Get a big battery
- Thread starter Zwy
- Start date
42OhmsPA
What's in a title?
We'll I tried to bring it back, but a search for "big ass battery" on duckduckgo images provided results that were not safe for work ?
I'll post some photos when I finish my ~39.5kwh rack of prismatics.
Nobodybusiness
Collecting the leftovers of the Great Sky Reactor.
Is that your imbert downdraft gasifier?
Back to the battery question - more and more companies are coming out with batteries. Canadian Solar just announced one. 19.9kwh, 10 yr warranty and 6,000 cycles. Sodium batteries are being made now, they might be available soon also. Hopefully they will follow solar panel pricing and get cheaper and better.
Kenny_
Solar Addict
Panels are getting cheaper, batteries too I suppose...
Quattrohead
Solar Wizard
It's getting interesting, strap up for the ride
The real problem with using wood "gas" to run an ICE, is that the engine does not last that long. Carbon tends to build up in the cylinders and you end up needing an engine rebuild fairly quickly (like <10k mile). `
If it is like this, then it will be interesting.
Who can imagine a 10kw array costing over $1 million? Today it costs $3,000
Historical lithium battery prices.
The issue now is that battery packs like the Canadian Solar 20kw pack probably costs 10x as much still. When you can get 20kwh battery for $3,000, I'm in.
Who can imagine a 10kw array costing over $1 million? Today it costs $3,000
Historical lithium battery prices.
The issue now is that battery packs like the Canadian Solar 20kw pack probably costs 10x as much still. When you can get 20kwh battery for $3,000, I'm in.
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That's an issue between gasifier design and filtering. The FEMA design of gasifier is notoriously tarry. It doesn't get hot enough to "crack" the tars and leaves a lot of energy on the table. The imbert style is far superior. I have found that the key is high core temperatures. Insulation is necessary but the real secret is to preheat the in coming air in a heat exchanger.
Once you get rid of the tar, ash in the output is a filtering problem. The combustible gas itself is mostly CO, with some methane and hydrogen. It won't carbon up an engine more than regular propane will.
Kiwi2000
Solar Enthusiast
I have a big battery bank relative to my PV. 9.2:1. 2.8kw of PV to 25.8kWh of LFP batteries.
Knowing I'll still be on around 90% SOC in the morning is nice. Three or four days of bad weather still sees me on around 50%
In normal good sunshine days back to back the battery bank will be fully recharged around lunchtime. After three or four days of bad weather it may take three days to get fully charged up again. It's actually quite nice having a couple of days of not hitting float and getting a full solar production day.
Knowing I'll still be on around 90% SOC in the morning is nice. Three or four days of bad weather still sees me on around 50%
In normal good sunshine days back to back the battery bank will be fully recharged around lunchtime. After three or four days of bad weather it may take three days to get fully charged up again. It's actually quite nice having a couple of days of not hitting float and getting a full solar production day.
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OffGridForGood
Catch, make or grow everything you can.
Cells I ordered in 2023 were lower cost (same cells same supplier) than 2022.
Hard to know if some of the price change is market uncertainty (inflation, political, war) changing the demand side.
68.6 kWh in the ESS rack, and 14.3kWh on their way...in two months...Still need bigger battery!
Hard to know if some of the price change is market uncertainty (inflation, political, war) changing the demand side.
68.6 kWh in the ESS rack, and 14.3kWh on their way...in two months...Still need bigger battery!
Zwy
Solar Wizard
That has been my experience, large battery to power thru bad weather and PV large enough to recharge within a few days.
I guess if you don't catch enough rays on one day, there will be more rays to catch tomorrow.
OffGridForGood
Catch, make or grow everything you can.
"I like em Big and around,
and when I got PV-ground,
I just can't help myself
I'm acting like a Solar animal
Now There's my scandal!"
Or, if you think about it the other way around, in 1975, for $3,000 you could get a 26 watt (yes, watt) panel. Today you can get 10,000 watts for the same price (in general, no inflation, etc., etc.)
OffGridForGood
Catch, make or grow everything you can.
Deleted perhaps inappropriate - no offence intended.
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Kiwi2000
Solar Enthusiast
That has been my experience, large battery to power thru bad weather and PV large enough to recharge within a few days.
I guess if you don't catch enough rays on one day, there will be more rays to catch tomorrow.
I was just thinking the other day how I have been getting along fine with quite modest PV.
(I have another system at the bedroom end of the house with its own 1.5kw of PV and 7.6kWh LFP bank, so 4.3kw of PV total on my house)
When people started putting solar on their roofs, battery storage wasn't as feasible. So you would need to dramatically over panel to still give reasonable production on cloudy days and in the early and later part of the day.
Of course that over paneling meant you had huge amounts of unused power during the middle of the day. That's why grid export became a thing I guess.
But decent LFP battery storage gives you that bad weather and off peak production coverage. So you only need enough PV to recharge the bank will still running the daytime loads.
You almost can now. $3k gets you about 16kWh.
Really? Where? DIY? or off-the-shelf?
Just an example: Canadian Solar EP cube battery. Old info.
"No official pricing has been listed for the EP Cube battery, but the starting price will likely fall somewhere between $12,000 and $15,000."
This is looking interesting, but it is still $600/kwh:
Just an example: Canadian Solar EP cube battery. Old info.
"No official pricing has been listed for the EP Cube battery, but the starting price will likely fall somewhere between $12,000 and $15,000."
This is looking interesting, but it is still $600/kwh:
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