This Home Battery is a LITERAL Life Saver! Here's Why

What is infuriating to me is that some of my power bill ends up paying lobbyists to bribe politicians into continuing the monopoly.

I’m Norwegian and live in the Netherlands. Both countries have separated the power grid from the power supply. You are free to change to any operator anywhere in the country, no matter where you live. That forces them to compete on price and service quality. It was done about 20 years ago. Huge improvements. The US seems pretty outdated in such things…

I have been off grid for 7 years . My system is 72kwh's of chevy volt batteries, 21000 watts of used panels. I run 2 inverters one 12kw low frequency split phase. A 6kw low frequency inverter charges my chevy volt. My inverters have no software ! And they don't need the internet to make it work. It's been running seven years this way.

What they charge you for electricity is insane!! In Western Washington state we pay about 11 cents a Kw. Moving out of California in 2018 was the best decision of my life!

Off grid over 20 years with no house payments and no utility bills. Internet $80 a month for unlimited and I run a business online. Solar and wind power with batteries. Propane heat, OD water heater and stove. Wood stove backup. You can do it!

Put a soft start on the AC and it will save a bit more. Awesome set up.

Have you considered how to reduce your power consumption in the first place? That is usually the best thing to do before considering how to generate more with solar. I Denmark where I live there is a great focus on building low energy houses - to minimize energy consumption for heating. But the isolation works both ways - so also against heat in the summer 😉

$0.42/kWt hour? Crazy! I pay $0.09/kWt hour and I live in the desert where we run our AC 24/7 for at least 5 months out of the year. I'll have to confirm it with my wife, but I'm pretty sure my electric bill is NEVER more than $200/month.

This time last year, we were in the process of having battery backup installed along with expanding our solar before NEM 3.0 went into effect here in California. Our choice was NeoVolta based in Poway, CA. The NeoVolta system is 14kWh expandable to 24kWh (we did that) with an integrated Solar Inverter as well as a secondary input for pre-existing solar or a fuel generator. They also use LFP batteries which was a selling point because we feared NMC battery problems which were getting a lot of attention at that time. We have PG&E, but live in an area where a local Irrigation District has been fighting to offer service for over 20 years but can't get PG&E to sell the infrastructure. Mind you, we are being hit for most of 2024 with a PG&E price increase because they haven't done even basic maintenance in our area in 25 years. PG&E, SDG&E, SoCal Edison are all for-profit corporations that have played fast an loose with maintenance for decades and when they get caught red handed (the San Bruno pipeline explosion, all of the forest fires. Destroying the entire town of Paradise.) Killed people and then somehow weasel their way out of it by filling false bankruptcy-- since when does bankruptcy discharge court ordered settlements? If I could cut the PG&E connections to my property, I'd do it in a second but until I can, I'm going to self-generate as much as I can.

Just something you mentioned pertaining to your gas usage. It's now been 17 years since I've had any heat in my house no gas whatsoever. I insulated everything floors wall ceilings attics. The gas company chargers based on your usage during the summer months. Anything over that allotment during those warm months they charge 5 times the rate of what you use in winter time. As far as it goes with cooling the house I can't Express more than the use of thermal tint on the windows. You can feel almost the 20% drop difference in heat coming through the windows. It's a bit pricey but it paid for itself. Just like the insulation a little more pricey initially. I have 10 tons of air conditioning in my home and I only turned the system on to test during final inspection17 years ago.These little things reduce my bill to the point where at the moment my simple solar generator is keeping the utility companies at bay. When you don't have to pull permits and get anybody involved with what you do to stay off grid, I I'm smiling all the way to the bank.

Tips for stretching the battery life over night - turn off things you don't need. Running servers? Are you sure you need all of them 24/7? Running lights? Are all of them off when nobody is in the room? For things like this, there is perfect cooperation between presence sensors (radar based) and in-wall light switches. If nobody is in the room for 5 minutes, just turn the light off. Same thing about opened windows - few sensors will tell home automation that the window is opened for too long and you should close it to avoid heat creep. Car charging - leave the car plugged and charge only when your battery is already full and only use the excess energy that would normally go back to grid. Garage doors - long-opened garage doors will again allow heat creep into the house - be it hot or cold air, that you will then need to spend energy to compensate. Simple notification on the phone for garage doors opened for more than 3 minutes (usual time to put kids and bags into the car and leave garage) will remind you to close it, avoiding heat differences. But no matter what, in the end, you will still need utility company if you want to keep your standard of living. Just use it as little as possible.

When there is no competition, be the competition! Good for you! Take back the power, fight the power!

I also switched to T mobile's 5G home internet last year from Spectrum's monopolized cable internet at my apartment in Texas. It's absolutely amazing.

Great comment on moving off natural gas to solar/battery. We replaced the HVAC (heat pump), R8 duct, added additional return to guarantee 1600 cfm in and out (4 ton). When Jan 2023 cold season hit our natural gas bill went from $30 to $99. Our neighbors went from $30 to $300-$600. Our water heater is in our insulated garage and suffered from the cold. My daughter and I spent a couple hours with a R8 insulation wrap. Following cold months dropped to high thirty’s. My conclusion is HVAC Heatpump is extremely efficient and has 99 speeds of operation maximizing efficiency. It does not take a huge hit on the battery to start as ramp up, maintain and ramp down keeps the home comfortable for winter or summer. Last comment, I would not switch the water heater from natural gas as there is literally no maintenance for 15-20 years (optional yearly discharge or anode replacement if you want 20-30 year life). Heat pumps require monthly/quarterly air filter cleaning, they are noisy, produce vibrations, require exhaust duct (my opinion for cold air) and the cost at the end of day are pretty close in Southern California.

Your channel is one of my favorites! Keep it up buddy!

Couldn’t agree with you more about fighting against monopolies, wish I could hit the like button on this video more than once. 👍👍👍

My dog hates it when the stranger utility person goes on the yard and checks the meter! Bravo to you leading the charge to fight the monopolies!

Awesome video Ricky! Lifepo is my favorite chemistry too! I like things that just ALWAYS work, forever.....or as close to it as I can get 😄

My backup generator is going to be my Cybertruck. I’m also going to adjust my batteries to feed our home/grid during peak cost hours. No system is perfect, but I’m grateful to have solar, batteries and EVs. Thanks for your great videos :-)

Seriously impressive setup.