Good luck with the install!
Yeah the smug feeling will probably be pretty strong when that happens
And no real maintenance to speak of. No oil to change. No issues if I can get gas or natural gas can't get to my house for whatever reason
Good luck with the install!Love it! I have my panels up but still building the system. I have the inverter and am ordering the battery shortly.
Yeah the smug feeling will probably be pretty strong when that happensWait until your first outage at night when all your neighbors houses are dark and you have lights.
And no real maintenance to speak of. No oil to change. No issues if I can get gas or natural gas can't get to my house for whatever reasonand no noisy generator. Even the quiet ones aren't all that quiet. Always a drone going in the background.
I do agree that is the best of both worlds. I almost did that myself. But, eventually just went with all batteries since I didn't want to have to mess with motor maintenance of the generator. It would be a sad day if the backup power was out because the carburetor was gummed up on the day you need it or some other similar issue. The fossil fuel generators that were well-rated all had ~$200/year maintenance that were supposed to be applied (many people ignore that though). But, I also kept my power backup needs low--no reason to have AC it is just a luxury to me even when temperatures are above 100°F. So a simple battery backup does well.One thing to consider is with the right Inverter you should be able to hook-up a generator to the inverter to charge the batteries. This is kind of the best of both worlds, generator to charge the batteries if they get low but then you can turn off the generator once the batteries are charged.
I do agree that is the best of both worlds. I almost did that myself. But, eventually just went with all batteries since I didn't want to have to mess with motor maintenance of the generator. The fossil fuel generators that were well-rated all had ~$200/year maintenance that were supposed to be applied (many people ignore that though). But, I also kept my power backup needs low--no reason to have AC it is just a luxury to me even when temperatures are above 100°F. So a simple battery backup does well.
One thing to note: many battery inverters require pure sine wave generators. So, not any old generator will work when combining the two methods.
Wish that worked for me. I have two engines (Ariens snow blower and no-name pressure washer) that both gum up even when running to empty at the end of each use. I've tried everything under the sun and they still won't start the next season until the carburetor is removed and cleaned. Small engines and I just don't get along well.If you run a generator to empty (get all the gasoline out of the carb) you can store the generator without much hassle.
Maintenance for my batteries is every 4 months I unplug them and then plug them in 3 to 6 days later (Depending on energy usage) when drained.
Many batteries don't like to sit forever at 100% or at 0% (0% is the worst state to store them). Also, as they age their capacity vs voltage characteristics shift slightly (making the % battery left estimates less and less accurate). To solve both of those issues, I drain and recharge them every 4 months. Literally, I unplug it from the wall outlet, then plug it back in once they have drained. The batteries automatically recalibrate the SOC when recharging from 0% to 100%. Is this required? No. But, it keeps them at their best.You have maintenance on your solar storage batteries?
Many batteries don't like to sit forever at 100% or at 0% (0% is the worst state to store them). Also, as they age their capacity vs voltage characteristics shift slightly (making the % battery left estimates less and less accurate). To solve both of those issues, I drain and recharge them every 4 months. Literally, I unplug it from the wall outlet, then plug it back in once they have drained. The batteries automatically recalibrate the SOC when recharging from 0% to 100%. Is this required? No. But, it keeps them at their best.
I do the same with all batteries in the house. I drain and then recharge them. I just have a phone reminder every 4 months. Before doing this, I used to have cell phone and old tablets batteries die permanently. It hasn't happened even once since I started doing this. My list includes toothbrushes, cell phone chargers, hiking gear such as headlamps, car jump starters, my wife's hand heaters, etc. Anything with a battery that might sit idle for long periods of time.
Those are good batteries. But everything that I said is still true. To maximize their life and for your BMS to actually know how much battery life they have (since this changes over the life of batteries), you should occasionally drain and then refill them. Now if you are fully solar, that might just happen naturally on weeks without much sunlight.I have Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries for my solar storage. They are used everyday to provide power to my house when the solar isn't sufficient. I just let the BMS manage them. The cycle life is supposed to be about 5,000-6,000 cycles so I am good for a long time.
The batteries are essentially a bunch of these which are 3.2V 280 Ah LFP Batteries. You put 16 of these together in series and you have a 48V battery that can be used for Storage to power a house. They are all housed in a metal tower that is UL fire rated.
Those are good batteries. But everything that I said is still true. To maximize their life and for your BMS to actually know how much battery life they have (since this changes over the life of batteries), you should occasionally drain and then refill them. Now if you are fully solar, that might just happen naturally on weeks without much sunlight.