My guess is that in the end you will spend $2,000 in time plus money,
to replicate a $310 inverter. Additionally, it will not work well.

i

On 2012-10-07, Existential Angst wrote:
Awl --

In discussing using inverters+car alternator as a backup power supply, and
observing some hefty cobra 5,000 W inverters ($310, google shopping), I was
wondering if these can be made even heftier with stock parts? I wonder if
these large ratings in cobra units aren't like Sears hp....

It seems like the bottleneck in this strategy as a house backup power supply
is the car alternator. 5,000 W would require about a 500 Amp alternator!
But mebbe a regular car alternator + a bank of batteries could handle all
the peak loads/draws, as long as they didn't last forever. Anyone here ever
do this?

Gensets, even nat gas ones, seem to be a real pita, and the noise is
considerable, unless you get real pricey.