Distributed battery power banking

[SteamyTea]

9 hours ago, DamonHD said:

I suspect that many users would fail to distinguish needs from wants well

Why it is pre set with no user options.

[DamonHD]

On 01/05/2022 at 10:31, Radian said:

Similar to the concept of micro-inverters for solar PV, I've been thinking about micro-battery storage to time-shift self generation in a different way. I brought it up in this thread yesterday:

 

@SteamyTea asked about the 200W target I have for a solar PV offline battery storage solution for distribution using Hi-PoE (IEEE 802.3bt). The devices I have in mind, which are powered 24/7, would be the four WiFi access points I use to give full coverage of house garage and garden - each averaging around 25W and powered by 12VDC. The other 100W is accounted for by a NAS, broadband modem and a significant number of WiFi equipped microcontrolers (ESP8266, ESP32) SBC's (Raspberry Pi cameras etc.)  and assorted Amazon Echo devices all operating on 5VDC. There is also some scope for Laptop and phone charging.

 

 

FWIW I run my router (12V) off-grid (ie from off-grid PV and storage) automatically when possible.

 

https://www.earth.org.uk/expanding-off-grid-PV-system.html

 

Rgds

 

Damon

 

[Radian]

59 minutes ago, DamonHD said:

FWIW I run my router (12V) off-grid (ie from off-grid PV and storage) automatically when possible.

 

https://www.earth.org.uk/expanding-off-grid-PV-system.html

 

Rgds

 

Damon

 

Yes, the 5V and 12V stuff is the lowest-hanging fruit we have  - except for the difficulty in reaching it all with wires. What's annoying is the cost of PoE equipped switches when I find I need a bunch of them to cover all my off-grid devices. However, I recently realised there's also lot of unused UHF coax snaking its way around the house...

[markocosic]

FWIW it looks like Lithium chemistries can vent an explosive gas mixture rather than just burning:

 

 

[DamonHD]

#NotAllLithium

 

The bulk Lithium batteries that I have used / am using are LiFePO4 which do not tend to do most of those nasty things: AFAIK the electrolyte is the problem in Lion laptop/phone batteries.

 

Rgds

 

Damon

[markocosic]

LiFePO4 can still offgas; and that gas is still potentially explosive in a confined space - in the case above it popped all the windows.

 

Nothing on having a gas hob of course; but still preferable outside the house for safety purposes. Along with the pv inverter and other high power / low quality control / difficult to inspect items.

 

 

[DamonHD]

All storage (other than the Thermino heat battery) and inverters are outside the main living space, though the inverters are in the loft which might worry some as a hazard.  (I asked the London Fire Brigade to check over the system as I had it at the time and they were content.)

 

On the other hand, my insurers won't ensure anything outside even though I did point out that for (eg) Li batteries this is (a) common and (b) safest...  I managed to negotate a compromise, but it's a bit silly...

 

Rgds

 

Damon

[markocosic]

Shipping them with with sealed enclosures and vent pipes to route outdoors or into sewers would be sensible.

 

Basements where heavier than air explosive mixes can linger are the only very risky spot.

 

I wonder if most ASHPs are insured / insurable? I must confess to never having asked the question of house insurance...