u/longren

I have a small one room summer cabin with unreliable and underpowered grid connection.

Single phase 20A 220V supply by old thin aluminum cable on a pole, which is barely enough for anything more than a well pump, water heater and fridge. Water pump and water heater need to be turned off to use washing machine or it will trip the breaker, which is not ideal for many reasons.

What is more, the local grid is often overloaded and brownouts and blackouts happen annoyingly often.

Up until now I was waiting out brownouts and using a small old gas generator for blackouts, but it is old, annoying, loud and not powerful enough to reliably run washing machine.

I need something relatively cheap to more or less handle 12A (2600Wt for either washing machine or water heater ) for a couple of hours with 1-5 minute bursts of extra 3.5-6A (750-1300Wt for water pump and fridge + their inrush currents and microwave).

The cabin is not insulated and more or less impossible to heat in winter. So I don't live there between November and May, and any stationary solution that needs regular tending or constant temperature is out. Mobile or semi-mobile solutions that can fit in a trunk of a small SUV to be moved into a flat for winter are an option.

I am looking for options but not sure what to get and if is is feasible to do something practical under 2000$. For now I see 3 options:

1. Loud and smelly (but quieter and newer!) gas generator powerful enough to run 2600W washer
2. Expensive for such low capacity brand-name mobile power pack like Ecoflow delta 3 max (but it is smart and has neat add-ons like solar panels)
3. DIY a cheap chinese charger-invertor and LiFePO4 batteries with a side of fire hazard and a hassle with finding space for it and moving it to a flat for off season

Helpful advice or useful resources are appreciated.

I have a small summer cabin with unreliable and underpowered grid connection.

Single phase 20A 220V supply by more or less long heavy duty extension cord on a pole, which is barely enough for anything more than a well pump, water heater and fridge. Water pump and heater need to be turned off to use washing machine or it will trip the breaker, which is not ideal for many reasons.

What is more, the local grid is often overloaded by ACs and water heaters in the evening and brownouts and blackouts happen annoyingly often.

Up until now I was waiting out brownouts and using a small old gas generator for blackouts, but it is annoying, loud and starts showing it's age.

I am looking for options but not sure what to get. I need something to more or less handle 12A (2600Wt for either washing machine or water heater ) continuous with 1-5 minute bursts of extra 3.5-6A (750-1300Wt for water pump and fridge + their inrush currents and microwave)

The cabin is not insulated and more or less impossible to heat in winter. So I don't live there between November and May, and any stationary solution that needs regular tending or constant temperature is out. Mobile or semi-mobile solutions that can fit in a trunk of a small SUV are an option.

An easy solution is something like Ecoflow delte 3 or similar unit and solar panels. It look like a decent mobile solution if a bit pricey and not as powerful as I want. On the opposite part of a spectrum, put cheap or used solar panels on the roof and decent battery charger/inverter with lead-acid batteries. But lugging batteries to winter home and back each season and tending to them there is a hassle and they are a space hog in a small flat.

Helpful advice or useful resources are appreciated.