diy solar

diy solar

Your preference, DIY or rack?

Ronnie B

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Jun 11, 2021
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If you were to buy batteries today for your system, which would you buy and why?
 
Rack.

More expensive, but in theory, if warranty is needed, someone else is holding the bag.
 
This thread is probably the answer to your question.

 
Probably a rack if you have room for a rack cabinet, and any desire to expand. I'll be getting a full height with my next battery purchase that will hold 10 5KWH rackmount batteries for 50KW. That will enable me to get 100KW in two racks of space, 4ft x 7ft x 4ft. Similar capacity with something like the wall mounted 15KWH units would take 7 units that you have to find a place on the wall to mount. I guess if you had a lot of wall space that might be better. My final plan is to have space for 3-4 racks, a total of 200KWH. That will take 8x7x4ft of space.
 
I haven’t measured both but, a16s 280ah diy would give you 14kWh and cost less. You may not be worried about cost and the rack batteries would look good.
 
DIY or Powerpro is my preference. I don't want to mess with 100Ah's anymore although I don't mind having my one of them as an auxillary battery.
 
To me, at some point the compactness, simplicity, and flexibility of a pre-built 51.2v/100AH rack unit simply outweighs the cost differential. I just don't want to build a bunch of custom stuff with BMC's and bus-bars to save a few thousand dollars. My time has value, I'd rather spend it in a different place that saves more money, by building out mounts and an out-building for my back yard. I'd rather be outside laying block for a building that will become my workshop, than assembling a bunch of batteries into a custom racking system. Everyone keeps telling me that they keep putting all these DIY systems together for next to nothing, but everytime I start adding up the stuff I want, the price difference drops dramatically. Not to mention the weight aspect of a 15KWH/300AH set of prismatics.
 
I wonder if they are sturdy enough to stack 4-5 high?
I was wondering that myself but you would want them on separate shelves to begin with so that if you have to pull the bottom one you don't have to unstack all of them. Was thinking some kind of heavy duty metal shelving system like 4ft wide Dewalt one. People who get multiple PowerPros seem to have issues with spacing since they are designed to just be placed vertically on the floor more or less.
 
I wonder if they are sturdy enough to stack 4-5 high?
They look it I have four of the 8s 24 volt boxes in the garage and waiting for four more. But I am installing them in U27 server racks, four to a rack.

So my vote would be DIY server rack.
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why you dont want to mess with 100Ah small capacity?
Just because to me each battery is something I'm going to give a bit of individual attention, check its interface and cell voltages, etc. and so for a big battery I can get 3x the capacity for the same amount of baby sitting.
 
To me, at some point the compactness, simplicity, and flexibility of a pre-built 51.2v/100AH rack unit simply outweighs the cost differential. Everyone keeps telling me that they keep putting all these DIY systems together for next to nothing,

57Kwh for less than $8000 is my current build I'm getting ready to build when the cells arrive. It will be compact, like this.

1711567783579.png

but everytime I start adding up the stuff I want, the price difference drops dramatically. Not to mention the weight aspect of a 15KWH/300AH set of prismatics.
I don't have a problem lifting each cell one at a time into the bank.......
 
If you were to buy batteries today for your system, which would you buy and why?
DIY every time for me, even if it cost $1000 more per 15kWh. I like the control of my DIY BMS to Inverter software and knowledge of how it all works.

More expensive, but in theory, if warranty is needed, someone else is holding the bag.
Disagree. My DIY batteries come with a 5 minute SLA response time, 24/7, 365 days per year. If something ain't working, I would want to resolve it now, even if it's me in my pyjamas :).... I hate trying to convince some spotty teenager that something is wrong with their product and they need to fix it.

the rack batteries would look good.
Quite happy with my hand-varnished plywood box!

I don't want to mess with 100Ah's anymore
why you dont want to mess with 100Ah small capacity?
for a big battery I can get 3x the capacity for the same amount of baby sitting.
(y) why manage 3 packs when you can manage 1 :)

It will be compact, like this.
1711567783579.png
:love:
 
Zwy has a great custom rack.

7000 60KW of 300AH batteries
0500 4x 100A BMC
0030 standoffs and mounts for the BMC's
0400 6x4ft Threaded rod + Bolts washers etc
0015 2x8ft 1/2" PVC pipe
???? Interesting cabinet
???? 300A BUS WIRE/Infrastructure . . 4/0? $8/ft paired 2/0 or 1/0?

Realistically closer to $9-10K, with the cabinet but still a big savings. Kind of, tough to move around. Weak aesthetics not that that really matters.
 
If you were to buy batteries today for your system, which would you buy and why?
After eight years with ihree iterations of DIY batteries and three different inverters I finally went with Pytes rack batteries. A lot of my motivation was the fact that I had been running those systems without a building permit and I finally wanted to have a UL listed system so I could pull a permit. The cost was close to $400 per kWh including the UL listed enclosure, compared to the DIY batteries which cost less than $100 per kWh.
 
After eight years with ihree iterations of DIY batteries and three different inverters I finally went with Pytes rack batteries. A lot of my motivation was the fact that I had been running those systems without a building permit and I finally wanted to have a UL listed system so I could pull a permit. The cost was close to $400 per kWh including the UL listed enclosure, compared to the DIY batteries which cost less than $100 per kWh.
It's good to have the option to get a permit if needed someday. I see alot of people say they will never get a permit, but unfortunately sometimes the AHJ forces you to get a permit or tear out your system
 
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