You've Just Seen Your Last Blackout
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TESTING AND SAFETY
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Decide which appliances and lights you feel are absolutely necessary to operate together during a power outage and see how long the power station can keep them operating. Be sure to start with a fully charged battery and do not allow the test to continue after the lights begin to dim. Completely discharging a battery will reduce its long-term life.
Always remember, even a sealed lead-acid battery can spill acid and cause severe damage to your skin if mishandled. A fully charged battery can also melt a large screwdriver if both terminals come into contact at the same time.
When the station is being used to power emergency loads, the battery discharge process does not produce any volatile gases. However, when a battery is being charged, the charging process causes the formation of hydrogen gas inside the battery. If the charging process is allowed to continue after reaching full charge, this hydrogen gas generation will rapidly increase and the gas will begin to escape through the battery vents into the room. If the room is small and not well ventilated, hydrogen gas, which is highly flammable, can build up. A quality battery charger that automatically shuts off when the battery has been recharged will greatly reduce the possibility of this type of dangerous out-gassing, however.
OPERATION
Most quality inverters will safely operate lights, small televisions, VCRs, and radios. However, since most inverters generate a modified or stepped square wave, some appliances designed to operate with a pure 60 cycle AC sine wave may operate at reduced capacity or not at all. We do not recommend using the power station to power any form of electric heater, hair dryer, microwave, toaster, or power saw as these loads will quickly discharge the battery and may exceed the 500 watt capacity of the inverter.
Although most computer equipment, roll-paper fax machines, and dot-matrix printers will work quite satisfactorily when connected to an inverter, do not power a laser printer, photocopier, or charge a rechargeable flashlight, as some brands of these devices will suffer major electronic component damage. For best results, decide in advance which appliances and lights will be used in an emergency and if in doubt, check with the manufacturer. When purchasing new appliances that need to operate during a power outage, read the electrical nameplate of each brand to find the model with the lowest wattage requirements.
