Flux Capacitor is live!

[Rui Ponte]

12kW inverting / charging

• 3 x Victron Multiplus II 5000VA in 3-phase configuration

10kW solar array

• 12 x 270W Jinko coupled with Victron Smartsolar 250/60
• 12 x 280W JA Solar coupled with Victron Smartsolar 250/60
• 8 x 410W JA Solar coupled with Victron Smartsolar 250/70

25kWh 8kW storage

• Cells: 32x280Ah LiFePo4 in 16S2P 48V, 20mm x 5mm custom built busbars and 70mm2 cabling
• BMS: Batrium WM4 + 16 BlockMons 8
• DC Breaker: 150A Carling Tech (FA1-B0-14-815-12A-BG)

Assembling

• 42U rack mount
• Custom 680x420mm steel grate shelves

Energy Management functionality

• Power bill minimization:
  • Peak shaving to minimize contracted power:
    • Flexible load: EV charger adjusting power dynamically
    • If above is not enough, the following loads can be interrupted: heat pump; pool pump; house dehumidifier; other
  • Arbitrage: charging from grid and/or selling to grid, for profit
  • Load shifting to maximize peak shaving and arbitrage:
    • EV charger: flexible charging to achieve the user-set charging target
    • Heat pump: flexible temperature setpoints + thermal storage in heated floor;
    • Pool pump: flexible hourly/daily working hours, to achieve weekly working hours target
    • House dehumidifier: flexible humidity target
• Power Backup: if the grid goes out, the entire house switches to island-mode seamlessly (less than 20ms).
• Some specs:
  • Inputs for the system's decision-making:
    • Next-day PV production forecast
    • Electricity prices: next-day hourly wholesale price (for sale) & consumer tariff
    • User setpoints
  • The brains: a Home Assistant server connecting everything, with most programming made in MQTT.

Super proud of my build! ?
Thank you all for sharing your knowledge. That's what made this build possible! ?


Note: I made some upgrades from 2020 to 2022 and, therefore, some pictures may be outdated!

 

[Rui Ponte]

5 more photos.

 

[BoloMKXXVIII]

Envy.

 

[Frank in Thailand]

nice cabinet!!
and good job at the busbars!

 

[nebulight]

A proper setup! Nice job!!

 

[Heap64]

Very nicely done!!

 

[gnubie]

One of the best setups I've ever seen.

 

[Barry N]

WOW looks awesome

 

[Supervstech]

But...

how will you get it to 88MPH?

 

[Rui Ponte]

But...

how will you get it to 88MPH?

Great Scott!!! ?

 

[Bob142]

@Rui Ponte, your setup is a work of art. AND you've built in room for expansion! Just an awesome job. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Rui Ponte]

Thanks for all the warm comments!

Here are some extra screenshots of the system usage:





To Do list:
Replace the fuse with a DC breaker (just ordered a Carling F-Series 150A).

 

[upnorthandpersonal]

Very nice! I used a 19" rack like that in the past. Excellent bus bars as well!

 

[Rui Ponte]

Very nice! I used a 19" rack like that in the past. Excellent bus bars as well!

I was positively impressed with the price of a 5 meter, 20mm x 5mm (165ft, 8"x2", if my math is right) copper bar: around 45€.
Although it was a lot of work to cut/drill it into shape, to me it was a no brainer to use it instead of the 'usual' 2mm thick busbars.

For the next 2 battery shelves I'll buy another 5m copper bar but most likely pay someone with the proper tools to do the cutting/drilling job. With the right tools it should be easy-peasy. For this one, with my hobbiest drilling machine (no bench) and grinding wheel, it was a loooooong day, measuring, cutting and drilling everything.... well, in true DIY-fashion

 

[upnorthandpersonal]

I use copper braid to make my bus-bars. It's also in involved process with crimping, drilling, etc. so I know how it feels.

 

[upnorthandpersonal]

One tip for drilling in copper: you can heat it up (400/500C, about 1/2 the melting point) to anneal it (most copper bars like that are hard or semi-hard). It becomes much easier to work with annealed copper. Or see if you can find annealed copper bars (I use annealed copper tube for the crimping). Also, annealed copper has slightly better conductivity.

 

[offgriddle]

WOW i love it GREAT job!

 

[Gerlach]

One tip for drilling in copper: you can heat it up (400/500C, about 1/2 the melting point) to anneal it (most copper bars like that are hard or semi-hard). It becomes much easier to work with annealed copper. Or see if you can find annealed copper bars (I use annealed copper tube for the crimping). Also, annealed copper has slightly better conductivity.

And I founded if you use cutting fluid it will help to with the drilling process.

 

[Rui Ponte]

Added more 3,3kW PV, connected to a new 250/60 Victron MPPT

 

[rhino]

What are the dimensions of that server rack and/or link to where you got it? Also wondering where you found rack shelves that could support that battery weight. "Accessory" ones I see only support 100lb.

I will need to heat my batteries some in winter because of cold basement. if I had something like that and placed the battery shelves near top and inverter and other equipment below them, the waste heat could keep it warm instead of trying to come up with a special heating system.