Daveyboy
Member
- Joined
- Aug 6, 2017
- Messages
- 91
Hi everyone.
I've been meaning to do my build thread fora while now, but build progress is slow. But as they say, slow and steady wins the race
I learned about using 18650s for home storage probably a year ago now when I stumbled on one of Pete's videos. I watched them all and thought "Damn. I could do that!"
IF ONLY I COULD SOURCE BATTERIES!!!!
So I thought i'd give it a go trying to find these old dead laptop batteries. After a lot of calling around, I found a few sources that could provide a few dozen packs per month for free. It got me started.
After a few monthsI had a few lucky wins of a hundred or so packs, and with a local powerwall enthusiast selling me some of hispacks, I soon had enough for my planned build.
Planned build:
14s80p,
>1700mah per cell
48v 4000w MPP off grid inverter
8x solar panels (250w)
It will be installed in and on my Garage. Its an odd shape garage. Double length, not double width. Really impracticable for cars, but great for sticking solar on the roof. I can fit 8 panels on one side and its almost perfectly south facing and about 40 degrees, which is pretty good for UK.
My house is grid connected. Electricity and Gas. I mainly want to do this because of my bitter disappointment in the lack of drive of government to clean up our power generation, coupled with the fact that the landfilling of these batteries is nothing short of complete tragedy.
Anyway,I've got gas heating as well as electric heating in a loft conversion. Water is heated by gas with option to be electrically heated.
I really want to take selected circuits in the house and have the option to select solar/battery instead of mains.
And depending on how much solar power i have I want the option to use excess power to heat the water.
No plans for solar heating, or solar powering the range oven or the one electric shower.
But if this all works, I will be looking to install more panels on the roof of the house.
I started my journey withthe battery though. Using only 3 opus testers. Like I said. Slow and steady.
I want something with easy maintenance. Single 80 cell packs look like a pain to work on when something needs fixing. I'd rather work on a single 20 cell pack. So I chose that as my form factor.
I wanted something pretty secure to the wall and didn't want to just sit them on a shelf, so I drew up a bracket and had 56 of them printed. It took 3 prototypes to get it right, but they are strong and I really like the way it looks.
Keith sorted me out with some white sleeves to give it a unique look. Well worth it!
I've decided to go tab welding route instead of soldering. I have done one test pack. It's not as easy as I thought it would be.
So as of right now, I decided to weed out the <2000mah cells. Only because I'm confident I can get enough packs to be picky and I've noticed after a 3 month sitting test, its the <2000mah cells that drop voltage the most. I personally think they will be the problematic cells in the future. So out the came. Its left me with only 14s60p though. Thats ok. Slow and steady.
I got my panels yesterday. (Thats what inspired me to do my build thread).
I'll be installing them myself once I've got the mounting hardware for a pantile roof.
I'm yet to order an inverter.
I think the (industry standard?!!) MPP solar 48v 4kva or 5kvawill be perfect.
Need to find an electrician that would be know what i'm trying to achieve here though and make sure its all wired up safely.
I'll update when there's something worthy of an update, but I am going to be taking my time with this. Most of my spare time is actually allocated to decorating my house. It was quite the project house when we bought it. But I hope to get this battery operational over the summer.
Oh. How about some pics...
The intended target - my garage
Cells that passed the tests
My Design of a 20 cell pack wall mount
Wall mount printed
First trial of welding fuses
Packs mounted to wall (and I love how it looks )
Let me know if you have questions etc, I know this intro doesn't have much detail in it.
Cheers
Dave
I've been meaning to do my build thread fora while now, but build progress is slow. But as they say, slow and steady wins the race
I learned about using 18650s for home storage probably a year ago now when I stumbled on one of Pete's videos. I watched them all and thought "Damn. I could do that!"
IF ONLY I COULD SOURCE BATTERIES!!!!
So I thought i'd give it a go trying to find these old dead laptop batteries. After a lot of calling around, I found a few sources that could provide a few dozen packs per month for free. It got me started.
After a few monthsI had a few lucky wins of a hundred or so packs, and with a local powerwall enthusiast selling me some of hispacks, I soon had enough for my planned build.
Planned build:
14s80p,
>1700mah per cell
48v 4000w MPP off grid inverter
8x solar panels (250w)
It will be installed in and on my Garage. Its an odd shape garage. Double length, not double width. Really impracticable for cars, but great for sticking solar on the roof. I can fit 8 panels on one side and its almost perfectly south facing and about 40 degrees, which is pretty good for UK.
My house is grid connected. Electricity and Gas. I mainly want to do this because of my bitter disappointment in the lack of drive of government to clean up our power generation, coupled with the fact that the landfilling of these batteries is nothing short of complete tragedy.
Anyway,I've got gas heating as well as electric heating in a loft conversion. Water is heated by gas with option to be electrically heated.
I really want to take selected circuits in the house and have the option to select solar/battery instead of mains.
And depending on how much solar power i have I want the option to use excess power to heat the water.
No plans for solar heating, or solar powering the range oven or the one electric shower.
But if this all works, I will be looking to install more panels on the roof of the house.
I started my journey withthe battery though. Using only 3 opus testers. Like I said. Slow and steady.
I want something with easy maintenance. Single 80 cell packs look like a pain to work on when something needs fixing. I'd rather work on a single 20 cell pack. So I chose that as my form factor.
I wanted something pretty secure to the wall and didn't want to just sit them on a shelf, so I drew up a bracket and had 56 of them printed. It took 3 prototypes to get it right, but they are strong and I really like the way it looks.
Keith sorted me out with some white sleeves to give it a unique look. Well worth it!
I've decided to go tab welding route instead of soldering. I have done one test pack. It's not as easy as I thought it would be.
So as of right now, I decided to weed out the <2000mah cells. Only because I'm confident I can get enough packs to be picky and I've noticed after a 3 month sitting test, its the <2000mah cells that drop voltage the most. I personally think they will be the problematic cells in the future. So out the came. Its left me with only 14s60p though. Thats ok. Slow and steady.
I got my panels yesterday. (Thats what inspired me to do my build thread).
I'll be installing them myself once I've got the mounting hardware for a pantile roof.
I'm yet to order an inverter.
I think the (industry standard?!!) MPP solar 48v 4kva or 5kvawill be perfect.
Need to find an electrician that would be know what i'm trying to achieve here though and make sure its all wired up safely.
I'll update when there's something worthy of an update, but I am going to be taking my time with this. Most of my spare time is actually allocated to decorating my house. It was quite the project house when we bought it. But I hope to get this battery operational over the summer.
Oh. How about some pics...
The intended target - my garage
Cells that passed the tests
My Design of a 20 cell pack wall mount
Wall mount printed
First trial of welding fuses
Packs mounted to wall (and I love how it looks )
Let me know if you have questions etc, I know this intro doesn't have much detail in it.
Cheers
Dave