Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls

pilaenergy.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 492 posts

Re: Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls

#61

Post by coleashman »

lordofgibbons wrote: post #50

I've just been looking for a UPS for my home lab. Do your batteries need any kind of an internet connection to set up or operate? Assuming I wouldn't want to use the app.

Internet's not required, and we're aiming to pack as much offline functionality in as possible. This includes an MQTT based local API (WiFi) and ability to directly tether the phone app to the device over WiFi. Certain app features like historical usage and utility data integrations may not be available if the device isn't internet connected though, just to be transparent.

Re: Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls

#63

Post by pavon »

coleashman wrote: post #11
cmui wrote: post #6

Very cool. You mention powering connected devices - is it feasible to push power back through the outlet to power parts of the home? Euro solar panels are doing this I believe.

Yeah great question. The hardware is capable of bidirectional power, and electrical codes and standards in the U.S. are now catching up with Europe. “Balcony Solar” has taken off there, especially in Germany. Utah just passed H.B. 340 which allows up to 1200W of plug-in solar backfeed. It wasn’t so long ago that grid-tied batteries like Powerwall were working through the same kind of standards updating process to par…

Are the grid isolation and backfeed capabilities mutually exclusive? Isolation would have to happen at the panel if you are backfeeding into an outlet, right?

Re: Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls

#64

Post by rahimnathwani »

chadconway wrote: post #12
cmui wrote: post #6

Very cool. You mention powering connected devices - is it feasible to push power back through the outlet to power parts of the home? Euro solar panels are doing this I believe.

Technically Pila is able to push power back through the home when the grid is up. Utah passed a law to allow this. We hope to bring this potential to all states. https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2025/03/05/balcony-solar-gains-u...

But 'when the grid is up' isn't the time you'd want to feed power from one outlet into the others. It's when the grid is down you'd want to do this, no?

I guess you could flip the trip switch to isolate the circuit?

Re: Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls

#65

Post by amluto »

Two questions:

1. Have you considered building a “microgrid interconnection device” to go with this to allow the batteries to backfeed a house in the event of an outage? (This would require native 240V split-phase capability and/or an auto-transformer.)

2. Have you considered removing the fade-in-when-scrolling abomination on your website?

Re: Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls

#67

Post by mrb »

What a noble mission to make energy independence more accessible like this, even to renters!

I read your site, watched the video, but I still don't understand why you implemented a mesh network? Why multiple batteries need it to synchronize? Aren't they completely independent? Why would the fridge battery need to communicate with the other battery powering your lights?

Also, as an angel investor, I'm curious to know how much capital you have raised or invested so far?

Thanks.

Re: Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls

#68

Post by 0cf8612b2e1e »

pedalpete wrote: post #58

I love the design, but I wonder about the "selling feature". How many people regularly experience power outages (ok, if you're American relying on Canadian electricity, you might have a right to be concerned). I'm surprised you're not touting the "save on your power bill" benefits. Could this not store power when rates are low, and use the battery when rates are higher, while maintaining a balanced minimum storage am…

Offsetting power usage to the cheaper time is also the only possible utility I see here. Unfortunately, last time I ran the numbers (against a $10k battery) it would be incredibly difficult to recoup your investment over a reasonable timeframe. Having to limit this to a single room (fridge, AC, whatever) makes it seem even more difficult as the consumption you can push is limited.

Re: Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls

#69

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

coleashman wrote: post #17
josefresco wrote: post #7

So this is a per-room/per appliance battery system? Not sure how this would work for my oil burning boiler, which requires power but has no "plug". Maybe this is better for households that run 100% electric for HVAC?

To add more: To backup big 240V appliances that are hard-wired (EV charger, large HVAC, for example) you need to connect the backup system in the same hard-wired way to the electrical panel. For folks who are keen to make the big investment in whole-home backup, it’s a great solution. Our goal is to give folks more onramps to get started with smart battery backup, focusing on no-rewiring solutions. But I’ll say, Pila…

It doesn't need to be hardwired. Devices like the Generlink provide an outlet to plugin in a fossil-fuel based generator or a battery backup unit, and take care of islanding. They sit somewhere between the utility company meter and the main service panel. Power goes out ... plug into the Generlink and if your generator/backup can handle it, your entire system is running again. Not cheap though - around $1k without installation (which can vary from insanely easy to complex, depending on your situation).

Re: Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls

#70

Post by coleashman »

amluto wrote: post #65

Two questions: 1. Have you considered building a “microgrid interconnection device” to go with this to allow the batteries to backfeed a house in the event of an outage? (This would require native 240V split-phase capability and/or an auto-transformer.) 2. Have you considered removing the fade-in-when-scrolling abomination on your website?

1. I'm actually hopeful we see a generic MID standard emerge with folks like ConnectDER well positioned to support that, so more homes can benefit and households can gain the ability to flexibly try different batteries without ripping out their panels every time. If not, we could definitely build our own (helped build 2 generations of Tesla's MID as well as 3 generations of SPAN Panels with MID functionality). Happy to nerd out on the topic anytime :)

2. Feedback taken hah

Post reply on HN