Recent Posts

31

Wanted / Dead Tesla battery modules

« Last post by ken.johnson on April 29, 2023, 02:33:11 AM »

Does anyone have any "worthless" (aka dead, low State of Health) Tesla S/X battery modules you would like to get rid of or loan out? I could use one or two for sizing / mounting purposes while building battery boxes.

BTW, yes, I'm aware I can just make mock-ups out of plywood or foam insulation board, but neither of those give me a good idea of how exactly to make use of the side plastic mounting tabs in my battery box design.

I plan to buy batteries last, so I don't have to store a pile of batteries until I'm ready for them.

32

Wanted / Re: battery backup sump pump.

« Last post by bob.kaplow on April 05, 2023, 04:18:05 PM »

As you point out, it's useless for those of us on well and septic, which is my case.

33

Wanted / Re: battery backup sump pump.

« Last post by mike.scott on April 04, 2023, 08:01:01 PM »

I live in a house with no basement, so not an issue for me.
If I ever had a sump pump, I would look into a water-driven pump.
This uses your water supply and while not as efficient as an electrical pump and not much good if you use well and pump, city water hardly ever fails.
From what I've seen, it seems that either the power outage exceeds the battery runtime, or the battery is near end of life when called into action

34

Wanted / Re: battery backup sump pump.

« Last post by jeffrey.miller on April 02, 2023, 02:52:19 PM »

Like the others have said, a DC pump is far better, so long as your only goal for the UPS is to run the sump pump.  Plus UPS take some power all the time, where the DC sump pumps really don't take as much. 

If you want UPS batteries I shop for them at Battery Sharks. 
https://www.batterysharks.com/
I have a large UPS that I built out a 120VDC 100AH pack for, but it runs my full rack of computer gear.  https://www.batterysharks.com/
They sell the batteries for your UPS if you want the normal ones too.

My opinion, if you are putting in a second pump, I suggest putting a second line out of the house too, if practical.  Occasionally the check valve fails and you won't know it because the primary pump is still working, but when you need the backup it just pumps water down through the other pump and back into the pit.  Also the DC pump will kick on if your primary pump fails / gets clogged with mud / etc.  So the DC pump protects you from two different issues, power outages, and primary pump failures.  Also the DC backup pumps have an audible alarm when they are running, so you hopefully notice if it's running and the lights are still on. 

35

Wanted / Re: battery backup sump pump.

« Last post by bob.kaplow on April 02, 2023, 12:40:09 AM »

The other advantage of the seperate DC pump is that if the main pump ever fails, you still have a second pump to prevent flooding.

36

Wanted / Re: battery backup sump pump.

« Last post by simon.gibson on April 01, 2023, 11:34:52 PM »

Normally you'd have a DC motor on a backup pump with a charger maintaining the battery.
With a 1/2 HP motor, that's about 400W. You're probably gonna need a backup that can provide 10 A. So you'd also have to figure out how long you need it to run to properly.

37

Wanted / battery backup sump pump.

« Last post by nathan.stowe on April 01, 2023, 09:47:45 PM »

Hey Guys,

I am looking for a battery backup for 1/2 hp sump pump.  I have an old rack mount APC that I am considering getting some trojans or something for, instead of the small internal array of batteries. 

Does anyone have connections to a dealer still?  or a better idea?

Thanks

Nathan.

38

Other News / Re: Zoom meeting about clean transportation in DuPage County

« Last post by jeffrey.gahris on January 17, 2023, 12:08:08 AM »

Great ideas, gentlemen! I look forward to bi-directional charging and more work-place charging. Nuclear energy, if accepted as safe, can play a strong role also.

The Zoom meeting is specifically about providing input into what can happen locally, leveraging state and federal laws and funding. Any thoughts about how commercial truck fleets may be managed? This includes delivery and other vehicles that are typically diesel powered. Of course we can have buses thrown into the mix as well. What other opportunities are there? How do we make them happen?

You are welcomed to sign up and join the conversation on January 25. Past meetings like this informed the new CEJA legislation.

39

Other News / Re: Zom meeting about clean transportation in DuPage County

« Last post by jeffrey.miller on January 16, 2023, 02:45:24 PM »

What has happened in other states is the utility companies convince the legislators to change the laws.  Last time I checked legislators respond strongly to campaign contributions from large corporations.  We could potentially fix that, but it's beyond the scope of the FVEAA to address campaign finance laws. 

25% of grid capacity is no big deal, I will agree with that.  Bringing Air Conditioning to the US happened at about the same deployment pace as EV's will happen.  And AC demand is all more or less aligned to the sun, where EV's can charge anytime.  The trick is to align variable supply with variable demand.  The ways to do that aren't easy unless one company does it all front to back, which is why I propose utility built out EV charging at work place parking lots. 

40

Other News / Re: Zom meeting about clean transportation in DuPage County

« Last post by bob.kaplow on January 16, 2023, 02:20:31 PM »

Jeff and Jeff;

ComEd is required by law to 'pass-through' electric rates from suppliers. That includes what they pay/credit net metering customers with their own solar. Their buy and sell prices are the same. Their profits come from the distribution side, not generation. Yes, they also own generation through their parent Exelon, but they also buy from other sources on the PJM grid.

I have both hourly and net metering, which means that when rates are high, ComEd is paying (crediting actually) me the high rate for my excess solar; and when I'm charging at night I'm buying back at the low rate. Buy low, sell high! While my solar only offsets about 2/3 of my usage, it covers more than 90% of my bill. And my bill for 8 months of the year is ZERO. So I'm hoping that the current rate structure lasts a long time. And I expect Illinois to continue to have very consumer friendly utility regulation.

A recent Argonne Outloud event filled in an interesting piece of the EV solution that I hadn't seen before. To totally electrify our transportation would take a 25% increase in our grid capacity. But in my lifetime the grid has quadrupled in capacity, so a 25% increase over the next couple decades is not an obstacle.

https://www.anl.gov/event/batteries-a-hidden-key-to-climate-solutions

Perhaps it's time to start building new modern nuke plants, something that hasn't happened for decades. We've been waiting too long for the fusion breakthrough.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nuclear-fusion-60-minutes-2023-01-15/

I do agree that charging at work is a needed piece of the puzzle, primarily to offset those people that don't have access to charging at home. We need to get charging stations into multi family dwellings, such as apartments and condos. Even L1 charging at work/home would cover the needs of many employees, and be all that a Volt or similar partial-electric vehicle needed.