How Much Heat and Noise Do Battery Generators Produce?

When you imagine a traditional fuel-powered generator, what are the first two things that come to mind?

It's probably Heat and Noise.

The engines found in fuel-powered generators are both very loud and produce a lot of heat as a byproduct of combustion.

By contrast, the solid-state components inside of a battery-powered generator result in the exact opposite.

While our systems do emit some heat as a byproduct of the charging and inverting processes—it's far less than gasoline generators—and completely unnoticeable.

In fact, the amount of heat a battery powered generator gives off is about the same as a desktop computer.

So, no special accommodation or considerations must be given for the room in which it resides. You only need to ensure 6-12 inches of clearance around the vents of the backup system to ensure it can properly circulate air for itself.

And much like a computer incredibly quiet—though there may be an occasional beep. Protecting your patients and most valuable biomedical inventory in near silence.

When operating at full capacity, a Medi-Products rechargeable indoor generator will produce a maximum of ~2250 BTUs of hot air per hour.

 For reference, an average window air conditioner will produce more than double (5,000-12,000 BTU of cold air per hour)—with constant operation.

However, backup power systems do not constantly maintain peak power/heat output. A generator will only reach peak usage during an outage and for only about 30% of that time. This is because full or near-full output only occurs during the duty cycle of an appliance—when they are drawing the most power.

While output may vary based on your individual appliance, most users can expect an output of around 1,000 BTU per hour during normal use—even LESS than the average desktop computer (~1,400 BTUs)

By comparison, a gas generator will produce around 10,000 BTU of heat per horsepower, per hour. Therefor, a generator that produces equal power to an average sized battery backup unit will generate ~60,000 BTUs. That's 60 times as much heat, as gas generators are always running once engaged.

When in bulk charging mode you can expect a battery powered generator to produce ~1,450 BTU/hr.

So, the amount of heat produced is about equal to the amount experienced during normal usage and almost exactly equal to that of an average computer. 

Which is to say a nearly unnoticeable amount. 

99% of the time, you will find that your battery powered generator is in standby mode.

Standby Mode (aka float charging mode) produces almost no heat—only 85 BTU/h.

As a direct comparison, this is less than 1% of the heat a battery powered generator produces during normal use.

Similarly, that's around 1/1000 the amount of cold air produced by a window air conditioner.

The takeaway from all this? 

If you would be comfortable putting a computer station for someone to work on in a room—then battery backup gives you even less to worry about. 

MediProducts battery backup units use solid state components. That means there are no moving parts. As a result, during operation, MediProducts’ battery backup systems are near silent.

By comparison, gas generator noise can range anywhere from 70-100 dB at 23 feet away. The same as a live music concert.

A Medi-Products battery backup system will only make a loud noise on one occasion. If your batteries have been depleted, an alarm will sound.

This is to alert those standing by that the system will soon be out of power and to find alternate means of power. Or, when using it to backup cold storage appliance, to find an alternate method of keeping inventory cool.