Friday, February 8, 2013

LiFePO4 DIY ESS - Store your Surplus Energy at Home from Solar or Wind



An ESS is an Energy Storage System and its purpose is to store surplus energy, not used in your home, to re-use it later throughout the day or at night when solar generation is down;

It can also store energy from wind, or any other generation mean, even from the grid itself: you can help shave peaks and save money charging at night when electricity is cheap, and discharging during the day when it is expensive
My LiFePO4 DIY Battery ESS is an On-Grid Standalone System for people who already have solar or/and wind installed and would like to become even more grid independent

Using an additional inverter, it should be able to supply power inside your home - or office - only, in case of a power outage / black out



I have been working on this system for two years now and it is working fine with my new solar system, storing all the surplus during the day and giving it back whenever necessary, but mostly in the evening hours

The first 2 Kits are now available so you too can build one for your home and start shaving peaks using your own energy fully instead of selling it to the utility company

Make sure you go through the Pages on top to see : ESS Wiki, Components, Documentation, Kits, Power & Energy GraphsBuild History, More about the DIY ESS ... (just below the Blog Title/Header)







My DIY ESS in few Keywords:

- Low Cost
- Safe
- Simple
- Fully Automatic
- Plug & Play in a single 120V or 240V outlet
- Scalable in Capacity & Power - 5kWh + N * 5kWh & - 1,700W + N * 250W -
- Real Time Home & Online Monitoring
- Solar & Wind Installation Independent
- Battery Brand and Type Independent
- Off the shelf Quality Components : CALB CA Series LiFePO4 Cells, Tyco Kilovac Contactors, etc
- Small & Quiet & No bad Smell (can be used in an apartment)
- Transparent Battery Management (BMS): you know what it does, nothing is hidden like in EVs or other battery storage systems; It is very simple, efficient and safe




With CALB CA180FI LiFePO4 Cells, simply the best on the market today, used in Electric Car Conversions !


Online Power Monitoring (with Wattson Anywhere based on EnergyHive)
Power graph (click)



Energy graph



The Price should be - only - 3,000 Euros for a 5kWh 1.8kW ESS


A Kit is & will be available with different levels of integration and costs:

Kit #1
- Arduino Leonardo board, flashed with my program
- ESS Building step by step Documentation
- List of Components & Adresses to get the parts
- User Manual
Price: 149 EUR only

Kit #2
- Kit #1
- All the components to build the Control Board
Price: 649 EUR

Options:
  - Modified Wattson (coming soon)
  - Crimped Cables & Lugs Set (coming soon)

Kit #3
- Kit #2
- 8 Grid Tie Inverters 110-220V
- 6 Chargers 110-220B
Price: Tbd

Kit #4 - Full Kit -
- Kit #3
- 8 LifePO4 CALB CA180FI cells, bottom balanced by me
Price: Tbd