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Power went out at 3pm, my batches are helping…

Supervstech

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A strong thunderstorm blew through Charlotte yesterday afternoon… utility power went out at 3pm… the 7pm repair soon became unknown restoration time… my kid came down, and asked for something to power the fan… no ac, his room is upstairs, and it is in the 90’s… I gave him a small power bank at first, when it died, I assembled my nature power solar generator with a lithium pack in it… that should power his room for a day or so…
I connected one of my 1500W sigineer inverter chargers to a set of 3 deep cycle batteries… kept it powered all night, this morning they were at 11.9, so I shut it off and schlubbed them out to the suburban to recharge with the 300WATT array I have on the roof… quickly.
I had a pair of 6V golf cart batteries in there topped off, so I lugged them over to the fridge, and it is back on.
The patio 375W panel doesn’t get much sun when the trees are green, so it will take a long time to recover my 160Ah homemade LFP pack I depleted keeping my internet and a fan up all night… it wasn’t fully charged before the power went out.
My little rockpals kits kept phones and such going all night.

All this I likely wouldn’t have if not for this forum… now… I need a setup that can sustain my electric water heater and air conditioner… at a condo… unlikely. One can dream though, right?
 
Outages suck. At least you had some useful energy sources.

No idea what a condo means in terms of generation capacity but I guess it means you have limited space for solar PV.

I dunno, part depends on what your outage frequency and severity is like. That for me (along with what critical loads you have, e.g. life support, medical supply storage, emergency communications) is the first question to resolve before working out how much $ to throw at such a challenge. Then it's an assessment of what sort of coverage you would like to achieve.

Perhaps a portable power cart with a bank of LiFePO4 sitting in reserve. A simple milk crate power bank or two.
 
All this I likely wouldn’t have if not for this forum… now… I need a setup that can sustain my electric water heater and air conditioner… at a condo… unlikely. One can dream though, right?

I think here was a French guy who lives in Paris in a flat.
He made an UPS for it with EVE cells and MPP Solar inverter.
With 14 kWh you can run a flat for 1-2 days (with some restriction).
My goal too is a house UPS mainly (with solar)
 
Great anecdote!

now… I need a setup that can sustain my electric water heater and air conditioner… at a condo… unlikely. One can dream though, right?
If you have a condo association, put together an elevator pitch showing how much $$ members can save by installing panels on the roof and get it on the agenda for the next meeting.

If that doesn't work, do you have a south-facing balcony for some light-weight flexible panels laid out on a NASA "origami" style frame?
 
Great anecdote!


If you have a condo association, put together an elevator pitch showing how much $$ members can save by installing panels on the roof and get it on the agenda for the next meeting.
Only if there is some community used pool or something that has a power bill (and they pay it together). They can not lower individual flats bill with that.

If that doesn't work, do you have a south-facing balcony for some light-weight flexible panels laid out on a NASA "origami" style frame?

A Balkonkraftwerk is usually grid-tie (so no power on blackout).
In off-grid you can not produce enough power with that (4-800W).
And a lot of problem. Complains how it ruins the house look ... they will fall on people's head ... the usual old spinster talk.
That 800W a Balkonkraftwerk can produce (x5 hour perfect sun) is 4kWh / day.
So with a 14kWh battery you are good for 3 days (without any solar panel ... and if there is a longer blackout you still can connect the solar panels to an MPPT and charge the battery)
 
Only if there is some community used pool or something that has a power bill (and they pay it together). They can not lower individual flats bill with that.
It probably depends on location. The condo's around here each have their own meter and they transmit data via RF. By knowing the kWh generated from the panels and each meter reading the "condo power coop" could automate how to bill or credit each Tennant. @Supervstech could run the whole thing for the Coop, for a small fee ;-)

You could also do the same thing with a generator (or battery)... or have a battery option for tenants on their side of the meter.

...Complains how it ruins the house look ... they will fall on people's head ... the usual old spinster talk...
He wants to run the water heater and AC, I don't believe an 800W array will cut it. But NASA has some big fold-out arrays that could do it ;)
 
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One can dream though, right?

Your Suburban can certainly fit enough LiFePO4 to power the condo ?.

Cover the hood and windshield with more panels and make your dream come true !

There’s nowhere to go during a power outage anyway.
 
It probably depends on location. The condo's around here each have their own meter and they transmit data via RF. By knowing the kWh generated from the panels and each of the meters readings the "condo power coop" could automate how to bill or credit each Tennant. @Supervstech could run the whole thing for the Coop, for a small fee ;-)

You could also do the same thing with a generator (or battery)... or have a battery option for tenants on their side of the meter.

Here for every flat a separate meter is set by the utility company.
And you can not lower flat bills by a common solar system.
Understandable utility company will not go into catfights between residents who for example were not using the flat and arguing with other residents :LOL:
I would not do that. I saw a lot stupidity back on the days when we lived in a flat.
 
Great anecdote!


If you have a condo association, put together an elevator pitch showing how much $$ members can save by installing panels on the roof and get it on the agenda for the next meeting.

If that doesn't work, do you have a south-facing balcony for some light-weight flexible panels laid out on a NASA "origami" style frame?
Oh, I have gotten the association to consider PV, the problem lies in the trees around the place…
And 75% of the association wants to buy out the others (including me) and level the place for modern apartments… it’s a fight every year, and they have money to buy up places as they go for sale. It sucks when most of the place is crammed with government supported scum renters, and renters that load he place up with people… 4-8 families in a 2 or 3 bedroom place, cars with new 30day temporary tags all the time, crime and noise constantly…
90% of the fees go to the water bill and lawn… barely any left for maintenance… all by design, I’m sure to make the remaining places unattractive to us owners… ugh.
 
Oh, I have gotten the association to consider PV, the problem lies in the trees around the place…
And 75% of the association wants to buy out the others (including me) and level the place for modern apartments… it’s a fight every year, and they have money to buy up places as they go for sale. It sucks when most of the place is crammed with government supported scum renters, and renters that load he place up with people… 4-8 families in a 2 or 3 bedroom place, cars with new 30day temporary tags all the time, crime and noise constantly…
90% of the fees go to the water bill and lawn… barely any left for maintenance… all by design, I’m sure to make the remaining places unattractive to us owners… ugh.

And I was thinking living in a post communist 4 level concrete panel building is a hell
 
...renters that load he place up with people… 4-8 families in a 2 or 3 bedroom place...
If it exceeds the occupancy rate here, the fine to the renters is pretty hefty. Can you turn them in? Places here have to be specially zoned for short-term rentals, a lot of AirBnBs here get turned in for that too... eventually, the owners sell it as it becomes too hard to rent.
 
A strong thunderstorm blew through Charlotte yesterday afternoon… utility power went out at 3pm… the 7pm repair soon became unknown restoration time… my kid came down, and asked for something to power the fan… no ac, his room is upstairs, and it is in the 90’s… I gave him a small power bank at first, when it died, I assembled my nature power solar generator with a lithium pack in it… that should power his room for a day or so…
I connected one of my 1500W sigineer inverter chargers to a set of 3 deep cycle batteries… kept it powered all night, this morning they were at 11.9, so I shut it off and schlubbed them out to the suburban to recharge with the 300WATT array I have on the roof… quickly.
I had a pair of 6V golf cart batteries in there topped off, so I lugged them over to the fridge, and it is back on.
The patio 375W panel doesn’t get much sun when the trees are green, so it will take a long time to recover my 160Ah homemade LFP pack I depleted keeping my internet and a fan up all night… it wasn’t fully charged before the power went out.
My little rockpals kits kept phones and such going all night.

All this I likely wouldn’t have if not for this forum… now… I need a setup that can sustain my electric water heater and air conditioner… at a condo… unlikely. One can dream though, right?
Condo, eh? This sounds like a job for.....sooooolar trailer maaaaaaaaaan.
 
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