Natural disasters tend to shut off electric power to thousands of people. Just look at what Helene did, and Milton is doing now.
This guys video shows how to make a DIY home solar electric power station which will allow you to power up things like lights, radio, phone chargers, and even refrigerators and freezers.
The unit he is building in this video is 1200 watts, but I personally recommend a 3000 watt unit as your minimum.
I have a small solar system at my house. I typically run a refrigerator and an upright freezer with it, but I can run a second refrigerator at the same time. I might have to unplug some of the units at night as I only have two 200AH batteries in the system.
I prefer this DIY power system rather than a generator. I might not be able to get fuel to run my generator. But if I work things right I can get sun to recharge my system regularly.
And if you are one of the lucky recipients of a FEMA electric chainsaw, you might be able to use it.
The system I have at my home is 6 x 270 watt panels, for 1620 watts. I have 2 powerqueen 12.8v 200AH batteries in parallel, and a 60 amp Epever mppt charge controller. The power consumption of my fridge/freezer is typically 200 watts or less, but it can go up to 1200 or so for a short time. The fridges are on/off and do not run all the time. This system is overkill for my usage. My first system was 6x100 watt panels with a 2000 watt inverter, and some 6 volt golf cart batteries. That worked well until the inverter quit.
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