Whooo hoo! Up and running!

For a simple "power out at night" battery back might consider a few deep cycle marine batteries on a proper charge controller and hooked up to a good inverter for use.

A gray month with rain and snow, and yet,

We have generated our first MegaWatt!

Link to our power generating stats

If you do end up adding storage, look for storage system like Reposit. It sells the power back into the grid during peak hours (or whenever they are paying the most) while keeping the required amount that you normally use. The difference between peak and off peak rates paid for power going back into the grid can be huge depending where you live.

Reposit appears to be available in only six states, it also looks like it would add nothing to the contract I already have with national grid.

Having done more research it appears that the battery back up idea is essentially a non starter for the non rich. It is the least cost effective way to maintain power in an outage. Sad, as it does appear to be the most logical.

Sailor Larry wrote in post #18303875
For a simple "power out at night" battery back might consider a few deep cycle marine batteries on a proper charge controller and hooked up to a good inverter for use.

I know someone that had a huge battery bank of old repurposed Tel-co lead acid batteries, He was a genius and was making his own power back in the early 1980s via solar and wind all with home made stuff. I would not be in the least bit interested in maintaining a bank of lead acid batteries in my basement.

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #18314797
Reposit appears to be available in only six states, it also looks like it would add nothing to the contract I already have with national grid.

Having done more research it appears that the battery back up idea is essentially a non starter for the non rich. It is the least cost effective way to maintain power in an outage. Sad, as it does appear to be the most logical.

...which is why repurposing your Prius batteries when it comes time to change to a new set is a cost effective re-use, rather than simply letting the Toyota dealer have to dispose of them.

While battery capacity has declined with age so that they are no longer usable for reasonable range on an electric car, they are nevertheless capable of storing (less) energy but enough to use for after-dark demand needs without pulling power from the grid.

http://www.greencarrep​orts.com …yellowstone-national-park

True, but the batteries are only about 30-40% of the cost to get it up and running.


This is the sort of stuff i would need to add battery to the existing system;
http://www.windandsun.​co.uk …e/StorEdge-Battery-System

In the diagram, only one component listed there, the inverter, is already installed.
The other parts,would need to be purchased and installed.

Some pricing here;
https://www.solaris-shop.com …MPHle7W_tICFYWK​swodqs0NaA

So about $3-4k in main parts,. not including the batteries or the installation.

I appreciate the ideas being posted, and was thinking along these lines the whole time since we began the process (over a year ago) but the more research I do the more I find it is not currently a cost effective solution. for the $10K-ish I would spend on the entire upgrade, I could get a good mixed fuel gas powered generator and a nice car or 1Dx2, or a used Prius,. etc.