain it. I don't know the rated response time, but my real world experience is that it's less than a second. It's long enough to reset my internet modem, but nothing else reboots or shuts off. Eventually I'll get an indoor backup battery for the modem because all my TV is streamed, but it hasn't yet been important enough to me to do it. Curiously, the grid has been more stable for me since getting Base so I've had to rely on it only a couple of times -- both of those being 20 minutes or less.

jwardl : thank you. I still worry about the back feed coming so often. A 5 minute delay would be beneficial in my opinion. Do you have a disconnect of any sort?

I'm on list to have one installed. they have a new unit which is called base core. it has 39.2kw of backup and has the generator outlet built in. I did the math and with my peak usage in summer time (5 ton AC // 2800sq ft home) I should get 5-7 hours of backup. Now, if I cycle the AC or raise it to higher temp I will get significantly more back up time (20-36 hours). Again, this is all from one battery. I also have a portable generator that I can connect to gas meter. so my logic is base backup will cover me for short outages, but if a bad storm or hurricane comes and knocks out the grid for a few days, I can then use my portable generator (gas connection) to the Base battery to continue to power the house.Im happy to share any other info.

JasonAMA : Congrats. You have the new generation system - an improvement.

These systems back feed the grid correct? Do you get "credit" when not in use?

Is it true this will lower your power bill?