Another home storage battery option emerges.

Interesting stuff Hillhater

WE have been off grid for 8 years now no power bill :D

The system is 9 Kw with half on a solar tracker, a 7kw inverter that can handle 20 kw for a minute. Batteries are 48 volt 3180 Ah I built the sonic on this power welding etc.

The outback solar controller has a Aux which Im currently playing with to turn on the car charger when the solar batteries go to float.
On a good sunny day I can make 36 Kw. :mrgreen:

Cheers Kiwi
 
Wow I don't know of any shows like that in my country (anymore)?! Between news, disc, and hist channels it was junk last I checked. Some British channels with shows like 'grand designs' for houses/ renovation seem very unique in comparison too.

Very cool HH, things are really looking excellent for grid, home, and offgrid power, esp in AU.
http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/4398364.htm

Nice setup kiwi. I haven't fully done the math but thought I might get away with wood and methane harvesting for cooking /heating (and maybe for high demand electrical tools via IC geneneration), and then maybe a 1kw solar system when/if offgrid.
 
Hillhater said:
For those that didn't see the Aussi TV doco " Catalyst"
Some very interesting developments coming ...
http://redflow.com/redflow-abcs-catalyst/
http://redflow.com/products/


The math on redflow does not seem to add up for residential. I'd rather 15Kw of lifepo4.
Not to mention in application you need two units as it appears the systems need to be cycled to zero every now and then.
Am I missing something? Share price did well after catalyst for a while.
 
nutspecial said:
Wow I don't know of any shows like that in my country (anymore)?! Between news, disc, and hist channels it was junk last I checked. Some British channels with shows like 'grand designs' for houses/ renovation seem very unique in comparison too.

Very cool HH, things are really looking excellent for grid, home, and offgrid power, esp in AU.
http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/4398364.htm

Nice setup kiwi. I haven't fully done the math but thought I might get away with wood and methane harvesting for cooking /heating (and maybe for high demand electrical tools via IC geneneration), and then maybe a 1kw solar system when/if offgrid.


Yeah thanks, go for as much solar panels as you can afford it really is free energy even on cloudy days I make 20-30 Amps at 48 volts

Cheers Kiwi
 
And think long term..... I'm 67, and have not paid a power bill in over 30 years. Point being, buying PV is a super good long term "investment" that will keep paying dividends for a very long time. All the domestic hot water I use is moved/circulated with a 30+ year old PV panel, we don't really know how long they will last! And the newer ones are no doubt even better?

I'm grid tied now, so all I pay is 5 bucks a month for the use of the utility as my battery. A battery of infinite size, 100% efficiency, and with no maintenance or need for on site storage. Right now I have over 10 KW excess credit that will let me cruise through the winter months, in my all electric home.
 
I'm guessing that's 10000 Kw hours give or take.

I was commenting on the cost of shuffling Kw in the redflow batt I just don't think it will be economic at the micro scale.
Nothings is %100 efficient but the deal your on sounds pretty good and fair enough that you consider it as 100% from your point of view. :)

In Melbourne Australia it's a bit different. For the privilege of "storing" power in the grid we pay a bit over a $1 a day.
The "stored" power goes back to the grid at .07 cent and we can buy it back for .25 per KW. :shock:
We were even lucky enough to be able to pay additional $$ on our power bills for the "smart meters" upgrade a few years ago so they could inflict these shenanigans on the punters, courtesy of the Victorian government (who also paid a chunk of change to the utilities for the smart meter program).
So yes we got to pay twice for smart meters, both direct and indirect and now we are been bent over on the sell back price.

Only way I see to cut the cord here is a combined heat and power generation which I'd lean heavily on for 4 months of the year, oh and at least another 3Kw of panels.

Because we get SFA off solar for around 3 months with a month on either side been pretty uninspiring.
1.5Kw grid tie on the house, makes the A/C a zero sum game but that's about it.

Still need to get energy somewhere so natural gas would bridge that "gap" with piston power, but pistons wear out. :cry:
 
Yeah its a shit exercise no free rides, the o ly reason I went stand alone was the cost to grid connect was $38, 000

And didnt claim a rebate the rebate didn't cover the solar installer so I did it myself. :D

I run my ebikes and electric ute for free thou :roll:

Cheers Kiwi
 
theres only one solution for solar storage - Nickel Iron Batteries. Some are still going after 40 years ! they love being boiled drained and boiled again, so much so you can use them without a solar regulator. All you have to do is top them up depending on how often you use them. They are priced in the range of top end lead acid, but last much longer, infact some of edisons original batteries are still going. unbreakable tech that was pushed to the side for high turn over options.

You can drain them to 100% with no impact, over and over.
 
Jestronix said:
theres only one solution for solar storage - Nickel Iron Batteries. Some are still going after 40 years ! they love being boiled drained and boiled again, so much so you can use them without a solar regulator. All you have to do is top them up depending on how often you use them. They are priced in the range of top end lead acid, but last much longer, infact some of edisons original batteries are still going. unbreakable tech that was pushed to the side for high turn over options.

You can drain them to 100% with no impact, over and over.

Thanks had a look but Charging efficiency: seems to sum up why they are not a solution.

I'm still looking for the free ride. :roll: :wink:
 
From what I can see, the efficiency issues are when the battery is above 80% charged. With panel costs so low, the efficiency loss at the top of capacity is negligible. Considering the environmental benefits of not having to have new batteries manufactured and shipped they are not so bad. my guess is the tech has suffered at the peril of $$$ , why sell a battery that lasts two to three times longer? Imagine they produced these on mass like flooded or agm, the cost would be the same or lower to manufacture.

I'll have to do some more reading , but to me they look like a good option.
 
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