This is fantastic if it comes to pass.. Solar becomes much more viable when it can be used to power your home off the grid

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-12/tesla-planning-battery-for-emerging-home-energy-storage-market

Combining solar panels with large, efficient batteries could allow some homeowners to avoid buying electricity from utilities. Morgan Stanley said last year that Tesla’s energy-storage product could be “disruptive” in the U.S. and in Europe as customers seek to avoid utility fees by going “off-grid.” Musk said the product unveiling would occur within the next month or two.

from experience i know that you’ll either need a genny or still be connected to the grid for those long overcast periods or if you wish to use power hungry equipment unless you spend a real lot of money on the inverter and batteries. for me the ideal set-up would be the house and workshop lighting on solar and batteries and the power machinery on grid.

JudgeMental said:

from experience i know that you’ll either need a genny or still be connected to the grid for those long overcast periods or if you wish to use power hungry equipment unless you spend a real lot of money on the inverter and batteries. for me the ideal set-up would be the house and workshop lighting on solar and batteries and the power machinery on grid.

I don’t mind having access to the grid as a top up mechanism, but in a place like Brisbane, you’d be pretty much self sufficient, except maybe in November December storm times

As it stands, home battery storage requires lots of expense over and above the cost of the batteries. I do not know if it is council or state requirements, but I saw the requirements some time ago where the batteries need to be kept in a purpose built ventilated besser block room to minimise the risk of explosion. Tesla batteries should negate those requirements so even if they are three times the cost of lead acid, they should be financially viable.

plus with lead acid there is the maintenance issue. how many average homeowners will have the knowledge? though that could open up a niche for a battery maintenance guy service.

Dropbear said:

I don’t mind having access to the grid as a top up mechanism, but in a place like Brisbane, you’d be pretty much self sufficient, except maybe in November December storm times

Smart meters combined with live pricing changes will mean that the ability to store cheap electricity and use it during expensive periods will become financially viable on a domestic basis. Add to that the ability to store that electricity your solar array generates during the middle of the day for use during the peak 6-8pm times, and these types of setups will be more common in the future.

The electricity providers would definitely support anything that evens out their demand.

Carmen_Sandiego said:

Dropbear said:

I don’t mind having access to the grid as a top up mechanism, but in a place like Brisbane, you’d be pretty much self sufficient, except maybe in November December storm times

Smart meters combined with live pricing changes will mean that the ability to store cheap electricity and use it during expensive periods will become financially viable on a domestic basis. Add to that the ability to store that electricity your solar array generates during the middle of the day for use during the peak 6-8pm times, and these types of setups will be more common in the future.

The electricity providers would definitely support anything that evens out their demand.

How would it even out demand? I reckon it would make it more peaky, selling virtually nothing whilst maintaining infrastructure then demand through the roof day three of an overcast spell.

peaky over a day cycle. everyone comes home at 5 and switches everything on. with batteries this wouldn’t affect the power generators. it is these cycles that are a bit of a problem.

I’m happy with the temporary system at the Redoubt.
300 amp hour batteries with a 300 watt portable solar array.
It doesn’t have much duty at the moment, 400 watt water pump for say 1.5 hours a day and a coupleof lead lights for 3 hours a day each. That’s about it, next morning I only need to put the solar array out in the sun for 2 hours and it says the batteries are full again.
It just all works, I’ve got a big 8kva genny to run power tools and the like and it uses bugger all fuel.
I’ll expand the solar system as needed.

did you orient the building correctly to take full advantage of the sun for both power and interior climate control?

AwesomeO said:

Carmen_Sandiego said:

Dropbear said:

I don’t mind having access to the grid as a top up mechanism, but in a place like Brisbane, you’d be pretty much self sufficient, except maybe in November December storm times

Smart meters combined with live pricing changes will mean that the ability to store cheap electricity and use it during expensive periods will become financially viable on a domestic basis. Add to that the ability to store that electricity your solar array generates during the middle of the day for use during the peak 6-8pm times, and these types of setups will be more common in the future.

The electricity providers would definitely support anything that evens out their demand.

How would it even out demand? I reckon it would make it more peaky, selling virtually nothing whilst maintaining infrastructure then demand through the roof day three of an overcast spell.

Prices are low when demand is cheap – Check out the graph.

http://www.aemo.com.au/Electricity/Data/Price-and-Demand/Price-and-Demand-Graphs/Current-Dispatch-Interval-Price-and-Demand-Graph-QLD

If enough people bought and stored electricity at 3am for use the following evening at 8-9pm, then the electrical suppliers would not need the extra turbine for that short 8 hour evening demand.

JudgeMental said:

did you orient the building correctly to take full advantage of the sun for both power and interior climate control?

Yeah, probably.

you’d of been mad not to orient it correctly seeing it was a greenfields site. long axis east-west? eaves 600mm+

They reckon the batteries in a Tesla car now can power an average Home ™ for around 5 days…

A home battery system probably only has to have 12-18 hours capacity to be VERY useful, and make Solar Systems much more attractive.

if you buy a Solar system these days you’d be mad IMO

On an earnings call last year Musk had laid out his ambition to make something that would live in consumers’ homes, instead of their cars. “We are trying to figure out what would be a cool stationary (battery) pack,” Musk said. “Some will be like the Model S pack: something flat, 5 inches off the wall, wall-mounted, with a beautiful cover, an integrated bi-directional inverter, and plug and play.”

“The long-term demand for stationary energy storage is extraordinary,” added JB Straubel, Tesla’s chief technical officer, during that call. “We’ve done a huge amount of effort there and have talked to major utilities and energy service companies.” That plan seems like it’s now much closer to a reality the company can share with the public.

Peak Warming Man said:

say 1.5 hours a day and a coupleof lead lights for 3 hours a day each.

Leads lighting, you. Sir, are an environmental terrorist!

One thing:

These will necessarily be quite different from the car batteries. Li-ion is energy-dense, and has a low kg per kWh which is important for vehicular sources.

It’s not so important for home use. It’s doesn’t really matter if your house hold battery pack weighs a couple of tonnes. What willl matter is price.

they are lead light not lead lights

Perhaps LED.

dv said:

One thing:

These will necessarily be quite different from the car batteries. Li-ion is energy-dense, and has a low kg per kWh which is important for vehicular sources.

It’s not so important for home use. It’s doesn’t really matter if your house hold battery pack weighs a couple of tonnes. What willl matter is price.

Yep, the lithium batteries are way expensive.

JudgeMental said:

they are lead light not lead lights

Yes. pron leed not led.

What are lead pronounced leed lights?

These things.

http://www.bunnings.com.au/arlec-heavy-duty-worklight_p4413891

i know they are LED. but lead and lead, one a metal and the other a length of cable with a light fitting on one end and a plug on t’other. of course the light could be a LED. then that would be a LED lead light.

dv said:

What are lead pronounced leed lights?

A light on the end of an extension lead (pron leed)

see i was right after all they are lead lights but not a LED lead light.

:-)

JudgeMental said:

see i was right after all they are lead lights but not a LED lead light.

:-)

Yes. ;)

Dropbear said:

They reckon the batteries in a Tesla car now can power an average Home ™ for around 5 days…

Do they say how long it takes to recharge? ;)

dv said:

One thing:

These will necessarily be quite different from the car batteries. Li-ion is energy-dense, and has a low kg per kWh which is important for vehicular sources.

It’s not so important for home use. It’s doesn’t really matter if your house hold battery pack weighs a couple of tonnes. What willl matter is price.

To some extent, yes. But you still need to be able to change out the unit when it has reached the end of its serviceable life. And then there is the cost of retooling a factory just to make something different – why not just keep something standard? If the form factor and voltage becomes standard, then every car could use a battery from anywhere else. You could have a spare at home for your electric car. Or take the one from home to the weekend holiday home…

Carmen_Sandiego said:

Dropbear said:

They reckon the batteries in a Tesla car now can power an average Home ™ for around 5 days…

Do they say how long it takes to recharge? ;)

With 56kWh. I don’t think so.

Carmen_Sandiego said:

Dropbear said:

They reckon the batteries in a Tesla car now can power an average Home ™ for around 5 days…

Do they say how long it takes to recharge? ;)

probably 6-8 hours or a working day …. which would suit a roof solar system …

lead lights are used by boaties to know when to turn into the leads..

when the two lights line up, you know it’s time to turn …. :) (lead in this term rhymes with speed)

Tamb said:

Carmen_Sandiego said:

Dropbear said:

They reckon the batteries in a Tesla car now can power an average Home ™ for around 5 days…

Do they say how long it takes to recharge? ;)

With 56kWh. I don’t think so.

This is the point I have been making about electric cars – the amount of electricity to move a vehicle around is pretty much fixed – any improvements in efficiency is not going to make the order-of-magnitude changes required to make overnight full overnight recharging a reality.

The ability to have home based electrical storage will benefit this. It smooths out demand, saving you money in the process, as well as giving the user the option of potentially swapping over the vehicle battery pack when it starts running low. (It can be done in 3 minutes via a machine) or at the worst case scenario, you have a 56kWh battery there at home to charge the vehicle one.

Dropbear said:

Carmen_Sandiego said:

Dropbear said:

They reckon the batteries in a Tesla car now can power an average Home ™ for around 5 days…

Do they say how long it takes to recharge? ;)

probably 6-8 hours or a working day …. which would suit a roof solar system …

You don’t understand electricity, do you. Also, assume you own a solar charging system for your Tesla. Where is your car right now?

Carmen_Sandiego said:

Dropbear said:

Carmen_Sandiego said:

Do they say how long it takes to recharge? ;)

probably 6-8 hours or a working day …. which would suit a roof solar system …

You don’t understand electricity, do you. Also, assume you own a solar charging system for your Tesla. Where is your car right now?

what??? No, im not an electrician, but im aware that my house probably gets an easy 8 hours of direct sunlight on its roof most days, and that that is the charging time for most electric cars on the market today …. Im not interested in a solar charging system for my CAR, I;‘m interested in a solar charging system for my house.

The point with the car is that they’re they saying the batteries in the car can run a house for around 5 days on a full charge..

Carmen_Sandiego said:

Dropbear said:

Carmen_Sandiego said:

Do they say how long it takes to recharge? ;)

probably 6-8 hours or a working day …. which would suit a roof solar system …

You don’t understand electricity, do you. Also, assume you own a solar charging system for your Tesla. Where is your car right now?

plugged into the charger – He caught the train…

I’ve got a 2kw solar system at home, with various government rebates and such it cost me about $2500.
I’ve heard other people say how disappointed they are with their system and how it hardly reduced their electricity bill at all, mine reduces my bill in summer by two thirds easily.

Cymek said:

I’ve got a 2kw solar system at home, with various government rebates and such it cost me about $2500.
I’ve heard other people say how disappointed they are with their system and how it hardly reduced their electricity bill at all, mine reduces my bill in summer by two thirds easily.

It all depends on the feed in tarrif…..

most solar installs these days get 8c/kW hr and do nothing other than run a fridge during the day

Dropbear said:

Cymek said:

I’ve got a 2kw solar system at home, with various government rebates and such it cost me about $2500.
I’ve heard other people say how disappointed they are with their system and how it hardly reduced their electricity bill at all, mine reduces my bill in summer by two thirds easily.

It all depends on the feed in tarrif…..

most solar installs these days get 8c/kW hr and do nothing other than run a fridge during the day

Yes I got in early and get the decent feed in tarrif :)
My last bill with the airconditioner running was around $60

Cymek said:

I’ve got a 2kw solar system at home, with various government rebates and such it cost me about $2500.
I’ve heard other people say how disappointed they are with their system and how it hardly reduced their electricity bill at all, mine reduces my bill in summer by two thirds easily.

You could recharge your Tesla in 4 days with one of them in perfect weather. :)

Carmen_Sandiego said:

Cymek said:

I’ve got a 2kw solar system at home, with various government rebates and such it cost me about $2500.
I’ve heard other people say how disappointed they are with their system and how it hardly reduced their electricity bill at all, mine reduces my bill in summer by two thirds easily.

You could recharge your Tesla in 4 days with one of them in perfect weather. :)

Perfect for an old grannie who uses it to go to bingo and church

Carmen_Sandiego said:

Cymek said:

I’ve got a 2kw solar system at home, with various government rebates and such it cost me about $2500.
I’ve heard other people say how disappointed they are with their system and how it hardly reduced their electricity bill at all, mine reduces my bill in summer by two thirds easily.

You could recharge your Tesla in 4 days with one of them in perfect weather. :)

And given that a full charge can supposedly run a house for 5 days… I don’t see what your point is

Dropbear said:

Carmen_Sandiego said:

Cymek said:

I’ve got a 2kw solar system at home, with various government rebates and such it cost me about $2500.
I’ve heard other people say how disappointed they are with their system and how it hardly reduced their electricity bill at all, mine reduces my bill in summer by two thirds easily.

You could recharge your Tesla in 4 days with one of them in perfect weather. :)

And given that a full charge can supposedly run a house for 5 days… I don’t see what your point is

Perfect weather, having your car at home all day…

Although having a solar setup charging a household/spare battery at home to swap or recharge it from would remove that problem.

Solar power generation is still in its infancy so all these charging times for batteries will probably not be a problem 5 to 10 years down the track

Carmen_Sandiego said:

Dropbear said:

Carmen_Sandiego said:

You could recharge your Tesla in 4 days with one of them in perfect weather. :)

And given that a full charge can supposedly run a house for 5 days… I don’t see what your point is

Perfect weather, having your car at home all day…

Although having a solar setup charging a household/spare battery at home to swap or recharge it from would remove that problem.

cranky face

I’m talking about a home solar system charging a home battery system to help you become more independent (perhaps totally independent) from the grid ..

The only relationship to cars is that the car maker Tesla is branching out into making batteries for houses.

dv said:

One thing:

These will necessarily be quite different from the car batteries. Li-ion is energy-dense, and has a low kg per kWh which is important for vehicular sources.

It’s not so important for home use. It’s doesn’t really matter if your house hold battery pack weighs a couple of tonnes. What willl matter is price.

Based on what the article says, they won’t be using the battery packs used in their cars but will be using the Li-ion techonology – re-packaged.

While I agree price is one of the most important considerations for most consumers, the volume and weight of these stationary battery packs is very important, when you consider transportation and installation costs and ease of installation.

Large, super heavy, lead-acid style battery banks are caveman technology.
As battery technology progresses, light weight, small, energy dense and more efficient energy storage will become commonplace.

Carmen_Sandiego said:

As it stands, home battery storage requires lots of expense over and above the cost of the batteries. I do not know if it is council or state requirements, but I saw the requirements some time ago where the batteries need to be kept in a purpose built ventilated besser block room to minimise the risk of explosion. Tesla batteries should negate those requirements so even if they are three times the cost of lead acid, they should be financially viable.

I haven’t worked in this industry for a few years, so haven’t kept up with the latest regulations, but, unless they have changed, no, you don’t need to build a ‘besser block room’ for the batteries.
They can be housed in a relatively cheap and easy to construct marine ply lockable box (or something similar).
( that comply to Clean Energy Council (CEC) regulations etc.)

Something similar to this:

It realy depends on the requirements of the system and the budget of the person/business installing the system.

Aquila said:

dv said:

One thing:

These will necessarily be quite different from the car batteries. Li-ion is energy-dense, and has a low kg per kWh which is important for vehicular sources.

It’s not so important for home use. It’s doesn’t really matter if your house hold battery pack weighs a couple of tonnes. What willl matter is price.

Based on what the article says, they won’t be using the battery packs used in their cars but will be using the Li-ion techonology – re-packaged.

While I agree price is one of the most important considerations for most consumers, the volume and weight of these stationary battery packs is very important, when you consider transportation and installation costs and ease of installation.

Large, super heavy, lead-acid style battery banks are caveman technology.
As battery technology progresses, light weight, small, energy dense and more efficient energy storage will become commonplace.

I’ve done a few sums & it looks like it could work for me.
The Tesla car battery stores 56kWh & I use about 13.5 kWh /day so 5 days is within its range especially if it were coupled with a solar system. Price is the limiting factor.

Aquila said:

I haven’t worked in this industry for a few years, so haven’t kept up with the latest regulations, but, unless they have changed, no, you don’t need to build a ‘besser block room’ for the batteries.
They can be housed in a relatively cheap and easy to construct marine ply lockable box (or something similar).
( that comply to Clean Energy Council (CEC) regulations etc.)

I saw some print-outs of detailed over engineered design specs about a year ago, which were accompanied by the statement “I was going to get some battery storage for my solar array, but this makes it all too difficult”. And I was working with a lot of interstate people, so I don’t know where it was relevant to.

Carmen_Sandiego said:

Aquila said:

I haven’t worked in this industry for a few years, so haven’t kept up with the latest regulations, but, unless they have changed, no, you don’t need to build a ‘besser block room’ for the batteries.
They can be housed in a relatively cheap and easy to construct marine ply lockable box (or something similar).
( that comply to Clean Energy Council (CEC) regulations etc.)

I saw some print-outs of detailed over engineered design specs about a year ago, which were accompanied by the statement “I was going to get some battery storage for my solar array, but this makes it all too difficult”. And I was working with a lot of interstate people, so I don’t know where it was relevant to.

I don’t know how much say the authorities have if the system isn’t connected to the grid.
With my non-reticulated water system the Council were only concerned that I would have sufficient water supply to suit my needs.

Tamb said:

I’ve done a few sums & it looks like it could work for me.
The Tesla car battery stores 56kWh & I use about 13.5 kWh /day so 5 days is within its range especially if it were coupled with a solar system. Price is the limiting factor.

Yep, most stand-alone systems are designed for 3-5 days autonomy, however, based on your energy needs, I highly doubt you would get five days autonomy from the 56kWh battery unit as used in their Roadster.
Based on your average daily energy consumption, real world probably be closer to 3.5 – 4 days to completely deplete the battery.

*autonomy is based on zero energy input from the solar array.

**my daily average consumption is 7.3kWh

Aquila said:

Tamb said:

I’ve done a few sums & it looks like it could work for me.
The Tesla car battery stores 56kWh & I use about 13.5 kWh /day so 5 days is within its range especially if it were coupled with a solar system. Price is the limiting factor.

Yep, most stand-alone systems are designed for 3-5 days autonomy, however, based on your energy needs, I highly doubt you would get five days autonomy from the 56kWh battery unit as used in their Roadster.
Based on your average daily energy consumption, real world probably be closer to 3.5 – 4 days to completely deplete the battery.

*autonomy is based on zero energy input from the solar array.

**my daily average consumption is 7.3kWh

Mine would need to be a non-grid system as we lose power for 1 to 2 weeks after cyclones.

Tamb said:

Aquila said:

Tamb said:

I’ve done a few sums & it looks like it could work for me.
The Tesla car battery stores 56kWh & I use about 13.5 kWh /day so 5 days is within its range especially if it were coupled with a solar system. Price is the limiting factor.

Yep, most stand-alone systems are designed for 3-5 days autonomy, however, based on your energy needs, I highly doubt you would get five days autonomy from the 56kWh battery unit as used in their Roadster.
Based on your average daily energy consumption, real world probably be closer to 3.5 – 4 days to completely deplete the battery.

*autonomy is based on zero energy input from the solar array.

**my daily average consumption is 7.3kWh

Mine would need to be a non-grid system as we lose power for 1 to 2 weeks after cyclones.

Unless you go completely ‘off-grid’ you would have a grid connect inverter system with battery storage and solar array. (plus maybe small gen-set backup for FNQ)
This would be a standard setup for a residential suburban or residential regional home that has access to the mains grid.

I’ve noticed a few new home builders are now starting to offer a grid connect solar array systems with battery storage.

Aquila said:

I’ve noticed a few new home builders are now starting to offer a grid connect solar array systems with battery storage.

Hmm, I’d like to see what form of safety interlocking they are putting on these systems to stop back feeding into the grid during a power outage.

sibeen said:

Aquila said:

I’ve noticed a few new home builders are now starting to offer a grid connect solar array systems with battery storage.

Hmm, I’d like to see what form of safety interlocking they are putting on these systems to stop back feeding into the grid during a power outage.

The inverters handle that – no mains power, inverter shuts down.

• The inverters handle that – no mains power, inverter shuts down.

Doesn’t that mean that when the mains goes out you will also have no power even if you do have your own solar power set up?

Carmen_Sandiego said:

sibeen said:

Aquila said:

I’ve noticed a few new home builders are now starting to offer a grid connect solar array systems with battery storage.

Hmm, I’d like to see what form of safety interlocking they are putting on these systems to stop back feeding into the grid during a power outage.

The inverters handle that – no mains power, inverter shuts down.

The standard grid connect inverters do , they have anti-islanding circuitry. So why would you hook a battery up to this system?

furious said:

• The inverters handle that – no mains power, inverter shuts down.

Doesn’t that mean that when the mains goes out you will also have no power even if you do have your own solar power set up?

Yes. It is a matter of safety for line workers. They hate turning off the grid to do some work and others then feeding power back into it. It makes their workday a nervous day.

sibeen said:

Aquila said:

I’ve noticed a few new home builders are now starting to offer a grid connect solar array systems with battery storage.

Hmm, I’d like to see what form of safety interlocking they are putting on these systems to stop back feeding into the grid during a power outage.

The battery storage is connected via the ‘grid compliant’ inverter, so the system (solar array & batteries) are disconnected from grid during a power outage

• It makes their workday a nervous day.

I can imagine…

Aquila said:

sibeen said:

Aquila said:

I’ve noticed a few new home builders are now starting to offer a grid connect solar array systems with battery storage.

Hmm, I’d like to see what form of safety interlocking they are putting on these systems to stop back feeding into the grid during a power outage.

The battery storage is connected via the ‘grid compliant’ inverter, so the system (solar array & batteries) are disconnected from grid during a power outage

Hmm, it’s not my area but I thought the inverter had to turn off. I’d hate to rely on a contactor or such having to open under these conditions.

furious said:

• It makes their workday a nervous day.

I can imagine…

Would it be feasable to have the line workers who cannot work isolated to wear brass gloves or something that have a lead to an earth device so if a current is turned on it goes preferentially to the ground?

furious said:

• The inverters handle that – no mains power, inverter shuts down.

Doesn’t that mean that when the mains goes out you will also have no power even if you do have your own solar power set up?

Correct. I don’t know how that works with the ones that have batteries, I am guessing they will also internally prevent feedback into the grid.

AwesomeO said:

furious said:

• It makes their workday a nervous day.

I can imagine…

Would it be feasable to have the line workers who cannot work isolated to wear brass gloves or something that have a lead to an earth device so if a current is turned on it goes preferentially to the ground?

I can imagine using a screwdriver in brass gloves would be impractical. Then you have the potential for burns…

sibeen said:

Aquila said:

sibeen said:

Hmm, I’d like to see what form of safety interlocking they are putting on these systems to stop back feeding into the grid during a power outage.

The battery storage is connected via the ‘grid compliant’ inverter, so the system (solar array & batteries) are disconnected from grid during a power outage

Hmm, it’s not my area but I thought the inverter had to turn off. I’d hate to rely on a contactor or such having to open under these conditions.

Yeah, I know you’re aware of the anti-islanding of grid connect inverters, I believe the newer grid systems with battery storage are using different technology inverters that allow for both scenarios

Carmen_Sandiego said:

AwesomeO said:

furious said:

• It makes their workday a nervous day.

I can imagine…

Would it be feasable to have the line workers who cannot work isolated to wear brass gloves or something that have a lead to an earth device so if a current is turned on it goes preferentially to the ground?

I can imagine using a screwdriver in brass gloves would be impractical. Then you have the potential for burns…

I was thinking something like a cotton under glove then a fine mesh like butchers use. Plenty of tactility.

furious said:

• The inverters handle that – no mains power, inverter shuts down.

Doesn’t that mean that when the mains goes out you will also have no power even if you do have your own solar power set up?

Correct

Aquila said:

sibeen said:

Aquila said:

The battery storage is connected via the ‘grid compliant’ inverter, so the system (solar array & batteries) are disconnected from grid during a power outage

Hmm, it’s not my area but I thought the inverter had to turn off. I’d hate to rely on a contactor or such having to open under these conditions.

Yeah, I know you’re aware of the anti-islanding of grid connect inverters, I believe the newer grid systems with battery storage are using different technology inverters that allow for both scenarios

I’m pretty sure that’s how my brothers one works. He still has power (during the day) when the grid is blacked out.

sibeen said:

furious said:

• The inverters handle that – no mains power, inverter shuts down.

Doesn’t that mean that when the mains goes out you will also have no power even if you do have your own solar power set up?

Yes. It is a matter of safety for line workers. They hate turning off the grid to do some work and others then feeding power back into it. It makes their workday a nervous day.

With a battery setup surely you could isolate the circuits “inside” the inverter so thst your home power is still on via solar / batteries without energising the grid

i like the chainmail suits the HV guys wear when working on those lines.

During a blackout a grid feed system disconnects from the grid – not producing any electricity either for the grid or for the supply of your house. A grid connect battery backup systems includes a changeover switch that detects grid outages and automatically switches to battery mode.

From here:

http://www.rpc.com.au/solar-systems/grid-connect-solar/battery-backup.html

I hope that got vetted very well by the power supply companies, and would be shocked if it hadn’t.

JudgeMental said:

i like the chainmail suits the HV guys wear when working on those lines.

They exist? Dohhhh another of my great ideas thought too late.

and would be shocked if it hadn’t.

haha.

:-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkFH8lLvKZ0

High Voltage Line maintained via Helicopter

JudgeMental said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkFH8lLvKZ0

High Voltage Line maintained via Helicopter

I have read about that before. Interestingly the insurance payouts have been minimal. You would think swinging off a helicopter working on high voltage would be dangerous, and it is, but they manage it really well.

I met a local fella from this company last year…

http://www.powernational.com.au/about/

I don’t know the technical specifics of this system but they are working with HIA and My Style Homes

then you get people like this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTx81Rj00gc

• High Voltage Line maintained via Helicopter

I did a safety course or something that spoke about them. Specifically the discussion was around how you would convince your crew to do it the first time…

…Specifically the discussion was around how you would convince your crew to do it the first time…

by giving them a good grounding in electrical theory.

;-)

JudgeMental said:

…Specifically the discussion was around how you would convince your crew to do it the first time…

by giving them a good grounding in electrical theory.

;-)

…and by paying them the biggest shit load of money possible! :P

• by giving them a good grounding in electrical theory.

I see what you did there and that was suggested but for some people “Trust me, the science is valid” was not enough to convince them…

Aquila said:

JudgeMental said:

…Specifically the discussion was around how you would convince your crew to do it the first time…

by giving them a good grounding in electrical theory.

;-)

…and by paying them the biggest shit load of money possible! :P

I think getting them to do it a second time would be the hardest.

and telling them if anything goes wrong it’ll be a quick death. personally i’d be more concerned with the height than the electricity.

JudgeMental said:

and telling them if anything goes wrong it’ll be a quick death. personally i’d be more concerned with the height than the electricity.

Just going into an HV switchyard is enough for me. All the hair on your arms stands up & there is this tension in the air. I don’t like it.

• All the hair on your arms stands up & there is this tension in the air. I don’t like it.

I get the same feeling going outside in an electrical storm…

As well as in various social situations…

what will be the specifications

12 volt?

higher?

furious said:

• All the hair on your arms stands up & there is this tension in the air. I don’t like it.

I get the same feeling going outside in an electrical storm…

As well as in various social situations…

Yes. Them too. But sometimes the social ones turn out to be fun.

http://teslamania.delete.org/frames/longarc.htm#Longspark

some nice arcs here. and some not so nice ones.

CrazyNeutrino said:

what will be the specifications

12 volt?

higher?

The batteries will likely be similar voltages to mains voltages, probably 240 or 110v.

Tamb said:

JudgeMental said:

and telling them if anything goes wrong it’ll be a quick death. personally i’d be more concerned with the height than the electricity.

Just going into an HV switchyard is enough for me. All the hair on your arms stands up & there is this tension in the air. I don’t like it.

Like Christmas at the inlaws

Carmen_Sandiego said:

CrazyNeutrino said:

what will be the specifications

12 volt?

higher?

The batteries will likely be similar voltages to mains voltages, probably 240 or 110v.

Pretty useless if they are not local mains voltage. As you say 240 for the civilised world & 110 for the non metric.

Dropbear said:

Tamb said:

JudgeMental said:

and telling them if anything goes wrong it’ll be a quick death. personally i’d be more concerned with the height than the electricity.

Just going into an HV switchyard is enough for me. All the hair on your arms stands up & there is this tension in the air. I don’t like it.

Like Christmas at the inlaws

could you wear special glasses to see the electrical/ magnetic fields ?

Dropbear said:

Tamb said:

JudgeMental said:

and telling them if anything goes wrong it’ll be a quick death. personally i’d be more concerned with the height than the electricity.

Just going into an HV switchyard is enough for me. All the hair on your arms stands up & there is this tension in the air. I don’t like it.

Like Christmas at the inlaws

I’m lucky. My inlaws have carked it.

we need the current v voltage argument re being lethal just to finish the thread. i reckon.

JudgeMental said:

we need the current v voltage argument re being lethal just to finish the thread. i reckon.

So people can be Westinghoused

So people can be Westinghoused

well, that is definitely the elephant in the room here….

Tamb said:

Carmen_Sandiego said:

CrazyNeutrino said:

what will be the specifications

12 volt?

higher?

The batteries will likely be similar voltages to mains voltages, probably 240 or 110v.

Pretty useless if they are not local mains voltage. As you say 240 for the civilised world & 110 for the non metric.

Battery voltage will more than likely be at the same voltage that the solar array puts out, whatever that is.

I suspect around 50 volts or so.

Tamb said:

Dropbear said:

Tamb said:

Just going into an HV switchyard is enough for me. All the hair on your arms stands up & there is this tension in the air. I don’t like it.

Like Christmas at the inlaws

I’m lucky. My inlaws have carked it.

:) jealous

CrazyNeutrino said:

Dropbear said:

Tamb said:

Just going into an HV switchyard is enough for me. All the hair on your arms stands up & there is this tension in the air. I don’t like it.

Like Christmas at the inlaws

could you wear special glasses to see the electrical/ magnetic fields ?

Tension gradients

JudgeMental said:

So people can be Westinghoused

well, that is definitely the elephant in the room here….

I thought elephants were Barnum’s forté not Edison’s.

westinghouse killed topsy with ac to show the tesla’s ac system was dangerous and that his dc was safer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_Currents

sorry it was edison.

JudgeMental said:

westinghouse killed topsy with ac to show the tesla’s ac system was dangerous and that his dc was safer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_Currents

Actually it was Edison who supported dc & Westinghouse who supported ac.

Dropbear said:

CrazyNeutrino said:

Dropbear said:

Like Christmas at the inlaws

could you wear special glasses to see the electrical/ magnetic fields ?

Tension gradients

yes, can special glasses see them

like auroras

sibeen said:

Tamb said:

Carmen_Sandiego said:

The batteries will likely be similar voltages to mains voltages, probably 240 or 110v.

Pretty useless if they are not local mains voltage. As you say 240 for the civilised world & 110 for the non metric.

Battery voltage will more than likely be at the same voltage that the solar array puts out, whatever that is.

I suspect around 50 volts or so.

Generally your array DC voltages are much higher than this, but also depends on the system design requirements & inverter.

The inverter DC input voltage (output voltage of array) within the range of Maximum Power Point Tracking provides the best efficiency.
The design of array will provide the o/p voltage and can also vary depending on the solar insolation at any given time.

http://www.sma-australia.com.au/products/solarinverters/string-inverters/sunny-boy-3000tl-3600tl-4000tl-5000tl-with-reactive-power-control.html#Technical-Data-151136

That’s for grid connect systems.

For off-grid domestic style systems, the battery bank DC o/p voltages/charging volts are usually either:
24VDC
48VDC
96VDC

micro systems may be 12V

…so the PV panels are wired accordingly, parallel/series strings to provide the appropriate voltage to the battery charge controller.

Tamb said:

JudgeMental said:

and telling them if anything goes wrong it’ll be a quick death. personally i’d be more concerned with the height than the electricity.

Just going into an HV switchyard is enough for me. All the hair on your arms stands up & there is this tension in the air. I don’t like it.

if you maintain the set distances you are in no danger

there was an apprentice in EA (SCC) who climbed up a live 133kv/ 11kv transformer via the ladder on the side

so there he was happily wiping down the insulators spraying a bit of WD 40 on them when the cloud of WD40 allowed a flash over killing him instantly

they put lockable plates on the ladders after that

maybe we’ll just go down the super market and buy batteries every few days to power out houses

wookiemeister said:

maybe we’ll just go down the super market and buy batteries every few days to power out houses

I think these ones are rechargable