Installed a $1,300 investment to avoid kicking myself in the head if the grid goes down.

[kjhall]

I bought a Lightning three years ago (LOVE IT of course) and have always been excited about its ability to keep our house livable during a power outage. But I never actually implemented a way to achieve that.

We installed a 10kW grid-tied solar array ten years ago, and it has worked flawlessly. But at least once a year I remind myself that the system will be a 0kW array if the grid goes down.

In northern Colorado, just east of the Rockies, our chances of a lengthy power outage are slim. Yet I knew if it occurred, I would be kicking myself while staring at the Lightning and the solar array sitting idle.

This week I finally did something about it:

• I installed a 30A Generac manual transfer switch for critical house loads, with a cable to reach the 220V outlet in the bed of the Lightning. (I know - welcome to the club, latecomer).
• I installed an inexpensive 5kW off-grid inverter, a PV disconnect switch to swap the solar array output from the grid-tied inverter to the off-grid, and a 14-50R outlet (for the Emporia charger) tied directly to the inverter’s AC output.

Now if the grid goes down the Lightning can power our critical household loads for a limited time. And the solar array can charge the Lightning battery to extend that time. And they both work!

Total cost: around $1,300.

Yes, the switch-over is a multi-step manual process. And yes, a solar-array-powered DC charger would be much better. But did I mention this may-never-need-it, peace-of-mind solution cost $1,300? Is that a fair price to pay to avoid kicks to the head?

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[sotek2345]

Absolutely! I don't trust my electrical skills enough to do that work myself and when I had it quoted, the Generac transfer switch was close to $4k installed by an electrician.

I ended up just investing in some very good extension cords to power critical loads from the 120V outlets and that has proven useful a few times in upstate NY.

 

[hturnerfamily]

well.... it depends...

some of us would bristle at the thought of spending 'that much money' on such an un-needed, un-used piece of equipment... although, in the moment, it makes you happy.
Yes, peace-of-mind is what marketing makes us feel like we need to spend money on, but, frankly, we are spoiled. We think, or fear, that somehow a power outage is just 'the end of the world', or it feels like it in the moment, especially when it's not just you, but your spouse, or your kids, or, well, you know...

most of us will admit that having a utility power outage, for any 'extended' length of time, is very, very rare...so rare, in fact, that we rarely ever even 'plan' for it, since, well, the normal day-to-day life tends to help us rely on the basics that we have 24/7, without much thought, otherwise.

It's true, it 'hurts' not to have lights at night, or the fridge in the summer, or air conditioning inside a 'well-built' tight home, or TV for entertainment, or the thought of losing our battery power on our precious phones... yes, it does. But, is it worth 'a lot of money' just for those few moments?


We'll all have a different take on that.

 

[flyct]

In northern Colorado, just east of the Rockies, our chances of a lengthy power outage are slim. Yet I knew if it occurred, I would be kicking myself while staring at the Lightning and the solar array sitting idle.

In your situation it's insurance money well spent. Your wife will thank you the first time it is needed.

We have a remote cabin in Florida that could really use this. For now I use an interlock bypass kit and a generator inlet to power the cabin during the frequent outages when we are at the cabin.

Just this 2 days ago we had an outage due to a tree damaging power lines. According to my alarm system the Power went down at 6"05PM and wasn't restored until 4:49 AM the following morning. That is almost 11 hours without power. If we were at the cabin we would have plugged the ProPower outlet into the generator inlet and used the Lightning to power the cabin during those hours

Tue Nov 18 2025 6:05:53 PM (2 days ago) AC Loss
Wed Nov 19 2025 4:49:14 AM (1 day ago) AC Restoral

 

[K6CCC]

I installed an inexpensive 5kW off-grid inverter, a PV disconnect switch to swap the solar array output from the grid-tied inverter to the off-grid,

I'm curious what you have for the inverter. Not that I can do that as my Grid tied solar system uses micro inverters at each panel, so I don't have any access to the DC from the solar.

 

[kjhall]

I'm curious what you have for the inverter. Not that I can do that as my Grid tied solar system uses micro inverters at each panel, so I don't have any access to the DC from the solar.

I took a gamble and bought this one on eBay when it was on sale for $440:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/127350811173

I needed the 240AC output, which a lot of inexpensive 5kW inverters only offer with parallel units.
It seems to work well, powering the Emporia charger set at 20A. No idea if it will still be working when I really need it. I plan on testing it every 6 months or so.

 

[Brent@ANParts]

$1300 is pretty great for what you're getting. I remember probably 10 years ago I spent a ton on a home generator system, and not a single thing happened over those 10 years.

 

[hajalie24]

Nice. I found a way to integrate my powerwalls with the lightning in case it's needed. Feels good, hopefully I don't need to use it soon.

 

[K6CCC]

Nice. I found a way to integrate my powerwalls with the lightning in case it's needed. Feels good, hopefully I don't need to use it soon.

That's interesting - how? That sounds like a good way damage something. The Lightning certainly is not expecting to be paralleled with another power source, and the PowerWall expects a grid connection that can source or load an very large amount of power (which the Lightning can not).

 

[RickLightning]

well.... it depends...

some of us would bristle at the thought of spending 'that much money' on such an un-needed, un-used piece of equipment... although, in the moment, it makes you happy.
Yes, peace-of-mind is what marketing makes us feel like we need to spend money on, but, frankly, we are spoiled. We think, or fear, that somehow a power outage is just 'the end of the world', or it feels like it in the moment, especially when it's not just you, but your spouse, or your kids, or, well, you know...

most of us will admit that having a utility power outage, for any 'extended' length of time, is very, very rare...so rare, in fact, that we rarely ever even 'plan' for it, since, well, the normal day-to-day life tends to help us rely on the basics that we have 24/7, without much thought, otherwise.

It's true, it 'hurts' not to have lights at night, or the fridge in the summer, or air conditioning inside a 'well-built' tight home, or TV for entertainment, or the thought of losing our battery power on our precious phones... yes, it does. But, is it worth 'a lot of money' just for those few moments?


We'll all have a different take on that.

We live in a suburb of a major college town, with underground utilities. Some years we had an outage, or 2, or 3. Some were predictable, i.e. a major storm. Some were ridiculous, a beautiful day with no wind. At one point, the utility company opened an underground cable vault for work, and we had outages. I said "water is getting into the vault" you idiots. They closed the vault, and outages stopped...

It got so bad at one pont that a neighbor would call them and say "I see the issue, tree against wire in my backyard".

After 6 outages in a year, some multi-day, we had enough. After living here for 14 years at that point, we put in a whole house generator (19kW natural gas, 22kW propane). We didn't have the Lightning yet, but I anticipated that the HIS system would be a cluster. After the generator went in, we lost power for 3 days while we were visiting relatives, in Florida, in winter. Had we owned the Lightning at that point, we likely would have had it in Florida... Doesn't backup anything when not at the house...

To save money, I bought it at Costco, and picked it up. UHaul trailer with ramp. Costco puts it in trailer. Got home, slide it out (on pallet). Installer said "don't open box or we won't install it". Costco's price was below installers' cost to buy. I got 4 or 5 estimates, and came in well below the lowest as a result.

Is 6 outages a year too much? Is $50 in dry ice to save your freezers too much, and driving 30 miles to get it because the stores all sell out?

Since then, utility has clear cut 25 feet on either side of the feeds to the neighborhood, long overdue.

Power goes out now, and my immediate thought is natural gas is $1 CCF, crap I should connect the truck...

 

[FloridaMan655321]

I did something similar, being here in Hurricane peninsula, and thankfully I haven't had to use it
My house is a bit old and upgraded the panel, so mine was a bit more expensive. I also just put in an inlet on the side of the house, so I'll use a cable to plug in and flip on/off each circuit manually. I really don't care about it not being automatic as I shouldn't be needing it that often

 

[Sirkillz]

I bought extension cords

 

[pullinggs]

My vote? SMART move!

Our system is functionally the same as yours, and I don't care what other people think, in my mind having backup is a very goods thing. The power company dropped us yesterday for almost 9 hours (planned maintenance outage, so we were ready) and we almost didn't notice.

 

[LightningB514]

Nice! I have wanted a way to power my house but it’s so expensive. Might see if my electrician buddy can do this for me. I’m also in Colorado but in the Rockies so we sometimes go a few hours without electricity.

 

[topofsuperior]

I bought a Lightning three years ago (LOVE IT of course) and have always been excited about its ability to keep our house livable during a power outage. But I never actually implemented a way to achieve that.

We installed a 10kW grid-tied solar array ten years ago, and it has worked flawlessly. But at least once a year I remind myself that the system will be a 0kW array if the grid goes down.

In northern Colorado, just east of the Rockies, our chances of a lengthy power outage are slim. Yet I knew if it occurred, I would be kicking myself while staring at the Lightning and the solar array sitting idle.

This week I finally did something about it:

• I installed a 30A Generac manual transfer switch for critical house loads, with a cable to reach the 220V outlet in the bed of the Lightning. (I know - welcome to the club, latecomer).
• I installed an inexpensive 5kW off-grid inverter, a PV disconnect switch to swap the solar array output from the grid-tied inverter to the off-grid, and a 14-50R outlet (for the Emporia charger) tied directly to the inverter’s AC output.

Now if the grid goes down the Lightning can power our critical household loads for a limited time. And the solar array can charge the Lightning battery to extend that time. And they both work!

Total cost: around $1,300.

Yes, the switch-over is a multi-step manual process. And yes, a solar-array-powered DC charger would be much better. But did I mention this may-never-need-it, peace-of-mind solution cost $1,300? Is that a fair price to pay to avoid kicks to the head?

Have you tested it?
I have a similar setup but when we had a power outage, the truck would not allow the connection and would throw the breaker on the 30amp connection in the truck.
But when I hooked it up to generator the Generlink worked fine. Not sure why yet

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