PowerBoost inspired hybrid house

[fwunder]

FedEx dropped ( literally ) my stuff Friday.

Took me a bit to get all 550 lbs down to the basement. My 71 year old back!

Spent yesterday installing and configuring DC side and testing inverter output

I have an issue with one battery which I hope can be resolved remotely. I suspect a faulty relay - voltage present when turned off. Hopefully won't have to ship back. Inverters are putting out 240 v. as expected with two of the batteries. Won't be able to finish AC install and Powerboost interface until I receive backordered chargeverter. For now i can power sub panel directly with PB and interlock.

Sponsored

 

[Snakebitten]

71 year old stud!

Inspiring to this feeble version of yourself. ?

 

[fwunder]

71 year old stud!

Inspiring to this feeble version of yourself. ?

LOL!! That's what she said....40 years ago!

 

[HammaMan]

Here's an experimental method for why I would have went with the EG4 18k unit. The MPPTs eat HVDC. EVs and hybrids are powered by HVDC and you will find people crazy like me who will feed the MPPTs with non-solar derived HVDC. It could be from a hybrids generator or even an EV battery. I wouldn't use it as a common option, but in unusual circumstances it provides options. Also being able to utilize 18kW worth of solar speaks for itself. Panels are stupidly cheap right now. 9kW array new is $2500 delivered. Used panels can go for half that price.

 

[gb7FRz26]

and you will find people crazy like me who will feed the MPPTs with non-solar derived HVDC. It could be from a hybrids generator or even an EV battery.

You... I like you. We should swap stories. Still working up the courage to wire into the 70S lipo battery in my wife's nx350h. ~200-290vdc range should play nicely with my old 6kva Tripp Lite SmartOnline to run the house, or a few MeanWell HRP600's I have, or someday maybe EG4 gear.

 

[fwunder]

Just a status update. System is almost complete. Still waiting for EG4 Chargeverter which will allow batteries to be charged from PB ( or my other 8kW generator ). Hopefully, recent political shenanigans won't delay that further! Anyway, everything is working great. A couple of stress ( wife ) tests have proven that 1 1/2 days with no conservation is no problem ( 8-9 kWh/day ). We use a little more than I originally calculated, really due to well pump, hot water and refrigerator. 3 days should be no problem if we are not here. My goal is 30 kWh battery. And solar, of course. When I get PB interface, conservation won't be an issue.

More when I get PB interface.

 

[Kodiak]

Just a status update. System is almost complete. Still waiting for EG4 Chargeverter which will allow batteries to be charged from PB ( or my other 8kW generator ). Hopefully, recent political shenanigans won't delay that further! Anyway, everything is working great. A couple of stress ( wife ) tests have proven that 1 1/2 days with no conservation is no problem ( 8-9 kWh/day ). We use a little more than I originally calculated, really due to well pump, hot water and refrigerator. 3 days should be no problem if we are not here. My goal is 30 kWh battery. And solar, of course. When I get PB interface, conservation won't be an issue.

More when I get PB interface.

Looking good! If the coin allows you might want to snag another battery before things start going south. That would push you over 20kwh and over 2 full days of back up at full blast.

Very nice setup and keep updating!

 

[J.Mac]

Since owning my 2023 7.2kW PowerBoost, we have used it's incredible generator/inverter capability to power critical circuits in our house during multiple grid failures. Critical circuits include, refrigerator/freezers, furnace, security system, well pump and strategic lights and outlets. It has been flawless. The only problem has been grid failure when I am not home with the truck...duh! Soooo...

Of course, I could install a standby generator but that seems soooo 2010's. I have decided to build a battery backup system, with some twists.

System Requirements:

• Easily power the critical circuits currently powered by PowerBoost.
• Enough stored energy ( batteries ) to power critical circuits for three days.
• Expandable energy storage
• Include automatic transfer function <20ms - UPS mode - in grid down.
• Include automatic transfer function to generator source ( PowerBoost ) to recharge batteries and power circuits

Simply put, I am building a home UPS system that will automatically recognize when either grid or PowerBoost is available to recharge batteries and power critical circuits. We rarely have grid failures over three days and with this system the PowerBoost should easily keep us going for weeks

Still in the planning stage, but very close to build stage. It should be fun!

Yes, of course, this offgrid design is most often used in solar or yacht systems, but I think the PowerBoost is the perfect secondary power source.

Here is a drawing of what I have come up with so far. I am NOT an electrician - obviously.

Oh, almost forgot! I did confirm a 30% Clean Energy tax credit for the system that can be carried forward until 2035. Cool!

Will you share the estimated total cost of this system. With a 30% tax credit I am curious to find out its ROI.

 

[fwunder]

Will you share the estimated total cost of this system. With a 30% tax credit I am curious to find out its ROI.

Sure. Total cost has been very close to $12K. I did pay licensed electrician $1,100.00 for sub panel installation and a few breakers. I did all the rest of the labor.

I really didn't consider ROI for this. My goal was primarily convenience as a UPS/backup system for frequent grid failures and that will utilize the amazing capabilities of my PB. Yes, it can easily be expanded with additional batteries and solar to reduce or eliminate grid reliance, but that was not my goal for this initial build. It could also be built with considerably cheaper hardware. I just happen to be partial to Victron gear. I would not buy the premium Pytes batteries again.

If you are really interested in a similar DIY project, I recommend you follow:

https://diysolarforum.com/

 

[fwunder]

Karma! Less than 24 hours after I posted my update I get an email and text message from system pictured above telling me grid was down. I would not have known. Not even a blink. Checked and it is a widespread outage.

I wish I had my part to charge batteries from PB. It is nice not having to go out in driving rain and plug into truck. I will conserve power and drink red wine so I don't have to open fridge for white.

 

[Snakebitten]

So cool!

 

[fwunder]

I finally got the last piece of the puzzle this past Monday - The EG4 Chargeverter. This is the “interface” that allows me to recharge the battery bank with PPoB or any other generator. It is a 5kW 100 A charger. ( the black box on the wall in the picture below )

Sooo, Monday @ 16:00 I switched off the grid. It’s Friday @ 09:40 and we are still off grid. I decided to set a schedule of charging battery bank @ 18:00 every night primarily because it is our heaviest energy usage time and I wanted to see how the system did with charging and running house loads. It was no problem.

Some observations:

As expected, everything worked flawlessly. Other than starting and stopping the truck, I didn’t need to do anything. Remote would be great!! As soon as I started truck and initiated Pro Power, the Chargeverter ramped up and started charging. When the battery bank reached 100% SOC, I turned off the truck.

I began this test with a fully charged battery bank - ~15kWh. We are a rather boring and predictable couple when it comes to our energy usage - 8.5kWh per day is a very safe bet. You can see by the SOC chart below our daily use and charge cycles are very consistent.

All three charge cycles took almost exactly 2 hours to recharge the battery bank. I have found fuel consumption to be more of an educated guess than anything else. When I began Monday evening FordPass reported 61% Fuel Level ( 18.3 gal? ). OBDlink reported 17.3 gal Fuel Remaining. At the end of the charge last evening Ford Pass reported 44% Fuel Level ( 13.2 gal? ) OBDLink reported 13.6 gal Fuel Remaining.

If we go by FordPass ( 5.1 gal ) and 8.5kWh charge each night for three nights ( 25.5kWh ) we come back to 0.2 gal/kWh which is what I have seen in other tests and I think matches Ford literature.

So why not just hook the PPoB to a transfer switch and power the house?

1) If the grid goes down I can wait a day or two or three running off the batteries before I have to think about hooking up the truck ( or any generator ).

2) I can recharge batteries for a couple of hours at my convenience and use my truck for other truck things the rest of the time.

3) That system transfer switch is automatic and virtually instant ( ~20ms ). Lights don’t even blink, not clocks to reset and computers don’t reboot.

4) Someday when Ford gives us back our remote PPoB control I won't have to go outside to start and stop the generator!

5) Bragging rights.

Of course, if ( when ) I add 6-8 450 watt bifacial solar panels and the sun is out, I wouldn’t need to use the truck at all, except when towing and powering my travel trailer AC!!

Fun stuff!! Here’s some pics.

(EDIT: Picture attachments a a bit messed up, but you get the idea )

 

[Mszczewski]

I finally got the last piece of the puzzle this past Monday - The EG4 Chargeverter. This is the “interface” that allows me to recharge the battery bank with PPoB or any other generator. It is a 5kW 100 A charger. ( the black box on the wall in the picture below )

Sooo, Monday @ 16:00 I switched off the grid. It’s Friday @ 09:40 and we are still off grid. I decided to set a schedule of charging battery bank @ 18:00 every night primarily because it is our heaviest energy usage time and I wanted to see how the system did with charging and running house loads. It was no problem.

Some observations:

As expected, everything worked flawlessly. Other than starting and stopping the truck, I didn’t need to do anything. Remote would be great!! As soon as I started truck and initiated Pro Power, the Chargeverter ramped up and started charging. When the battery bank reached 100% SOC, I turned off the truck.

I began this test with a fully charged battery bank - ~15kWh. We are a rather boring and predictable couple when it comes to our energy usage - 8.5kWh per day is a very safe bet. You can see by the SOC chart below our daily use and charge cycles are very consistent.

All three charge cycles took almost exactly 2 hours to recharge the battery bank. I have found fuel consumption to be more of an educated guess than anything else. When I began Monday evening FordPass reported 61% Fuel Level ( 18.3 gal? ). OBDlink reported 17.3 gal Fuel Remaining. At the end of the charge last evening Ford Pass reported 44% Fuel Level ( 13.2 gal? ) OBDLink reported 13.6 gal Fuel Remaining.

If we go by FordPass ( 5.1 gal ) and 8.5kWh charge each night for three nights ( 25.5kWh ) we come back to 0.2 gal/kWh which is what I have seen in other tests and I think matches Ford literature.

So why not just hook the PPoB to a transfer switch and power the house?

1) If the grid goes down I can wait a day or two or three running off the batteries before I have to think about hooking up the truck ( or any generator ).

2) I can recharge batteries for a couple of hours at my convenience and use my truck for other truck things the rest of the time.

3) That system transfer switch is automatic and virtually instant ( ~20ms ). Lights don’t even blink, not clocks to reset and computers don’t reboot.

4) Someday when Ford gives us back our remote PPoB control I won't have to go outside to start and stop the generator!

5) Bragging rights.

Of course, if ( when ) I add 6-8 450 watt bifacial solar panels and the sun is out, I wouldn’t need to use the truck at all, except when towing and powering my travel trailer AC!!

Fun stuff!! Here’s some pics.

(EDIT: Picture attachments a a bit messed up, but you get the idea )

Once you finish your burn-in test, would you be willing to provide any updated diagrams, rough pricing, and any additional commentary on your install?

I love what you are doing here and hope to do it at my next house!

 

[HammaMan]

Once you finish your burn-in test, would you be willing to provide any updated diagrams, rough pricing, and any additional commentary on your install?

I love what you are doing here and hope to do it at my next house!

If you're interested in doing such things I highly suggest Will's forum https://diysolarforum.com/

In typical fashion the chinese dominate the space and move much faster and there's some amazing products that streamline the process as well as provide better options than victron.

 

[fwunder]

Once you finish your burn-in test, would you be willing to provide any updated diagrams, rough pricing, and any additional commentary on your install?

I love what you are doing here and hope to do it at my next house!

PM me and I will be happy to share details.

As has been said, there are other solutions. Many are easier and potentially cheaper. Better is debatable and I'm not going to debate that here. I have my own reasons why I chose the route I took. Do you own due diligence.

It is fun!!

Sponsored