General "Generator" questions:

[C-10 simplex]

So, because of the recent storm i "had" to rig up some sort of temporary power; i went over to my parents' house because their power got knocked out plus one of the bridges was closed so i probably could not get to my appartment anyways.

i took an optima yellow top 34/78 and put it in the car and then hooked a "husky" (home depot brand) 750 watt inverter to the battery. We were able to at least get on the net and watch TV indefinitely as long as the engine was running or run occasionally---say at least 15mins per every hour. This setup seemed to work ok. This was on the 2.2 engine at first, but then i decided to switch to the truck (small block) because believe it or not, the small block was actually quieter than the 4 cyl (needed to run late at night) AND i figured (possibly wrong) that the small block is better suited to idle also considering how big the fan and radiator is on the truck?


Some of my concerns are:

1) i don't know what size alternators generally come stock on cars, but is this sort of thing stressful for the alternator? Keep in mind i will only be using it in this manner during power outages which is pretty rare.

2) Would switching to a larger alternator help?

3) i'm thinking of getting a larger inverter maybe 2500-3000 watts so that i can power the fridge, fans etc. How would #1 and #2 be affected by this if at all?

4) Would using more than one battery at a time change anything?

5) Note that i don't know much about electricity, alternate power etc.