Hello from Midwest USA

[prepared1]

Glad to participate in this website. Lots of good info here. My projects focus on backup systems for power due to the frequent power outages we experience. Not a good thing in the summer, but can be deadly in the Winter.

Completely rewired our home, and set up multiple panels that are all fed by a master panel in the tool shed. Wired each of those panels with a generator feed. Purchased Victron 48v inverters, which I am setting up now. Currently have 39 kwh of ESS batteries. Kind of did the whole thing backwards from how some do...spent years putting in more efficient appliances, heating, cooling, lighting, insulation, windows, etc. This summer will be installing the first couple rows of solar panels. Have a difficult solar site...our goal is to run basically off-grid from batteries, but still retain our grid connection.

I'm building racks now for the batteries. At first, we will just charge the batteries from the grid, but later from solar panels. Can use generator to do so too.

I need to learn a lot more about BMS's. I watch videos, but really get lost when it comes to tutorials like with Batrium. Just puchased my first battery level BMS from Battery Hookup. Medium term goal is to start buying whole car batteries in order to help friends out with their projects too. Got to get something set up to handle the heavy batteries.

 

[OffGridInTheCity]

Welcome!

>....goal is to run basically off-grid from batteries, but still retain our grid connection.
This was my goal as well. I have an off-grid system (13kw PV + 24,000w inverter) and use ATS(s) to automatically switch between battery powered inverter and grid. I do this with independent components (Midnite Classic charge controllers, AIMS inverters, 18650 battery bank) which requires UPS(s) to smooth the switching for computers/tv etc. Lately I got my first PIP MPPSolar 'all in one' (Charge Controller + Charging + Inverter + UPS mode). PIP is the off-grid or non-grid-tie variation of MPPSolar.

Not sure where your going with your design but will be interesting to see what you develop

 

[italianuser]

Welcome Prepared,

your project seems great!
Did you consider lithium batteries instead of car (I suppose lead-acid) batteries for your system?
Don't know if you did, you could open a thread about that.

Keep it up!

jes

 

[prepared1]

Welcome!

>....goal is to run basically off-grid from batteries, but still retain our grid connection.
This was my goal as well. I have an off-grid system (13kw PV + 24,000w inverter) and use ATS(s) to automatically switch between battery powered inverter and grid. I do this with independent components (Midnite Classic charge controllers, AIMS inverters, 18650 battery bank) which requires UPS(s) to smooth the switching for computers/tv etc. Lately I got my first PIP MPPSolar 'all in one' (Charge Controller + Charging + Inverter + UPS mode). PIP is the off-grid or non-grid-tie variation of MPPSolar.

Not sure where your going with your design but will be interesting to see what you develop

OffGrid: I've been reading your posts for quite a while. Very interesting.
We cannot go completely off grid due to significant tree shading, except in a limited capacity emergency situation. That is why we have worked hard to get our electrical/energy usage reduced.
We have solar hot water panels to help with heating in grid-down situations. The plan is to add 2 more after we get the PV panels up. I'm glad we waited, because PV has gotten so much more powerful/cheaper that we can get much closer to being off grid with the same limitations on solar exposure. Our system will be ground mount, and will likely be 2-3 smaller arrays. Like many, our biggest concern is keeping food from spoiling, and heat/lighting in emergencies.
I spent years looking at all the major brands of inverters, including those from China. One of my biggest pet peeves is how manufacturers generally have lousy technical support, and warranties in many cases are nearly worthless. So reliability and support were top priorities. We initially bought 2 Victron Multiplus to handle basis loads. Not set up as split phase though. That will come later. I like the idea of redundancy, so a couple of inverters/battery banks makes me feel more secure.

Primary task now is to get a BMS going. I'm very concerned with safety, but I'm having a hard time getting familiar with all the programming to get them working. Definitely my weak link.

 

[prepared1]

Welcome Prepared,

your project seems great!
Did you consider lithium batteries instead of car (I suppose lead-acid) batteries for your system?
Don't know if you did, you could open a thread about that.

Keep it up!

jes

Italianusercs: All our ESS batteries are 2-3 kWh 48v lithium batteries. I've caught some very good sales, so the investment is modest compared to costs such as for a Tesla Powerwall. It is very interesting to look at systems people put together with cylindrical cells, but at this time, that is not where my interest lies. My interest is to help others become more independent from shortages in power/emergencies. I find the manufactured batteries such as BMW, A123, LG, Samsung, Kokam, etc to be great values, and very little hassle.

I'm not saying they are better than cylindrical....they are just better for my situation.

I don't know if I will get there, but I'm very interested in buying larger capacity batteries at higher voltages. Like 96-120v. I've spoken to many technical employees over the last 5 years about marketing trends, and they are definitely headed towards higher voltage. Where-as 12v was the standard before, now it has primarily become 24/48. But it won't stay there as technology changes the playing field.

The important thing is to get involved, right? Take action.

A goal of mine is to get to the point where I have enough battery storage to run 3 days with no other source of power. With our most recent large power outage, there was no gas to be had to run generators, no power for anything. I long ago converted one of our generators to natural gas, and that saved us.

 

[OffGridInTheCity]

>We cannot go completely off grid due to significant tree shading, except in a limited capacity emergency situation. That is why we have worked hard to get our electrical/energy usage reduced.

Yes sir. I've not given up being able to live 'off grid' at some reasonable level but its hard. I've gone 100% electric (heat pump water heater + heat pump heating) and smaller heat-pump units for spot heat for example. I still want to get a heat-pump dryer at some point as these only take 1000w instead of 4000w of power but one can actually hang clothes out to dry as we did when I was a kid and still live OK .

Our 7,500gal of water tanks / rain harvest system exceeded expectations. We ran 8 months with no conservation at all - so could easily go 12 months with modest cut-backs.

PV Reality... - Here's 2020's power production (as measured coming out of the inverters) in kwhs for each month. We could live in our house March thru Oct at reduced/conservative levels of power - but the winter months are so low due to daily clouds and the demand is so high for heat. I'm planning to buy 40 panels (instead of a generator) and stockpile them for emergency deployment in the winter - but that would only take me up to 750kwh (or so) for Jan and to be comfortable it would take more like 1500kwh. That would be 180 panels! Crazy!


Sigh... reconsidering a backup propane generator, a sterling engine, gasifier, 2000kwh battery bank, .... (increasingly crazy ideas) or maybe live in our cargo trailer -> camper conversion... Sigh.

 

[not2bme]

Kind of did the whole thing backwards from how some do...spent years putting in more efficient appliances, heating, cooling, lighting, insulation, windows, etc. This summer will be installing the first couple rows of solar panels. Have a difficult solar site...our goal is to run basically off-grid from batteries, but still retain our grid connection.

I'm building racks now for the batteries. At first, we will just charge the batteries from the grid, but later from solar panels. Can use generator to do so too.

I don't think you have it backwards. In fact, most of us are doing it backwards! We should go more energy efficient first. It helps lower the bills and reduce our carbon footprint.

There's nothing wrong using solar with generator for extended outages. In fact it's probably the right thing to do. A smaller generator can be used, instead of a 10kw whole house generator. During outages I hear my neighbor's generator run 24/7, even at night when they probably use a fraction of the pwoer. It only needs to be on to charge the batteries, so the gas/fuel savings is immense.