G'day from Australia

[sketchie]

Hey all.

New here, we have built a place where our power distributor wanted to do us the deal of a lifetime and charge us $150,000+ for a mains power connection. Alas, that was not going to happen. We have the house running on a generator while we sort out battery storage because, obviously, a generator long-term is not viable, and having a generator ticking over for hours on end gets kind of annoying. Plus, who really wants power poles running the length of their driveway anyway?



I have recently acquired 6 Sonnen 2500 LFP2 Lithium Ion Phosphate Batteries, and while I've only briefly looked around on the forum, I will be asking for some advice at some point. It looks like they try to lock people out of their batteries to stop people from repurposing. However, these batteries were free, and are only a couple of years old–they've got a lot of life left in them. I am hoping to couple them with some Victron gear so I'll be keeping everything crossed that this is going to work.

Initially, while I work out the solar array, I intend to charge these puppies with the generator for a couple of hours a day, then run silently the rest of the day, which will be a blessing.

I look forward to learning from everyone here to get our power up and running.

Cheers

 

[Brucey]

Welcome aboard!

 

[shadowmaker]

Welcome! You'll be fine. There are very helpful and intelligent people here (I'm just helpful). Looks like you have perfect place for solar ground mount. Even better than mine.

 

[sketchie]

Welcome! You'll be fine. There are very helpful and intelligent people here (I'm just helpful). Looks like you have perfect place for solar ground mount. Even better than mine.

Thanks. Yes, there is lots of space; we are on 100 acres. I am also helpful, that's why I'm here, to find the intelligent ones

Welcome aboard!

Cheers Brucey.

 

[wattmatters]

Hey all.

New here,

Welcome. What part of Australia?

we have built a place where our power distributor wanted to do us the deal of a lifetime and charge us $150,000+ for a mains power connection.

Ouch, yes off-grid is definitely a viable option then!

A few years back our DNSP told me we had to derate down to a 3 x 32 A (3-phase) mains limit (was 3 x 63 A), or I could pay for the local pole transformer to be upgraded which at the time was going to be $35-50k. It stank since I am not the only customer connected to that transformer. So I declined and have been working within the limit since, and having off-grid battery capacity is part of that.

I have recently acquired 6 Sonnen 2500 LFP2 Lithium Ion Phosphate Batteries

Looking at online specs they appear to be small 2.5 kWh units:

https://www.tradezone.com.au/product/sonnen-lfp2-2-5kwh-battery-module-82540.html

https://www.tradezone.com.au//media/custom/upload/File-1613429433.pdf

https://www.tradezone.com.au//media/custom/upload/File-1670969970.pdf

I'm not sure how the Sonnen packs are normally compiled into a bank (does Sonnen run them in parallel or in series?) but I'm guessing you won't be using their BMS for comms - hopefully they will work as packs without need of BMS comms.

Can't tell from the above data sheets if they are 15S or 16S configuration. Hopefully 16S as that will be easier to add to later on with regular server rack batteries. But 15S will work fine, just have your charge controllers and inverter set up accordingly.

 

[onrbikes]

Hey all.

New here, we have built a place where our power distributor wanted to do us the deal of a lifetime and charge us $150,000+ for a mains power connection. Alas, that was not going to happen. We have the house running on a generator while we sort out battery storage because, obviously, a generator long-term is not viable, and having a generator ticking over for hours on end gets kind of annoying. Plus, who really wants power poles running the length of their driveway anyway?

View attachment 270215

I have recently acquired 6 Sonnen 2500 LFP2 Lithium Ion Phosphate Batteries, and while I've only briefly looked around on the forum, I will be asking for some advice at some point. It looks like they try to lock people out of their batteries to stop people from repurposing. However, these batteries were free, and are only a couple of years old–they've got a lot of life left in them. I am hoping to couple them with some Victron gear so I'll be keeping everything crossed that this is going to work.

Initially, while I work out the solar array, I intend to charge these puppies with the generator for a couple of hours a day, then run silently the rest of the day, which will be a blessing.

I look forward to learning from everyone here to get our power up and running.

Cheers

We're in WA and offgrid for 25 years.
Had a set of FLA for 20 years and recently went for a self build LifePo4.
Best thing ever.
Coupled with a Daly BMS and victron In at full power within a few hours.

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

Welcome aboard!

I don't know.. he is Aussie... probably keeps one of those damn huntsmen spiders as a friggin pet...

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

We're in WA and offgrid for 25 years.
Had a set of FLA for 20 years and recently went for a self build LifePo4.
Best thing ever.
Coupled with a Daly BMS and victron In at full power within a few hours.

It is you crazy Aussies that convinced me to buy the winston cells and I am telling you, I never made a better choice than a DIY winston set. (but keep your spiders to yourself...)

 

[littleharbor2]

It is you crazy Aussies that convinced me to buy the winston cells and I am telling you, I never made a better choice than a DIY winston set. (but keep your spiders to yourself...)

Got a thing with spiders huh?

 

[wattmatters]

Got a thing with spiders huh?

That's just a harmless huntsman. These are the buggers you need to worry about:

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

living in japan I am limited, but I have a can of spray for wasps that I found out luckily works equally well on nasty azz 8 legged demons... keep them damn things... they are as bad as the banana spiders down on okinawa spiders so dman big they weave a net between trees and catch humming birds...

 

[Brucey]

living in japan I am limited, but I have a can of spray for wasps that I found out luckily works equally well on nasty azz 8 legged demons... keep them damn things... they are as bad as the banana spiders down on okinawa spiders so dman big they weave a net between trees and catch humming birds...

Jesus thought Australia was bad but Japan sounds worse!

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

Jesus thought Australia was bad but Japan sounds worse!

thats the only ones that get that big. i have an old 35mm photo of one between palm trees up north close to the northern training area (camp Kin) where the damn thing was stretching between two trees that were at least 12 feet apart. when we retraced out steps the damn thing has a small hummingbird and was playing dracula on it... my friend shot it with a .30 cal (M60) blank with the BFA removed... we would stick little piece of bamboo into the barrel after removing the BFA's trying to see what we could spear...