Battery inspection and generator run

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Well, its the first of the month. Two things I gotta do today – battery checks and generator run. I decided that every month Im going to check he batteries in the devices that I leave batteries in. Ideally, this will be frequent enough that if a battery does crap the bed it won’t have time to really do the horrible corrosive damage that usually occurs. We shall see.

Generator run is just a good idea. Haul it out every other month or so, run it for a half hour under various loads, clean it up and put it back in storage. Simple.

Yeah, sometimes its a pain in the ass but its one of those things where a lousy thirty minutes of minimal effort will save you a metric buttload of headache further down the road.

So, I’ve got about a dozen devices on my checklist for inspection, and then a half hour on the generator. Nothing sexy about it, but this sort of thing is what you do when youre a survivalist.

10 thoughts on “Battery inspection and generator run”

  1. Gather all of the devices 1st, then start the generator. While gen is running, check out the devices. Last device checked – turn generator off and remove fuel.

    Should work out about right I’m guessing.

  2. January is ‘rotate the stored gas’ month for me. Not much fun emptying 5-gallon gas cans in 10 degree weather, but it is what it is. At least gas is ‘cheap’ now. Gotta do it.

    • I rotate mine in the summer since winter is when they dump ethanol in the gas here.

      • We’re “ethanol 365”, unfortunately. I always did January per Papa Rawles’ advice that extra benzene was added to winter gas. Perhaps I should rethink?

  4. lol, I was doing that every month. then the power went out last February a week after I last ran the gennies. neither primary nor backup would start, until the power came back on 6 hours and ten degrees later. I was so mad I haven’t been able to go back on schedule….

  5. I bought a Honda generator a couple of years ago based on your posts and I love it. Today is my day to run it for 30 minutes which I do each month. Hoping it will start easily in the cold Montana northwest.

    Thanks for the recommendation and the tips.

  6. Yeah, gotta check these electronic things more than twice a year.

    My Dakota Alert Portable’s batteries (duracell) crapped the bed on me since the last check in Sept. Fortunately its not catastrophic and a wire wheel on the dremel tool has cleaned it up to acceptable levels. I turn it on about monthly but it uses two screws, one on the belt clip and another on the battery cover. Pain in the ass but now I’m gonna check them every two months.

    Your reminders are helpful.

  7. Yes sir!!! In summer as i am cutting my lawn, i bring out gen set & run it maybe once or twice a month. I do same as i snowblow driveway in winter. My gen set is older so i wanna keep it as ready for sudden issues that N. Ill. weather brings.

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