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DIY Off-Grid Solar Power

mobile-solarpower.com

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Re: DIY Off-Grid Solar Power

#151

Post by jacquesm »

LinuxBender wrote: post #147
jacquesm wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but I will have to go through a couple of months worth of youtube history, I was binge watching anything about Lithium Ion when I was working on this: https://jacquesmattheij.com/long-range-ebike/ As a result I have a very long article on Lithium Ion battery safety and pack construction in the works, but exactly for the reasons the GGP lists I'm pretty careful about releasing that, I want to triple check everyt…

I had commented to this affect on his channel and my comment was removed. Same with other channels where people are drilling without hand and eye protection.

That's really bad because your comment would at least give people a chance to calibrate the degree to which they should trust this stuff. Any video that aims to be instructional should at least spend some time on the safety aspects of what they are doing.

Re: DIY Off-Grid Solar Power

#152

Post by sandworm101 »

zbrozek wrote: post #149
sandworm101 wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What actually happened to your car battery to cause you to replace it? Did you do anything to fix it? Did you ever maintain it? Did you replace the fluid? Or did you just drive your car every day and then replaced the battery when the mechanic told you it was broken? It is normally cheaper to replace a standard car battery than attempt to maintain and fix it (100-200$) but in an off-grid situation many thousands of d…

Car batteries these days are sealed, so you don't really have much opportunity to replace their acid. A regularly-driven car isn't deep-cycling its battery, so I'm not sure what else you'd do to maintain it.

You test it regularly and hook it up to a good desulfator/maintainer when needed. A sealed battery might be acceptable for a car, if the owner has the money to replace it regularly, but not in an off-grid/residential situation.

Re: DIY Off-Grid Solar Power

#153

Post by willprowseiv »

sandworm101 wrote: post #132

Marketing. I would take everything on this website with a grain of salt. Take it from someone who has actually built an off-grid system, one that is relied upon for 24/7/365 living rather than mere vacation cottage. For example: OP re lead-acid battery options: "Heavy, cheap, easy to use and they work! Typically will last about 3-5 years. Slower charge rates than lithium, much heavier, and they cost way more in the l…

Will Prowse here. Are you kidding me? Those lead acids are kept at a high state of charge and not deeply discharged. Sure some expensive FLA can last much longer, but they are garbage. The coulombic efficiency is horrible. The internal resistance is awful. If I sold lead acid batteries, I would make way more money. You have no clue what you are talking about. And yes, when used for solar and deeply discharged, your lucky to get 3-5 years.

Re: DIY Off-Grid Solar Power

#154

Post by sandworm101 »

willprowseiv wrote: post #153
sandworm101 wrote: post #132

Marketing. I would take everything on this website with a grain of salt. Take it from someone who has actually built an off-grid system, one that is relied upon for 24/7/365 living rather than mere vacation cottage. For example: OP re lead-acid battery options: "Heavy, cheap, easy to use and they work! Typically will last about 3-5 years. Slower charge rates than lithium, much heavier, and they cost way more in the l…

Will Prowse here. Are you kidding me? Those lead acids are kept at a high state of charge and not deeply discharged. Sure some expensive FLA can last much longer, but they are garbage. The coulombic efficiency is horrible. The internal resistance is awful. If I sold lead acid batteries, I would make way more money. You have no clue what you are talking about. And yes, when used for solar and deeply discharged, your l…

Tell that to my 12 year-old battery bank powering my family house (solar with diesel backup charge). It is a pack of deep cycle lead-acids that have served me very well. Of course they are watched and maintained regularly, and rarely ever dip below 75%.

The only use case I've ever seen for lithium off-grid is for people who want to squeeze their entire rig into a closet or basement corner. And nobody ever talks about what to do with those batteries once they finally die. My packs will be easily recycled.

Re: DIY Off-Grid Solar Power

#155

Post by willprowseiv »

jacquesm wrote: post #97
ctime wrote: post #2

Will Prose seems like a really great person. If you’re interested in what you see on this site, check out his YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/c/WillProwse

I have seen enough of his videos to know that he can be spectacularly wrong (dangerously so) about some of his stuff and if you are not already very knowledgeable about this then you may well end up following some very bad advice. This guy has far more practical experience and seems to be less error prone, and also does not shy away from showing when he gets it wrong, which is often far more valuable than a polished…

No post body was provided.

Re: DIY Off-Grid Solar Power

#156

Post by willprowseiv »

jacquesm wrote: post #108
knorker wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. Can you give examples about when he's been dangerously wrong?

Sure, but I will have to go through a couple of months worth of youtube history, I was binge watching anything about Lithium Ion when I was working on this: https://jacquesmattheij.com/long-range-ebike/ As a result I have a very long article on Lithium Ion battery safety and pack construction in the works, but exactly for the reasons the GGP lists I'm pretty careful about releasing that, I want to triple check everyt…

Just because I am young doesn't mean anything. I know what I'm talking about. I started coding and building robots when I was 13, and circuit design at 15. Solar power is dead simple.

Yeah I can work with raw terminals because I don't make silly mistakes. I've been working with low voltage DC for decades. Most of the systems I throw together are for educational use. Those balance wires were probably a rapid prototype pack where I was testing something. I know what I'm doing and how it works. And wow you're so dramatic about the balance wires why don't you criticize the companies that offer their pack configurations in ways that you complain about? There are many companies that throw these packs together and sell them to unsuspecting people, and you are giving me a hard time when making a quick pack to educate or test something? Give me a break

Re: DIY Off-Grid Solar Power

#157

Post by willprowseiv »

LinuxBender wrote: post #147
jacquesm wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but I will have to go through a couple of months worth of youtube history, I was binge watching anything about Lithium Ion when I was working on this: https://jacquesmattheij.com/long-range-ebike/ As a result I have a very long article on Lithium Ion battery safety and pack construction in the works, but exactly for the reasons the GGP lists I'm pretty careful about releasing that, I want to triple check everyt…

I had commented to this affect on his channel and my comment was removed. Same with other channels where people are drilling without hand and eye protection.

I usually always wear eye protection. YouTube deletes comments constantly. And leaves the spam comments. Have you not used YouTube in the last ten years? I can't stand it

Re: DIY Off-Grid Solar Power

#158

Post by willprowseiv »

AYBABTME wrote: post #106
knorker wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. Can you give examples about when he's been dangerously wrong?

I can't recall particular instances but I've seen the same before. FWIW he's getting less stuff wrong over time.

Like what?! Can't any of you people backup your claims. It's just empty complaining on this site without evidence. It's driving me nuts. Show me what I said or have done that was wrong.

Re: DIY Off-Grid Solar Power

#159

Post by LinuxBender »

willprowseiv wrote: post #157
LinuxBender wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had commented to this affect on his channel and my comment was removed. Same with other channels where people are drilling without hand and eye protection.

I usually always wear eye protection. YouTube deletes comments constantly. And leaves the spam comments. Have you not used YouTube in the last ten years? I can't stand it

I can't tell how Youtube decides what to keep and what to remove or if my comment was removed by a bot or by the channel owner. On a traditional forum a moderator would tell me if something was out of line.

For what it's worth if you are the Will Prowse from Youtube I do appreciate the videos you make. Your channel has exposed me to companies I didn't know existed. The Hysolis tear-down was interesting and saves me from having to take things apart and risk warranty arguments with the vendor. There are some shady vendors making bold claims and it is nice to see which ones are the real deal.

Re: DIY Off-Grid Solar Power

#160

Post by Syonyk »

DyslexicAtheist wrote: post #87
Syonyk wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with him, and people like him on YouTube, is that about 90% of what they say is fine, and 10% ranges from "iffy" to "This is a good way to burn your house down - at some unknown point in the future." The average viewer of that sort of material can't tell the difference, and by the time you can, you're not in need of handwaving entry level information, because you can read the design documents, spec sheets…

sounds a bit gate-keepy to me. People tell me that I shouldn't repair my own car for similar reasons. Instead I should go to the OEM and have it serviced there for 1000,- a pop. This assures I'm getting genuine OEM branded parts with a 800% profit margin while also reducing the time spent on diagnosing the issue because now whole modules get replaced since cost of human labor is expensive. If I would heed that advise…

I've zero objections with people learning about power systems and such.

My objection is with people learning it from YouTube, because the ratio of "good, safe, correct information" to "absolute crap" is horrible, and until you're quite solid in the field, there are people very confidently spouting exceedingly wrong and dangerous information (tip: If you ever see anyone soldering to an 18650, assume everything else they're doing is wrong as well, because that's such a huge violation of every manufacturer datasheet - it dumps radically more thermal energy into the cell and plastic separator than they're designed for).

There are plenty of better sources for information on how to do things energy related than YouTube.

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