[Tell It Right]

As far as when the power goes out, I have two circuit panels. Only one of them is powered when the grid goes out (assuming I have power either coming in from solar panels and/or power stored in batteries). It's very much like most backup generator setups to power the critical load panel only by the generator.

As long as the grid power is on then both of my panels are powered, even if I'm not using grid power at all because my solar system is producing everything I need.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

My backup generator installation has two load shed modules. If the 26 kW generator can’t make enough power, it will drop off the oven first, then the AC. I’m going to add a 7 kW garage heater and that will get a load shed module, too.

We ordered a 20 kW generator, around March 2021, but the manufacturer came out with a 26 kW model for not a lot more money, so we went with that. That upgrade allowed us to reduce the load shed modules from four to two saving a lot there.

Now we are waiting for a big storm and extended outage to get some benefit out of the system!

There isn’t a lot of solar energy in North Idaho and we are in a heavily wooded area anyway.