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I don't understand this. It's a tiny backup battery with an expensive enclosure, with only 100W of solar input? How are you expected to run solar wiring with
by turtlebits 2y ago
I don't understand this. It's a tiny backup battery with an expensive enclosure, with only 100W of solar input? How are you expected to run solar wiring with this in your living room?
The places that can afford this rarely have power outages, so having an dedicated appliance sitting in your living room or kitchen for those 1-2 times a year doesn't make sense. The capacity is barely enough to run your fridge for a day, I'd rather have a higher capacity unit that just sits in my garage that I can actually charge on solar (that costs the same price).
For the places that really need backup power, this is way too expensive.
- srgpqt 2y agoHaving a garage sure does sound nice!
- PeterStuer 2y agoIt surely sounds like your regular UPS.
- cwillu 2y agoIf it actually has a good sinusoidal output, that's something, but yeah.
- stbenjam 2y agoI wouldn't call 1.6kWh tiny, running your fridge and charging phones for a day will have a big market in places that might get outages during the winter that last a day or two. How about apartment dwellers in cities? Not everyone needs something gigantic or permanent. They support up to 1200W of solar with the expansion pack. Running a cable out a window during a prolonged outage doesn't seem like a huge deal, but I'd guess most of the use case is shorter outages < 48 hours. The solution is far cheaper than something like the Tesla powerwall (which I have and adore, but it's definitely a bigger investment).
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- Aurornis 2y ago> The solution is far cheaper than something like the Tesla powerwall That's like saying a $120K luxury pickup truck is a good deal because it's far cheaper than buying an entire semi-truck. This is a UPS. Comparing it to the Powerwall is a marketing trick to distract people from the high price.
- turtlebits 2y agoI'm not a fan of these devices in general as I'm more of a DIY, but... A Ecoflow Delta 2 Max is $1100, gives you 2kWh capacity and 1000W of solar input. if you have a power outage, you can actually keep it topped off w/ solar while keeping your fridge, gas furnace, etc running. If you're gonna hang a wire out the window, why pay the premium for the pretty enclosure and screen?
- trescenzi 2y agoNot to hard pivot but any DIY links you’d recommend? I’ve been getting into this field and would like to DIY something around this scale. Keep a fridge running, maybe have a little dc circuit for a home lab.
- turtlebits 2y ago
- Rebelgecko 2y agoIn places like Germany it's supposedly becoming more common to have a solar panel on the balcony and use a similar plugin device. I think the legal situation in the US is more tricky unfortunately
- Tade0 2y agoNot only in Germany, as per Commission Regulation EU 2016/631 systems under 800W are not regulated as power generating facilities - you just need a two-way meter installed on request by your power company and you're good to go.
- VectorLock 2y agoDoes the two-way meter have a way to prevent back feeding the grid in the event of a power outage? Having an unregulated device even under 800W seems like it could be dangerous to anybody working on the power lines.
- Nextgrid 2y ago> prevent back feeding the grid in the event of a power outage? Yes - such devices need a constant grid output to sync to. When the grid drops, their output drops. Furthermore, at 800W, it wouldn't be able to put any voltage onto the grid even if it tried to as it would get overloaded (it'll be trying to power up the entire neighborhood).
- ffsm8 2y agoI think the idea was maintenance, so the connection to the neighbors would've been interrupted, thus the only connection would be through the person doing the maintenance.
- Tade0 2y agoThe inverter does that, as it shuts off the moment voltage is not in the +/- 10% range of the nominal 230V.
- 2y ago
- nikodunk 2y agoGreat question. It’s 1.8kwh and 2.4kw out (7.8kw surge) can run a fridge for 2-3 days, and is meant as room for room backup. For sure you can build something yourself for cheaper - I have - but most Americans don’t. Only 0.03% of the US has home battery storage like Powerwall or a bank of LiFePo batteries, and the 99% uses diesel generators or waits it out. That’s the part of the market we’re trying to simplify things for :)
- Aurornis 2y ago> Great question. It’s 1.8kwh and 2.4kw out (7.8kw surge) can run a fridge for 3-4 days, Your marketing page says 32 hours for a fridge (1.3 days, first icon in the table) Your other comment said 2-3 days for a fridge. This comment says 3-4 days for a fridge.
- Velorivox 2y agoRecently I had a power outage due to a storm, and the first thing I did the next morning was go to the store and get several bags of ice, which I put into the fridge and freezer. The fridge was still cold enough several days later when power was finally restored. This could still have been useful if we weren't home, but as you said these things happen so rarely here that I cannot see myself getting something like this, especially for the fridge since ice just works. To be fair though, it did mean we could not open the fridge willy-nilly, maybe that helped me lose some weight...
- nikodunk 2y ago100%! This is a great solution, many people also freeze a glass of ice and put a coin on top so if there is an outage when they’re out, the coin will be frozen at the bottom when they get back (and they know their meat won’t be any good). Pila is meant more as a set-and-forget solution if you want something seamless and connected.
- BonoboIO 2y agoIs this a product for the USA? Is the grid that bad to need something like that?
- solardev 2y agoYeah, in some parts. California suffers from rolling blackouts during wildfire season. It's going to get worse before it gets better because of climate change, a bankrupt utility, and the time it takes to properly bury all the power cables.