You are viewing a single comment's thread from:
RE: Off-grid: How to Calculate the Battery Bank Size for Your Off-grid System or Emergency Power Needs
POWER AUDIT is one thing people shy away from for some reason and its essential and easy to consider / do...
I use Sealed Lead acid batteries (around 500 cycles(or non-maintenance ones as i like to call them because you cannot top them up))... I wouldnt let mine go below 50% charge as the life will be reduced.... as a price comparison i wouldnt get the Lithium Ion ones just yet (too damn expensive) in UK.
i get on average 4-5 years out of a complete bank...
Folk have also got to think about how they are going to charge them too...
Good post.
With some of the elaborate formulas out there, I can see why people might shy away from the audit. But if they want to be realistic with their goals, it is very necessary. While gasoline is still readily available, I found the gas generator and and battery charger combo to be a great way to bridge the gap until the full solar/battery setup is complete. When I eventually setup the battery system for the yet-to-be-built house, I'm goung to look into building my own 'tesla' home lithium ion battery. You build it from individual lithium ion battery cells that you buy in bulk. It's supposed to be less than half the cost so I'll crunch some numbers when the time comes. Thanks @preppervetuk :)