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diy solar

Portable EV Battery in working car used as Home BackUp Power

I think that company takes an off the shelf inverter intended for low voltage battery/high voltage PV and wires the car's high voltage battery to inverter's PV input.

There are SCC with 250V and 600V PV inputs.
AC-coupled GT inverters with similar range of PV voltage.
Battery inverters for 400V batteries (e.g. Sunny Boy Storage), but they require communication with BMS (you could dummy up a box that talks CHAdeMO and pretends to be BMS.)
 
Hedges said:
I think that company takes an off the shelf inverter intended for low voltage battery/high voltage PV and wires the car's high voltage battery to inverter's PV input.

There are SCC with 250V and 600V PV inputs.
AC-coupled GT inverters with similar range of PV voltage.
Battery inverters for 400V batteries (e.g. Sunny Boy Storage), but they require communication with BMS (you could dummy up a box that talks CHAdeMO and pretends to be BMS.)
Click to expand...

Yeah I agree, Randy's inverters he uses now are the traditional all-in-ones that CAN operate batteryless (using PV input only to run inverter section), where installed in the car they typically will never be connected to a 48v battery, but a person could connect it to their home 48v bank and use it to charge the home bank directly.

There is a bullet on his Dec 2020 Plugout Power Brochure showing this:

"-PlugOut also provides 24/48v DC power out to maintain charge on a solar battery. When the sun hasn’t shined for a while, let the car keep your battery charged and working."

When they refer to 24v I think that is for his 3kW model, and the 48v is for his 5kW offering...
 
It is interesting to me to go back and read this tread. I look forward to when I have an EV to upgrade n experiment with along these lines. I shared my previous post in this the thread with Randy at PlugOutPower recently, and thought I post in the information part of his reply here:

Bill ...Thanks for the response and DIY post. ...FYI, the PlugOut already offers a 48v solar battery charging option [from the hybrid]. If you are able, you might get a system and try this out. Hasn’t been worked on much so far.
Randy Bryan, PlugOut Power, 603-496-3501

Randy has offered to do a Zoom meeting with us to present what he is doing and interact any questions. I would like to promote that idea to see who else is interested (anyone could if interested), but have yet to try out a Zoom meeting, plus on a Spring Clean Up/ maintenance projects right now along side a Motorcycle upgrade project. I would like to more thoroughly understand options for taking a EV, and using it's battery bank when parked as a way to temporarily (on the fly) extend the (most likely) much smaller battery bank of a Home Solar Solar System with the EV's battery. ... If anyone is doing that, I would love to see pictures and learn what specifics that took; in my wondering about what the best options might be. Of course, as a long time DIYers, I am also always interested in the less expensive, economical, best bang for my buck options too; and will spend more for reliability :+)
 
Capt Bill said:
inverter converter charger unit that would allow a higher volt EV Battery (I believe they operate in about 200 - 250vdc range) to be used with a 48vdc Home Solar System Battery Bank. ... I think the big guys are working on this,
Click to expand...
Most EV batteries are about 400 volts, but they vary. Any solution would have to address the unique voltage of each vehicle. That make scale difficult with implications on cost. Tesla has repeatedly stated that they will not do this. That policy decision may be based on factors unique to them. They have a home battery solution, the Powerwall, and may be concerned a vehicle to grid product canibalizing Powerwall sales. Furthermore V2G complicates the vehicle warranty limits which are typically miles and years.
Other manufacturers may take a different tact. Nissan actually has some pilot programs but the equipment is expensive. For me it is hard to predict what will be the future.
 
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Will did inspire me to experiment with a portable solution on a Tesla. This may work for up to 1500 Watts to keep the lights on and a refrig cold. Essentially it takes advantage of the capacity of the DC to DC converter in a Tesla which keeps the 12 volt battery charged. Yes even a Tesla has a 12 volt battery and it is the old Pb variety. I just used jumper cables and it worked fine as a temporary solution. I was considering permanently wiring in Anderson connectors but did not want to alert Tesla during a future service call that I had something like that going on.
 
Ampster said:
Most EV batteries are about 400 volts. But they vary any solution would have to address the unique voltage of each vehicle. That make scale difficult with implication on cost. Tesla has repeatedly stated that they will not do this. That policy decision may be based on factors unique to them. They have a home battery solution, the Powerwall, and may be concerned a vehicle to grid product canibalizing Powerwall sales. Furthermore V2G complicates the vehicle warranty limits which are typically miles and years.
Other manufacturers may take a different tact. Nissan actually has some pilot programs but the equipment is expensive. For me it is hard to predict what will be the future.
Click to expand...


Yeah, for my Prius, the hybrid battery runs 207.2v nominal DC volts which would amount to 56 LiFePO4 cells, where home bank is 48v which is 16 cells so they don't play well together. By far Randy is really using the most feasible and affordable approach by using a PV solar input on an all-in-one (for hybrid battery power supply source) that supports 'batteryless' operation in single inverter mode, and you can connect it to your 48v home battery bank optionally.

My biggest question to Randy is whether he is running those out of box like that or if he is using some custom firmware from manufacturer or custom settings to allow the PV MPPT curve to work better with a battery as a source instead of a PV source. Maybe he just set some custom settings or limits on the all-in-one, or assuming it natively can only pull down the voltage (bringing up the amps off the battery) only until it meets the 5kW load on the output, without loading down the battery too much.

I know MPPT chargers like Midnite Classic 250 and such support adding in different curves for using PV, wind turbine, hydro, etc to optimize their draw characteristics based on the source being provided.
 
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Samsonite801 said:
My biggest question to Randy is whether he is running those out of box like that or if he is using some custom firmware from manufacturer or custom settings to allow the PV MPPT curve to work better with a battery as a source instead of a PV source. Maybe he just set some custom settings or limits on the all-in-one, or assuming it natively can only pull down the voltage (bringing up the amps off the battery) only until it meets the 5kW load on the output, without loading down the battery too much.
Click to expand...
I would like to know more about that too; ... while focused elsewhere at present.
 
In email dialog w Randy at PlugOutPower: ... he said: "Happy to talk about ways to use the car-powered inverter to augment solar systems/battery… There is a lot of new ground to break there. " ... I will come back to this tread later with Interest in a Zoom Meeting with Randy (that he has offered) ... to learn a little more about what going on ... On Spring Clean up projects including on my Motorcycle(s) ...before that. Happy Spring :+)
 
I just re-reviewed this; IMO: Interesting:
Toyota's NEW Solid State Battery (Fluoride) | 600+ mile range! (posted Aug 2020:

Interesting Re: Some of what Toyota is working on; including rap about ... eventually seeing real options for using EV as Backup Power for Home Solar and/or local alterative set ups (at about 5:20 min into clip) :+)

A few screen caught Pics from that section attached:
 

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Lets hope Toyota can pull it off. I have had a lot of great Toyotas over the years. Sadly not in the past six years when they shifted to hydrogen.
 
Hedges said:
But since you have PV ... how about making your own fuel? ......

1618945041501.png
Click to expand...
I am measuring my garage now to see where I could put one of those tanks.
o_O
 
Hedges said:
Can their hydrogen vehicle do V2H?
Click to expand...
Ironically a hydrogen vehicle is an EV. It has an electric motor and batteries. That is the simple part. The complex part is the hydrogen storage and the fuel cell and the control system between the fuel cell and the battery. The battery is needed because the fuel cell operates in a narrow range and the battery has to be the buffer. I love the simplicity of my EVs.
 
Has anyone used a PlugOutPower yet? Cost is down to $1,695 for the 5kw kit that can charge 48v batteries. I have asked Randy about install instructions (I have installed a high voltage wire harnesses on an old Prius before, so hoping current models are not much more difficult). Also asked about whether the charge parameters can be set for LiFePO4 batteries. His first email said it was set for PBA batters, but can be changed. Anyone know what PBA batteries are? I wish he would give possible charging parameters rather then saying "do you have a particular 48v battery in mind". Maybe how it chargers LiFePO4 batteries (voltage) is not compatible with my rack batteries (max 54.5v).
 
I take it most if any don't own a PHEV? See, thats where it's at and I'd want the ability to plug in additional battery storage. Currently, I have two 2000W Pure Sine Inverters each connected to an 85ah AGM battery. From the factory the 2013 Plugin came with 4.4kWh battery. The 2017 Prime 8.8kWh and the latest model is 13.6kWh.

Currently, my 2013 has ~10.1kWh when I calculate it the right way and my goal is over 50kWh before this year is over with the fast charging upgrade. Prius Plug-in HV Battery Upgrade
DJI_0141-01.jpeg

I'm glad I found this place, I hope to learn and share here!
 
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