On-grid domestic battery storage

ASavvyBuyer

mickyduck55 said:

ASavvyBuyer said:

mickyduck55 said:

For those of us with a smart meter and Octopus .. they have now added the wheel of fortune for us. Previously it was only offered when a meter reading was submitted

Unfortunately, not for all of us. I found out on Friday that it had been added to some accounts, but not ours.

I did query it a few months ago when I had my smart meter installed.. dont worry too much I have never "won" anything

I queried it on Friday when a number of people were saying it had been added and they were winning small amounts (£1 or £2). (apparently they paid out £100k on Friday)

They sent us a "Goodwill Gesture" of £1! but we still do not have the link added.

Starfrog

I won a £1 ..... not sure what I will do with it 🤔 it obviously brings about big changes in my lifestyle but for now I will sit on the money and think about all the exciting things I can now do .... I may go crazy and buy 10 plastic bags !!! So many choices ......

chamelion

Starfrog said:

I won a £1 ..... not sure what I will do with it 🤔 it obviously brings about big changes in my lifestyle but for now I will sit on the money and think about all the exciting things I can now do .... I may go crazy and buy 10 plastic bags !!! So many choices ......

New tesla maybe? 

QrizB

I've read the whole of this thread in a week and now have battery info oozing out of my ears

Has anyone rolled their own LiFePO4 batteries for on-grid storage? There are several popular US YouTubers who do this sort of thing, Will Prowse is a name that immediately comes to mind, and I see "SolarEngineering" posted a 16S 25Ah tutorial in December 2020. Typically they buy cells and a BMS directly from China then put them together to build a bank the size they want.

Wondering if anyone here has tried it? Or are the Pylontech batteries such a bargain that DIY isn't worth it?

Solarchaser

It's something I thought about doing, buying up old laptop batteries and making my own, however my batteries and inverters are in a cupboard beside the kids room for the moment, and the words thermal runaway strike a cord of caution about home builds.

Pylontech are a decent price, but I'd say bargain would definitely be overstating it.

Well done on reading the whole thread in a week, I think it took me over a week before I joined the forum, and its certainly grown quite a bit since then.

Verdigris

Or are the Pylontech batteries such a bargain that DIY isn't worth it?

I reckon so. I suppose the exception might be breaking an EV battery as there are ready-made batteries, rather than individual cells, inside. Mind you, they are extremely securely built, glued together as well as bolted, so you need to strong and well tooled up.

EVandPV

I've done it on a smaller scale to build a 12v 39ah battery for use with an electric outboard motor using 18650 cells.
This is a shot I took before attaching the main charge/discharge leads and placing it in a plastic housing ....



Lifepo4 cells are available in much larger capacity now so it could be done with less work but not sure the savings would be worth it.

QrizB

EVandPV said:

I've done it on a smaller scale to build a 12v 39ah battery for use with an electric outboard motor using 18650 cells.
This is a shot I took before attaching the main charge/discharge leads and placing it in a plastic housing ....

Lifepo4 cells are available in much larger capacity now so it could be done with less work but not sure the savings would be worth it.

Wow, that's a work of modern art in itself
I've got a small 4S3P 12v LiFePO4 battery on order from Aliexpress (for an unrelated project) but it seems to be on a very slow boat.

Verdigris

but it seems to be on a very slow boat.

Ha! I've also got a battery pack coming from China. I'm convinced it is aboard the Ever Given.

Starfrog

Aoboet batteries?