OffGridInTheCity Build

[OffGridInTheCity]

Hrmm, almost starting to sound like a Newegg Return scandal. Let's hope not.

And I'm with Pete, how are you processing so many cells that fast!??!

They arrived on Jan 30 - so that's 408 - 40rusty = 368 cells / 23 days = 16cells/day. One thing that made these go fast is they were all 3.9v or higher from the git-go so the initial charge was short

In my quest to get all the same cell type of Samsung ICR18650-26F for this battery...
- I'm 1/2 way thru the jag35.com order of 2000 estimating 50-55% good.
- Finished with Battery Hookup cells at 41% good.

At 50% success rates, its been difficult to get the 1,500 (or so) good cells of same type as I bought out jag35.com and Battery Hookup is sold out.

But I did find some Samsung ICR18650-26F on Battery Clearing house this week and ordered a bunch. With my luck this round, the Battery Clearing House will probably be 99% good, I'll have too many, and should have gone there first. We'll see

 

[Wolf]

And I'm with Pete, how are you processing so many cells that fast!??!

Yea thats not that tough. I can process ≈1000 cells a month that's only ≈33 cells a day. 2 Megacell chargers 16 cells each = 32 cells.
Prequalify the cells with IR and you don't have any issues with bad cells.
Wolf

 

[Korishan]

They arrived on Jan 30

Didn't realize they arrived almost a month ago. I was thinking closer to only a week or less.

A month of time is a lot easier to believe them getting processed

 

[OffGridInTheCity]

BatteryHookup did a 47% refund based on my email showing my test results of those 24cell medical packs. Good for BatteryHookup - my faith has been restored!



From: Battery Hookup [mailto:sales@batteryhookup.com]
Sent: Friday, March 4, 2022 8:51 AM
Subject: Refund notification

​ Battery Hookup​ Order #64300​ ​ Some items in your order have been refunded​ Total amount refunded: $256.42 USD ​ Order summary​ ​ SAMSUNG 8S 28.8v 7.8ah 225wh w/ BMS - NO CASE × 17 Refunded $509.83 ​ Discount DAVIDPOZ -$25.49​ Subtotal $484.34​ Shipping $59.62​ Taxes $0.00​ Total $543.96 USD​ You saved $25.49​ Paypal $543.96​ Refund Paypal - $256.42​ ​ If you have any questions, reply to this email or contact us at sales@batteryhookup.com

 

[OffGridInTheCity]

Just updated the 1st post (intro) to include 2021 power/water production details, a *new* battery cycle table, and Powerwall battery detail.

2021 Production = 14,764 kwh and 17,740gal of rain harvest consumed.

Battery Cycles

Pictorial of current powerwall

Here's an actual pic of batteries 1 thru 4 to help visualize what the graphic above is showing.

New batteries in progress for this year

 

[bbbbrass]

Great job BH! I've only ordered the headway superbeasts from them, but been very pleased with responses to questions I asked in advance, quality of product, and speed of delivery (and also price)!

 

[floydR]

hey your shelves are bending all around the same point or is that an optical illusion?
later floyd
edit:There was suppose to be a smile at the end of the line. really looks great

 

[OffGridInTheCity]

hey your shelves are bending all around the same point or is that an optical illusion?
later floyd

Good eye - they ARE bending. There are 5 shelf rails like this....

upright on the rough concrete foundation / screwed into the cinder block wall. The foundation wasn't even and the shelf boards are flimsy

edit:There was suppose to be a smile at the end of the line. really looks great

Thank you for the kind words.

 

[OffGridInTheCity]

Amazing power of solar... I have my Midnite Classics set at 80a max, and I have a 12.875kw array. The limit here is the 80a per Midnite....
Look at this snapshot - even with a few clouds.... Solar is just amazing!!!

3yr old panels are rocking it at 99.4% (12,802w/12,875w)and I think they could do 100% if I didn't have the Midnites throttled.

 

[OffGridInTheCity]

Quite a while back I described creating battery connection busses by flattening copper pipe with a hammer. @Korishan suggested using the car to help with this. Well... today I'm ready for my next battery hookup and tried it.

I'm using 3/4" OD copper pipe and ran over it with a 2x6 board on top:

and it partially flattened it!

But used the old hammer against the concrete floor to totally flatten it

It helped! So thanks to @Korishan for the idea!

P.S. Even today it's only $2.40/ft for this copper - which compares favorably to wire or metal stock https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08C36277S/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title

 

[OffGridInTheCity]

It's been a while, building an additional shelf area.... but today, battery #6 moved to it's permanent home (top shelf) and battery #7 added today! All went smoothly and Barium synced the new setup on the 1st try! (Praise the Lord is all I can say).

Note: With battery +/- on opposite ends, circuit breakers all off, strict red/black wires, and covering the loose ends of the cables while working on the other end - there was very little risk of shorts or unpleasant mistakes. However, the potential power is just scary. At one point a bolt 'flashed' in the light (flash = short) as I was tightening it and I jumped a foot. But things went well - highly recommend following good operational procedures when doing this type of work and leaving room to jump a foot and not bang you're head.


This brings the powerwall up to 1820ah @ 52v (e.g. ~94kwh) and the longmons up from 84 to 98....

Battery #8 (the pink ICR18650-26F cells) is coming along. A couple hundred more cells to process and ready to start soldering...

 

[Dr. Dickie]

Holy batman OffGridInTheCity, that is a serious wall 'O power!! I am jealous. Very nice. Are you powering the block, or just your house?

 

[OffGridInTheCity]

After 12years of living here at 11c/kwh in Southern Oregon, rates are going up. They site coal plant closure, renewables, and inflation as the drivers. 14% of 11c/kwh = 12.5c/kwh. Still pretty low compared to some other places. This will lower my current ROI from 23.54yrs to 21.18yrs

 

[italianuser]

After 12years of living here at 11c/kwh in Southern Oregon, rates are going up. They site coal plant closure, renewables, and inflation as the drivers. 14% of 11c/kwh = 12.5c/kwh. Still pretty low compared to some other places. This will lower my current ROI from 23.54yrs to 21.18yrs
View attachment 27475

In Italy since last year electricity has gone up by 400%... last bill I paid 0.46€/KWh WTH! starting from next month maybe I'll be able to get it at 0.28€/KWh...
(1USD = 0.94€)

 

[Oberfail]

In Italy since last year electricity has gone up by 400%... last bill I paid 0.46€/KWh WTH! starting from next month maybe I'll be able to get it at 0.28€/KWh...
(1USD = 0.94€)

Take the same price, add 3 cents and you have the current german prices.
Electricity turns more and more into an unconvinience.

 

[cak]

The annoying thing is the utilities like to use renewables as the excuse for price increases but it is really that they just want more profits In the US we have lots of munis and coop utilities who are not profit motivated but those investor utilities are money making machines for shareholders and they cant have that going away :S Large scale solar and wind are currently the cheapest way to add capacity to the grid and most places are not at the point of the inconsistency of renewables being a major factor or cost adder. Personally I think energy prices in general are not factoring in the real costs involved but that is not what is causing the utilities to raise prices to fil their pockets.

 

[dali1972]

It's been a while, building an additional shelf area.... but today, battery #6 moved to it's permanent home (top shelf) and battery #7 added today! All went smoothly and Barium synced the new setup on the 1st try! (Praise the Lord is all I can say).
View attachment 27434
Note: With battery +/- on opposite ends, circuit breakers all off, strict red/black wires, and covering the loose ends of the cables while working on the other end - there was very little risk of shorts or unpleasant mistakes. However, the potential power is just scary. At one point a bolt 'flashed' in the light (flash = short) as I was tightening it and I jumped a foot. But things went well - highly recommend following good operational procedures when doing this type of work and leaving room to jump a foot and not bang you're head.


This brings the powerwall up to 1820ah @ 52v (e.g. ~94kwh) and the longmons up from 84 to 98....
View attachment 27435

Battery #8 (the pink ICR18650-26F cells) is coming along. A couple hundred more cells to process and ready to start soldering...
View attachment 27436

This brings the powerwall up to 1820ah @ 52v (e.g. ~94kwh).....
Never enough

 

[OffGridInTheCity]

Broke the '100 barrier' today with battery #8. Brings things up to 108kwh and 112 longmons!

Really folks, this is all in part due to YOU ALL. If it weren't for the founders of this site + all of your contributions - I wouldn't have gotten here

Here's an updated power setup pic:

 

[Wolf]

Inspiration for us all.
Great job looks awesome!

Wolf

 

[OffGridInTheCity]

Couldn't help myself - BatteryHookup just sent an alert to these - https://batteryhookup.com/products/new-case-of-108-panasonic-ncr18650a-2900mah-cells I already have 2 batteries of NCR18650A(s) and they do very well. With shipping - its 0.91c/cell - and they claim practically new / never cycled! Battery #9 is calling....