My Greenish Power Project and Updating a Few Grid Cords

[Whitenuckler]

We've never tried or needed to charge the car by generator. That would be level 1 charging, very slow. Instead, i take a proactive measures like I will do this week and charge the car up before a major weather or outage event. That can last us a few weeks with just local driving. The V2L consumption is TBD, but reports that I have read is that with moderation of loads, it can last a couple weeks and still have say 10 or 20% charge left. We'll see. That's something I will be tracking. We have several camping led lights that will get charged up this week too. When the power is out for many hours, I disconnect the main and shut off all 220v breakers, then backfeed into the house.

I bought this big boy battery. 35A charger. I also have that 20A DC-DC charger. I have a 100W solar panel, and gens. Not expecting an outage, but we had high winds today, and we could get an island blackout pretty easily.

 

[begreen]

I bought this big boy battery. 35A charger. I also have that 20A DC-DC charger. I have a 100W solar panel, and gens. Not expecting an outage, but we had high winds today, and we could get an island blackout pretty easily.

I'm going to look into solar-grid-tied battery systems. We aren't getting any younger and have 4.5kW of solar, but it is grid-tied only. It hurts during an outage that we can't utilize the rays.

 

[Whitenuckler]

I'm going to look into solar-grid-tied battery systems. We aren't getting any younger and have 4.5kW of solar, but it is grid-tied only. It hurts during an outage that we can't utilize the rays.

I read or heard that in the future,car batteries would be so big (and house inverters) that you could use your solar system with just your car and power your house (or part of it). I guess you you need a genset to charge the car, or a hybred, when the sun is out. Would make sense in the summer to cut the utility bills.

 

[Burnin Since 1991]

I bought this big boy battery. 35A charger. I also have that 20A DC-DC charger. I have a 100W solar panel, and gens. Not expecting an outage, but we had high winds today, and we could get an island blackout pretty easily.

Nice, are you going to connect the inverter to it?

 

[Whitenuckler]

Nice, are you going to connect the inverter to it?

My 2kw inverter is being used for my pellet stove with 2 AGM batteries from my truck. I can tie the DC-DC charger into it or other combinations. I would not tie the inverter into my emergency panel though, for that I'd use the small propane gen, or if need be fire up the 240V one. Solar is more of a toy as I have one 100W panel for camping. Just picked up another 8kw diesel heater on sale.

 

[Burnin Since 1991]

Just for fun, I looked up the P43 Harman and it says max 460w and 3.8a and "standard" is 200w and 1.7a. How do you like using the pellet stove? My son has one and my neighbor has one too. I usually send my son a pallet of pellets about this time every year but according to the Home Depot website, they appear to be totally out of pellets in the Greater Boston Area, which seems odd for this early in the season.

 

[Whitenuckler]

Just for fun, I looked up the P43 Harman and it says max 460w and 3.8a and "standard" is 200w and 1.7a. How do you like using the pellet stove? My son has one and my neighbor has one too. I usually send my son a pallet of pellets about this time every year but according to the Home Depot website, they appear to be totally out of pellets in the Greater Boston Area, which seems odd for this early in the season.

The p43 was the perfect choice for me. Yes, when the igniter is on, it will draw 460. Then 200w max. If you run it without the room blower, it would be 100W. I like it. I miss a real wood stove though. It my area they ship pellets in the fall to the store. I get mine at homedepot and I can see the inventory on line. I got 2 pallets delivered last year (140) bags. I have a utility trailer this year, so undecided on how to get pellets. I don't like filling up half of my garage with pellets.

 

[Burnin Since 1991]

The p43 was the perfect choice for me. Yes, when the igniter is on, it will draw 460. Then 200w max. If you run it without the room blower, it would be 100W. I like it. I miss a real wood stove though. It my area they ship pellets in the fall to the store. I get mine at homedepot and I can see the inventory on line. I got 2 pallets delivered last year (140) bags. I have a utility trailer this year, so undecided on how to get pellets. I don't like filling up half of my garage with pellets.

I like my woodstove, but the pellet stoves are convenient. I get a pretty good workout with the firewood every year. And, I don't have a garage, basement or otherwise to store pellets unless I bought them 10 bags at a time.

 

[bogieb]

Just for fun, I looked up the P43 Harman and it says max 460w and 3.8a and "standard" is 200w and 1.7a. How do you like using the pellet stove? My son has one and my neighbor has one too. I usually send my son a pallet of pellets about this time every year but according to the Home Depot website, they appear to be totally out of pellets in the Greater Boston Area, which seems odd for this early in the season.

My P43 just started (not running, so the igniter is on). My app for something else says that circuit is pulling 339w right now. It also has a couple of other light use items on that circuit. Oh, and the fire just lit and the fans started, igniter is out. and that circuit is pulling 120w.

 

[Burnin Since 1991]

My P43 just started (not running, so the igniter is on). My app for something else says that circuit is pulling 339w right now. It also has a couple of other light use items on that circuit. Oh, and the fire just lit and the fans started, igniter is out. and that circuit is pulling 120w.

I can see why the P43 is so popular. They sure aren't cheap though.

Hoping to get the main panel, sub-panel and mts all properly labeled up. Going to see if I can make a 15amp circuit on the transfer switch into a 20amp circuit so I can move a few things around and bring another 20amp circuit into the mts. I have two lightly used circuits on two of the 15amp breakers that can be combined, allowing me to change out the 15amp for the 20amp breaker. Then it's cleanup and back to getting the beadboard paneling hung.

 

[begreen]

I read or heard that in the future,car batteries would be so big (and house inverters) that you could use your solar system with just your car and power your house (or part of it). I guess you you need a genset to charge the car, or a hybred, when the sun is out. Would make sense in the summer to cut the utility bills.

Eventually that may be possible, depending on the minimum range one needs and the size of the house load. However, big batteries have big weights. It would be more practical to half the size of one of these new generation, long range batteries, thus reducing the weight being propelled and the car cost.

I just attended a lecture last night by our local power company. V2H or V2G is not available. They are watching this technology but there are not enough cars on the road that support this feature yet. At least not in the US.

 

[begreen]

We've been running the house of the EV6 for the past 10 hrs. Easy peasy, it was litterally plug 'n play. I am seriously considering selling the generator.

 

[Burnin Since 1991]

I got a chuckle out of that one. You said the generator can't charge the car? 30A vs 50A?

The power has been out for 10 hours. That's a seriously long time for the power to be off, for repairs.

 

[begreen]

I got a chuckle out of that one. You said the generator can't charge the car? 30A vs 50A?

A generator can charge the car if inverter with high enough amperage, and 240vac. A 30a or 50a/240v generator on nat gas would definitely work. Conversely, a smaller 2.4kw 120v generator like we have would take a long time at say 12amps. Likely 12-24 hrs depending on the EV battery size and state of charge beforehand.

The power has been out for 10 hours. That's a seriously long time for the power to be off, for repairs.

It was for a main transmission line pole replacement. They told us to be prepared for it to take up to 24 hrs. However, they delayed the outage by 3 days and got as much preliminary work done in advance as possible. That helped; we're back on grid now. The actual outage lasted 11 hrs.

 

[Burnin Since 1991]

A generator can charge the car if inverter with high enough amperage, and 240vac. A 30a or 50a/240v generator on nat gas would definitely work. Conversely, a smaller 2.4kw 120v generator like we have would take a long time at say 12amps. Likely 12-24 hrs depending on the EV battery size and state of charge beforehand.

It was for a main transmission line pole replacement. They told us to be prepared for it to take up to 24 hrs. However, they delayed the outage by 3 days and got as much preliminary work done in advance as possible. That helped; we're back on grid now. The actual outage lasted 11 hrs.

Were you able to tell how much of the cars power you used in that 11 hours?

 

[begreen]

Were you able to tell how much of the cars power you used in that 11 hours?

Approximately 6% of the 77kW battery capacity. With less draw while we're sleeping my guess for a day would be maybe 10-11% in 24 hrs?

 

[Burnin Since 1991]

Approximately 6% of the 77kW battery capacity. With less draw while we're sleeping my guess for a day would be maybe 10-11% in 24 hrs?

I had no idea the batteries were that large. That's should be an integral part of every EV owners emergency power plan.

 

[stoveliker]

A power wall installed is 16k$ or so.
A new Bolt battery replacement is 16-20k$.
A power wall is 13.5 kWh.
A bolt 77 kWh

Methinks it's not financially responsible to buy a power wall as a home battery, even if using the Bolt battery wears it out sooner, as long as the Bolt fills a need in transportation too.

 

[Burnin Since 1991]

A power wall installed is 16k$ or so.
A new Bolt battery replacement is 16-20k$.
A power wall is 13.5 kWh.
A bolt 77 kWh

Methinks it's not financially responsible to buy a power wall as a home battery, even if using the Bolt battery wears it out sooner, as long as the Bolt fills a need in transportation too.

Exactly, dual purpose and how often does power actually go out? Pretty infrequently.

 

[begreen]

Exactly, dual purpose and how often does power actually go out? Pretty infrequently.

It really depends on location and circumstances. If one is in a rural area likely to get hit with extended outages due to hurricanes, nor'easters, tornadoes, severe floods, or earthquakes, then multiple plans make sense. I am mulling the value of wall mount battery backup for the simple reason that our solar system could charge it. In an extended outage due to severe storm or earthquake, having solar recharging for when the grid is down is a nice feature. We've had about 5 outages > 24 hrs here in the past 30 yrs. A few of them were > 3 days. When the winds decide to blow here, they can do mighty damage. They've even taken out a few bridges and high tension towers.

If I go this route for solar-tied backup, it probably won't be with a powerwall.

https://ussolarsupplier.com/products/fortress-power-16kw-lfp-battery-eboost-16-kwh

 

[Burnin Since 1991]

That's a nice unit. Redundancy is important. In the prepping world they say one is none, two is one and three is two for redundancy. I am working hard to get all three to come together. I have about 1/3 of the solar I need. It recharges my 4k power station. The power station has 120v backup and if the grid goes down the power station, via an MTS picks up the designated 6 most important circuits. Then I have the generator to augment the solar panels to recharge the power station or I can connect the generator directly to te house if the power station has a malfunction.
And then I have the inverter in my truck that can also supply short term power.

Right now I have all the pieces, it's just getting them all put together. I do a little bit everyday. I love tinkering, so I doubt I will ever be done.

I thought I was done with the MTS and Main panel, until I discovered a discrepancy between 2 different sets of notes and realized I had mis-identified a circuit in my panel and put it on the MTS, but when I double checked, somehow I grabbed the wrong circuit. It's literally a 5 minute fix, so not a real issue. I also identified about a foot of 1/2" copper water pipe, 2 elbows and a shutoff valve that are highly corroded. The pipe goes to an outside faucet, so it should be fairly straight forward to cut out the affected section and replace it. I also want to add a surge protector to my panel. That should nearly complete the utility room work, except for covering the walls with beadboard. The beadboard can be done in any weather, but I need to go work on the other end of my power project.

 

[Whitenuckler]

That's a nice unit. Redundancy is important. In the prepping world they say one is none, two is one and three is two for redundancy. I am working hard to get all three to come together. I have about 1/3 of the solar I need. It recharges my 4k power station. The power station has 120v backup and if the grid goes down the power station, via an MTS picks up the designated 6 most important circuits. Then I have the generator to augment the solar panels to recharge the power station or I can connect the generator directly to te house if the power station has a malfunction.
And then I have the inverter in my truck that can also supply short term power.

Right now I have all the pieces, it's just getting them all put together. I do a little bit everyday. I love tinkering, so I doubt I will ever be done.

I thought I was done with the MTS and Main panel, until I discovered a discrepancy between 2 different sets of notes and realized I had mis-identified a circuit in my panel and put it on the MTS, but when I double checked, somehow I grabbed the wrong circuit. It's literally a 5 minute fix, so not a real issue. I also identified about a foot of 1/2" copper water pipe, 2 elbows and a shutoff valve that are highly corroded. The pipe goes to an outside faucet, so it should be fairly straight forward to cut out the affected section and replace it. I also want to add a surge protector to my panel. That should nearly complete the utility room work, except for covering the walls with beadboard. The beadboard can be done in any weather, but I need to go work on the other end of my power project.

Type 1 Surge Protective Panel, 120/240 VAC, Split, 36kA per Phase SPD, Gray (Leviton R2120-B)​

This is the one I installed. They say it needs a 20A/20A breaker. I had room, so just installed the DP breaker for it. I'm sure you could use any DP breaker even if it was already in use.

 

[Burnin Since 1991]

That's a good option. I have a Krouse- Hinds panel... I think they're part of Siemens now. I was going to install a surge protector into a 2p breaker slot and basically loose a breaker. So I like that option. I have a knockout that's right near my #1-2 2p 20a breaker, so that works.

 

[begreen]

I have a Square D, HEPD80 surge protector on our panel.

 

[bogieb]

That's a nice unit. Redundancy is important. In the prepping world they say one is none, two is one and three is two for redundancy.

Lead thrower world too.

I have redundancy in a lot of areas. I have 3 different ways to heat my main floor, using 3 different types of fuel (wood pellets, propane or electlricity). Only have one way to heat my basement (when I bought this place there were zero ways).

Over the last 3 years I have collected battery stations that can be solar charged, charged with a generator, or charged with the alternator charger I had installed in my Explorer last year. Unfortunately the time of year I am most likely to need the equipment is winter, when very little solar is to be had (and my property/town is not conducive to installing more - and certainly can't go permanent with anything not already on my grid tied system).

I have at least 2 stations of the models I use just in case one malfunctions. Have stations that can be deployed at POV, and larger stations that can either use an MTS or charge smaller stations if needed (big stations are in the basement and no way they are moving to the main floor).