Hi,
Just joined this forum after binge watching a bunch of Will's videos. I can't believe I watched so many of his videos. They are so helpful. I'm a newbie and my only experience in this area is that I hooked up an AGM battery w/ an inverter to power some motion sensor LED lights and CPAP machine during the most recent PSPS power outage.
I manage several short term rental / Airbnb houses and these most recent power shutoffs were painful to deal with. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on how to power a house w/ batteries via the main circuit breaker panel. The general idea is to provide a "low power" mode to the house if there is a power outage from the grid. Basically, want to provide our guests with some type of minimum set of electrical conveniences so that they don't cancel their reservations.
At first I was thinking of maybe buying a bunch of Bluetti or Delta type portable power stations for guests that decide to stay during a power outage, but I don't want to worry about guests stealing them (especially if left in the houses year round), or have to deal with distributing them to each house if there is an upcoming outage.
Also, these portable power stations don't seem like a good solution to keep the house infrastructure running (e.g., tankless gas hot water system, refrigerator, ceiling lights) since running long extension cords all over the place is not feasible.
So, I was thinking of some type of battery system that I can tie into the main panel of the house. I don't think I need to have enough batteries to power the whole house on full load. I would just tell guests to only run limited items like lights, cell phone chargers, Internet modem, and refrigerator.
In terms of solar, I don't think I have a budget to add that now, but maybe I can later buy some panels and temporarily set them up in like the backyard to help charge the batteries if it looks like a prolonged outage. So far, we have experienced outages that last two days each.
Is what I need called hybrid system where the main panel gets grid power normally and if there is an outage, the batteries kick in? I think that is done by an automatic transfer switch? It seems like what I need is similar to this:
I'm also wondering if I could also use this system to do some type of rate arbitrage. If there is no power outage, I could run the house on batteries during peak rate periods and use grid power to charge the batteries during low peak rates. Trying to figure out a way to help pay for the system. I don't want to spend a lot of money if we only end up losing power like twice a year. Hard to predict what PG&E (our power company) will do.
Thanks for any input on type of parts needed or all-in-one kits.
Just joined this forum after binge watching a bunch of Will's videos. I can't believe I watched so many of his videos. They are so helpful. I'm a newbie and my only experience in this area is that I hooked up an AGM battery w/ an inverter to power some motion sensor LED lights and CPAP machine during the most recent PSPS power outage.
I manage several short term rental / Airbnb houses and these most recent power shutoffs were painful to deal with. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on how to power a house w/ batteries via the main circuit breaker panel. The general idea is to provide a "low power" mode to the house if there is a power outage from the grid. Basically, want to provide our guests with some type of minimum set of electrical conveniences so that they don't cancel their reservations.
At first I was thinking of maybe buying a bunch of Bluetti or Delta type portable power stations for guests that decide to stay during a power outage, but I don't want to worry about guests stealing them (especially if left in the houses year round), or have to deal with distributing them to each house if there is an upcoming outage.
Also, these portable power stations don't seem like a good solution to keep the house infrastructure running (e.g., tankless gas hot water system, refrigerator, ceiling lights) since running long extension cords all over the place is not feasible.
So, I was thinking of some type of battery system that I can tie into the main panel of the house. I don't think I need to have enough batteries to power the whole house on full load. I would just tell guests to only run limited items like lights, cell phone chargers, Internet modem, and refrigerator.
In terms of solar, I don't think I have a budget to add that now, but maybe I can later buy some panels and temporarily set them up in like the backyard to help charge the batteries if it looks like a prolonged outage. So far, we have experienced outages that last two days each.
Is what I need called hybrid system where the main panel gets grid power normally and if there is an outage, the batteries kick in? I think that is done by an automatic transfer switch? It seems like what I need is similar to this:
Battery backup system without solar
All, Any input would be great, this is what I'm planning on building. 24 volt 5.3kWh emergency battery backup Battery - Used Model S Inverter - MPP Solar inverter/charger - PIP-LV2424MSD 2400W -14kW 24V 120VAC Charge 80A MPPT Solar, 60A Utility Solar - none at this time Generator - Honda 2000...
www.diysolarforum.com
I'm also wondering if I could also use this system to do some type of rate arbitrage. If there is no power outage, I could run the house on batteries during peak rate periods and use grid power to charge the batteries during low peak rates. Trying to figure out a way to help pay for the system. I don't want to spend a lot of money if we only end up losing power like twice a year. Hard to predict what PG&E (our power company) will do.
Thanks for any input on type of parts needed or all-in-one kits.