Offgrid living

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Everything off grid; power, water, self-sufficiency; whether you're doing it or aspiring.

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Started working on a solar battery system with hybrid inverter (slrpnk.net)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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After some rather unsuccessful attempts at reusing some large lead-acid batteries I got for cheap (which were not fully broken when I got them, but I managed to break them in the process), I caved in and bought a 5.2kW LiFePO4 battery pack (was 25% off at a local store).

Still needs some more hooking up, and due to some stupid regulatory reason I can't install solar panels yet, but I hope to already use it as a backup power supply over the winter.

The hybrid inverter is quite cool as it allows hooking up two individual strands of PV and also export a lot of very detailed data to the open-source Home Assistant software. Also seems to have a built in UPS feature for connecting servers, but I need to test that first (by default the emergency backup power only kicks in after a few seconds).

So, not really offgrid living, but the system would allow an off-grid setup at least.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Interesting, thanks for sharing. :)

For me, this autumn should finally be the "get lithium out of living premises" time. I have an off-grid household with a considerable battery bank. The major risk factor is keeping lithium cells (from an unrepairable Nissan Leaf) indoors. They have redundant equalizers and redundant alarms, but if something should go wrong - if there should ever be a fire - it would be totally unextinguishable with domestic methods, and the battery bank is too large to quickly drag out of the house.

So my plan is a sturdy aluminum platform with wheels, about 2 x 2 meters, located about 4 meters from the house, capable of carrying hundreds of kilos, non-flammable thermal insulation (stone wool) around the batteries and a greenhouse polycarbonate exterior cladding. The battery bank will also have temperature control - during winter, a thermostat and silicone heating ribbons ought ensure at least +15 C battery temperature. Later on, I will also need to arrange remote monitoring, so I could read cell voltages and even later, balancing currents from indoors.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Curious to see the process and generation. Please update us for milestones or better yet energystones.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

5.2 kWh? kW means nothing for a battery.