Oh, I’m stupid lol. I was only referring to the PV period from 8-5. On the full 24 hour graph, including the times it’s not on PV, that probably is the fridge

It does kind of match that, energy profile-wise, but fridge was definitely on the power station and isn’t reflected in the graph from 8am to 5pm. I wanted to make sure I could run that from PV alone and after that was confirmed, just kept putting it on PV during the day. That, and the usage graph seems to be averaged over 30 minute intervals, so I don’t think a momentary spike like a motor’s startup draw would show like it would with a realtime graph.

Fridge/freezer is running from the power station, but the huge spike around 6pm is it kicking into its defrost cycle after I took it off the PV.

Literally these.

Once I get the wiring done and everything settled in, I may pick up another set and have a total of four 16KWh batteries and two inverters for a total of 20KW (the inverters can parallel up to 6 units, and the batteries up to 15).

That I’m not sure, but likely various misc/intermittent loads that aren’t running from the power station (bathroom lights/fan, electric range, attic fan, etc). The one right before 8am is probably the coffee machine, and the bump around 1pm is when I made lunch.

The graph is also confusing. Like, I know my homelab runs at about 0.25 KWh continuously but the graph is in half hour increments so shows it as half that.

Are there any platforms you use to try and outmate things yet? Or integrate it to track power usage?

Not yet since I don’t have it yet (should be here toward end of the month), but there are mobile and desktop apps which can interface with it over wifi and serial, respectively.

I’ll definitely be looking to see if there’s a HomeAssistant module or something or if someone has documented the serial protocol so I can write my own software.

Basically I want to be able to change the configuration without having to enter the numeric commands and params on the unit itself. I’m imagining something like a list of preset custom modes I can switch by having a program change the params to a set of predefined values.

Like, I want it to only charge the batteries from the PV most of the time (which is something you can configure), but I’d also want an easy way to tell it to charge from utility in case a big storm is coming or something. Once I have that, I’d like to extend it so that I can watch for severe weather events and if NWS issues a severe storm warning, have it automatically switch to that mode and back once the storm warning has passed.

That’s all down the road, though but definitely something I’ve been thinking about.

The main things I run from it are all downstairs in the basement and within reach of extension cords: homelab, WFH office, washing machine, etc. Those are lazily run through the drop ceiling to not be trip hazards. I did install a second outlet behind the fridge upstairs and ran romex down to the basement for it. That was from an earlier plan to have a subset of outlets that were on a backup circuit, but I changed my mind and opted for a whole house solution. So I just put a plug on the end of that (basically turning it into a sort of heavy duty extension cord) and hook it into the power station during the day.

To transfer them back and forth, I just switch where they’re plugged in. They’re all on UPSs (including the fridge - long story) so there’s no power interruption. For other stuff (like charging the lawnmower and power tool batteries, etc) I’ll just either run an extension cord out of the basement or plug the tool chargers into it (it’s got 4 outlets and can put out 2,000 W).

The graph depicts the utility usage, and the bit in the middle where it’s low/negligible throughout the day is just those “base” loads missing / not using power.

Oh, for sure. If I hadn’t/couldn’t downsize, then I’d just be adding more solar lol.

The small setup I have now is based on this so I currently have to manually move where things are plugged in, but the 10 KW inverter I just bought is a hybrid one.

It’ll charge, invert, and load balance automatically and there’s configuration you can program to set the cutover levels, charge/discharge limits, whether it should prioritize power the loads or charging the battery, and such. It can also mix utility and inverter power and switch between the two pretty seamlessly (10ms switchover which is comparable to a UPS).*

*According to the data sheets, anyway. I ordered it today and wont’ have it until probably close to end of the month.

How many kWh a month do you use?

Depends on the month as everything except my furnace and hot water heater are electric. In March, when the furnace barely ran and didn’t need any ceiling fans, etc, I used 391 KWh and my bill was $105 for the privilege. In July when I have to run the A/C almost constantly, I use close to 1,300 KWh and don’t even want to say what that costs me. I work from home, so I kind of need to keep it comfortable all day as well as run my WFH office gear. (Otherwise, I’d bump the thermostat up until I get home in the evenings)

I’ve also got a homelab, but I’ve downsized it enough over the years that it’s down to ~250W continuous (yay USFF PCs! I used to use old rack servers that were 200W each).

Any youtube channels you’d recommend? Other resources? Advice?

I’m more of a hands-on learner, so mostly I’ve just played with it in different forms for 6 or 7 years and started small or Googled specific questions i had. The main thing I learned is that on a good sunny day, PV is like a waterfall and you often only need a glass of water from it. Unless you’re going grid-tie to absorb the excess, storage (batteries) is important otherwise it’s just wasted. The rest I guess I’ll figure out as I get this one up and running. As far as the electrical work, I grew up helping my grandfather on jobs (he was an electrician) so other than referring to NEC for some specifics, I’m pretty comfortable/confident with that kind of work (doesn’t make it any less of a pain in the ass though haha).

Nice!

Back atcha. 19.2 KW would be amazing and probably way more than I need, but I don’t have near enough south-facing roof (sadly, I have plenty of north-facing roof. With these 200W panels I have, my back of the napkin measurements seem to make my limit about 6 KW on the roof. I may check the measurements of the 320W ones and see what that gives me, but I’m thinking it’ll be close enough that it’s not worth the extra cost.

I do have plenty of back yard, though, so after I get this up and running, I may do another string or two as a ground mount setup.

Grid-tie was my original plan, but power company has too many hoops, restrictions, and red-tape to make it worthwhile. Plus, I still need a backup power solution (e.g. a Generac) so I went ahead and got some big batteries right at the start since I was already planning on spending about that same amount for the generator + installation.

Thankfully, unless I’m moving my main panel and/or service connection, I don’t need a permit here. Well, unless I do a ground mount in the backyard because that requires digging a hole, and digging a hole requires a permit for…reasons lol.

Maybe I can post a parts inventory or something and some highlights from the install.

I’ll definitely be taking pictures as I go if nothing else than for having a reference of what goes where. The PITA part is going to be moving most (all?) of my circuits from the main panel to the new panel I’m putting in on the other side of the basement. The PV inverter(s) will feed that panel and distribute them out. Main panel (too expensive to move) will then just have a few 60A circuits running to the PV inverter(s). I’ll probably also throw in a bypass switch so I can isolate the inverters for maintenance and whatnot.

If grid tie is an option for you, I’d recommend that if you’re just looking to cut your electric bill. It’s technically an option for me, but the electric company makes you jump through so many hoops and red tape that it’s just not worth it. Plus, I also want this to work “off grid” as a backup power solution in lieu of a whole house generator.

It’s been pretty great even with this little setup I have now.

I’ve been wanting to do this for years, so I finally justified the cost of the big system I just bought by combining it with my need for a backup generator. I could stretch 30 KWh of battery to about 2-3 days even with no sunshine to top them up. I may still get a small generator as a backup backup just to charge the batteries, but I won’t have to spring for a Generac and having that plumbed into the gas and wired in. Plus those don’t seem super reliable as both neighbors who have those always seem to have service techs coming and going.

users seeking to evangelize their beliefs across the Threadiverse

I mean, replace religion with communism/anarchism/whatever stupid -ism, and that’s like half the people here.

But also, any time you see anything “blogspot [dot] com” here, it’s 99.9999% always blogspam so I just report and block.

Yeah, you’d have thought. I can’t remember the last time I bought a non-rechargable battery except for 9V for my smoke detectors, and none of them were Duracell or Energizer.

I was surprised by that, too. When I went looking for a way to decode them with RTL-SDR, I assumed it wouldn’t be parsing the audio but a narrowband data stream. TIL also.

Edit: It does kind of make sense with it being AFSK encoded in-band, though, or maybe I’m just so used to it being that way. I always thought the screeches were there to demand attention (and also be something that headend equipment can pick up and respond to). So it’s interesting they’re doing double duty as both an unmistakable audio cue to pay attention as well as containing the actual alert data.

Plus there are NOAA stations all over the country rather than centralized like the time signal transmitters. It was probably cheaper to do it in band at that scale.

Damn. I just bought a 1 TB Sony micro SD card a month or so ago. Glad I bought that when I did.

Just got around to this one and finished it last night. Thanks for the recommendation. Was definitely different and fun. Kind of a “breather episode” compared to the high stakes of the rest of the ones I’ve been reading.