Had to buy a new house battery

[oregano]

So my old lithium ion house battery finally died. This is the big battery that powers everything in my off grid home. A week ago it just quit recharging. So on Wednesday I drove to my mom's in Sacramento, stayed overnight, then Thursday I drove to Reno to the battery company to buy a new battery (they gave me a 7% discount fior buying it directly from them so they don't have to pay for shipping), drove back to Sacramento the same day, stayed overnight at my mom's, then early Friday I drove back. I was so exhausted I didn't install the battery until this morning (Saturday). Why did I buy a battery from the same company, well the issues I had were not their fault, I misused the battery and caused the onboard computer (inside the battery) to fail. They manufacture all their own batteries in a big warehouse on the south edge of Reno, so basically it's buying direct from the manufacturer. Nevada has America's only active lithium mine, in central-western Nevada near Tonopah, so this company uses locally sourced lithium. (Tesla has a battery Gigafactory near Reno,. at Storey County Industrial Park close to Fernley. Nevada attracts lithium battery makers due to the mine.) So I've been offline for a few days, but I'm back.

 

[Rocco]

Welcome back! How big/ heavy is your house battery?

 

[Jumpinbare]

I had to buy shampoo at Wal-Mart. They didn't have real poo.

Sorry you had the battery issue. I would like to have a house batter for my home solar setup. Since I don't, my power is shut off when the grid goes down so my panels don't energize the utility lines.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

I have one of those LG Chem RESU10H (R-type) batteries. I had to replace mine, but it was luckily under warrantee. It was one of those things where it apparently charged up too quickly with my PV array, and once it reached 100% state of charge, it literally shut off, never to turn on again. So, I got a brand new battery with a brand new 10 year warranty. Still a pain in the behind navigating the process. It took me a few months trying to get a new battery shipped to me and then arranging installers. The nice thing though was that I use SolarEdge (SE) PV equipment, and SE worked with LG Chem in integrating some of the software. Once the battery was installed, it was simply a call to SolarEdge and they activated the system remotely. Woke up the next day and all was well.

In retrospect, knowing what I know now with this home, and having 2 EVs, I should have invested in an additional 30-40kWh of battery storage. The 10 does fine, and during grid outages, allows critical loads to operate in a closed-loop fashion. I have heat, hot water, refrigerator, kitchen circuits, bedroom, bathroom, sump pump, to operate.

My next home will be off-grid, if not, a grid-tied system that won't use the grid (depending upon local regulations). Looking for a super high-efficiency build, passive solar, geothermal, solar-battery, possibly a small wind system, solar water condensing-collecting system, etc. I don't want bills going into retirement. Pay for it all up front and be done with utility companies.

 

[Aspychata]

@oregano , will they fix your old house battery for you? Then you have a back-up plan.

 

[Rocco]

Since I don't, my power is shut off when the grid goes down so my panels don't energize the utility lines.

Don't you have a transfer switch at your electrical panel? To prevent islanding during outages?

 

[Jumpinbare]

Don't you have a transfer switch at your electrical panel? To prevent islanding during outages?

If I did, I would still need a battery which I couldn't afford.

I do have a generator. Two swiches and start generator then I am off-grid. But it's fully manual changeover

 

[Jumpinbare]

I looked up islanding. In order to tie into the local power system an automatic cutoff is part of my solar. That's actually what I was describing in my original comment. My system disconnects from the grid when the grid loses power. Since my system has no battery, I therefore lose power when the grid goes down.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

There are other systems I am looking at for this new build, mainly a hybrid system where if the battery drops below, say 20-25%, then a natural gas/propane generator automatically turns on and charges the batteries back up to say 75-80%, then turns off. In my West Michigan climate, where we are socked in with cloud cover in the late Fall and early Spring, and then the Winter with the snow load on the panels a few days here and there, the angle of the sun vs. my roof angle, and so on, I am sort of stuck with what I have. The new home will be out on some rural property where I can do a ground-mount system and then angle the panels for the Winter sun angle. It shouldn't accumulate snow with such a steep pitch, and then still allow me to wipe off the panels because I can then reach them. Right now, with them up on my roof, I can't get to them to clean them off. My current system overproduces about 4 months out the the year, and underproduces about 4 months of the year. With the new build, I will focus upon making Winter power, even if it means making less in the Summer.

 

[oregano]

@oregano , will they fix your old house battery for you? Then you have a back-up plan.

No, it goes to the recycler. I broke the warranty by using it out of manual specs, so they won't take it back. They did reference a couple recyclers though. Gonna look them up tomorrow.

 

[Levitat0r]

So my old lithium ion house battery finally died. This is the big battery that powers everything in my off grid home. A week ago it just quit recharging. So on Wednesday I drove to my mom's in Sacramento, stayed overnight, then Thursday I drove to Reno to the battery company to buy a new battery (they gave me a 7% discount fior buying it directly from them so they don't have to pay for shipping), drove back to Sacramento the same day, stayed overnight at my mom's, then early Friday I drove back. I was so exhausted I didn't install the battery until this morning (Saturday). Why did I buy a battery from the same company, well the issues I had were not their fault, I misused the battery and caused the onboard computer (inside the battery) to fail. They manufacture all their own batteries in a big warehouse on the south edge of Reno, so basically it's buying direct from the manufacturer. Nevada has America's only active lithium mine, in central-western Nevada near Tonopah, so this company uses locally sourced lithium. (Tesla has a battery Gigafactory near Reno,. at Storey County Industrial Park close to Fernley. Nevada attracts lithium battery makers due to the mine.) So I've been offline for a few days, but I'm back.

Solar power is fascinating to me, and I've always wanted to dabble in it, but I need to own an actual house first. Another thing I wanted to contemplate was a hydroelectric battery, but I still need to run the numbers for it. I'm of the mind that if you had enough space for two large ponds, it would make sense to use them as a battery by connecting them across a pump/generator. Then, you never have to worry about battery wear, maintenance, or the possibility that the marketplace changes and you can't find batteries made of rare earth or whatnot.

 

[Jumpinbare]

Solar power is fascinating to me, and I've always wanted to dabble in it, but I need to own an actual house first. Another thing I wanted to contemplate was a hydroelectric battery, but I still need to run the numbers for it. I'm of the mind that if you had enough space for two large ponds, it would make sense to use them as a battery by connecting them across a pump/generator. Then, you never have to worry about battery wear, maintenance, or the possibility that the marketplace changes and you can't find batteries made of rare earth or whatnot.

But mechanical wear and maintenance on pump/generator would definitely be an issue, as well as rainfall, evaporation, and seepage of the ponds. Neat idea, though.

 

[Levitat0r]

But mechanical wear and maintenance on pump/generator would definitely be an issue, as well as rainfall, evaporation, and seepage of the ponds. Neat idea, though.

All of those concerns are way simpler than going and mining for lithium and the doping elements which are even rarer than that, to make another battery. With how fickle the world is, and how much contention there is for control of the energy industry, you don't have a certainty you won't have to fly to another continent to go mine for rare minerals. I'd much rather replace a coil, or contemplate drainage.