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

pilaenergy.com

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

#91

Post by Bedon292 »

I definitely like it. I experience regular outages and have a whole home generator because of it. But that takes time and isn't cleat. So this is basically how I already have everything set up, with ~6 UPSs scattered around. And I have looked at the whole home systems to get away from that. But the mesh with smart features is definitely interesting.

Does it have any power cleaning functionality? I have occasional issues with voltage drop and it and confuses some of my stuff. The input V is out of range and it cannot get it back up to 120V so it ends up just turning off to avoid passing through to the equipment.

And how about any automatic load shedding? I have some which will start turning off outlets based on percent battery left, to power the most important stuff longer.

You also mention moving past the basic lead acid UPS. I can't seem to find it anywhere, are you not using lead acid batteries? Or what are you using? Will I be able to buy a replacement battery up the street at the battery store like I can my current UPSs? Or will I be locked in to buying replacements from you?

Also looks like you have Smart Outlet Strips mentioned, which are only 3 outlets. Any plans for something more substantial? Like 12s? Most places I have UPSs there are many things plugged in and a single 12 would be preferable over multiple.

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

#92

Post by jvanderbot »

CharlesW wrote: post #54

From your site: "For homes with electricity prices that vary throughout the day, Pila optimizes charging to help manage your utility bills." Based on experiments like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtNq-0kV8YM , I'm extremely skeptical. Can you back this claim? Also, why are people going to spend $1,300 on this when a good UPS is a fraction of the price, and (for example) an Anker SOLIX F3800 Plus is $3,200?

I've used gas and portable "solar/battery" backup generators and UPS systems.

The win for me is the form factor. It can slot right next to any appliance or utility room shelf. The cost is not bad by comparison to portable battery systems, but portable battery systems fall into two form factors:

1. Garage / basement stacks that have to connect to a generator hook-up: which itself costs kilo-dollars. And what if my garage / utility panel isn't heated? Extreme temp swings can degrade these I'd imagine.

2) carry or roll-away. Which is great for camping or pulling out of the closet during an outage, but that's not convenient and not what I'm looking for

And finally, the UPS-like standby power beats both options as well. The solar generator types don't do passthrough power well (they warn against it) and the garage/basement stacks have to be connected to a cutover switch anyway.

Correct me if I'm wrong nowadays but this product beats both those for these reasons.

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

#93

Post by jmward01 »

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.

This is almost exactly my question but I'll be a little more specific. I want to guarantee that no data about my usage leaves my network. You mention local integrations, is there a formal commitment to opening up the platform to opensource local servers? Similarly, what about always providing functionality without sending usage data?

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

#94

Post by coleashman »

Glyptodon wrote: post #75

So what is the coordination between batteries doing? Is it moving electricity through the walls to balance things when the grid is down? How is it different than a typical UPS like for servers or other electronics? Just bigger/longer lasting battery? What integration need is their with typical home systems? (Beyond things like turning them off when battery gets low?) I kind of don't really get what having an app for…

Appreciate the question! The coordination is similar to what a whole-home battery might be doing for you, depending on how you configure it: Timing charging to follow real-time solar production, energy arbitrage to shift home usage to times of day when electricity is cheaper (e.g. TOU rates, big in my neck of the woods in California), "storm mode" to charge up automatically when severe weather alerts are issued, and eventually things like Demand Response for grid services which you can get paid from if you opt into. Beyond the battery control stuff, locally sharing energy data across the batteries across your home can help build a model of energy usage to help make sense of your usage, look out for anomalies in your home wiring, and more -- And doing this with a local connection just means it can be a more reliable, more resilient system, even providing this sort of value when internet drops out

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

#95

Post by coleashman »

sergiomattei wrote: post #71

I was born and raised in Puerto Rico. The power goes out every couple of days. These products are a lifesaver in places where the electric grid is unreliable. Most Puerto Ricans rely on generators and battery backup devices to power their day-to-day life. 1) At the price point, lower-income countries with unreliable grids are not the target audience. If not that, then who? Off-grid wealthy individuals? 2) This app-co…

I'd love to see the price continue to come down, so more and more folks can get these products. Compared to the expensive install of a large battery systems, I'd call it a step in the right direction but I agree we need to make these even more accessible. Features like energy management and demand response can improve the economics in some markets, but low upfront cost is the ultimate goal. Most of my family in Louisiana are similarly not considering smarter backup systems seriously because of the cost and either "do nothing" in outages, rely on neighbors' generators, or have unreliable pull-start generators in their garage.

Yes, yes, and yes on offline performance! We're on it!

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

#98

Post by sergiomattei »

sergiomattei wrote: post #80
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…

> ok, if you're American relying on Canadian electricity, you might have a right to be concerned You don't have to go that far. Puerto Rico is a United States territory with a third-world tier power grid. Most Puerto Ricans rely on electric generators and battery backup systems to survive their day-to-day. https://www.npr.org/2024/12/31/nx-s1-5243984/puerto-rico-pow... This is bordering a humanitarian crisis and I'm…

Adding another comment because I can no longer edit my original.

- Power instability causes serious economic damage to individuals, families and small businesses. Imagine establishing a business in an island where you don't know if you'll have power today.

- In PR, you don't buy groceries for an entire month. The power goes out once and all your food is ruined. Families bear the brunt of these reliability failures.

- Outages damage your appliances. This is even more economic damage to families and the poor. A couple years ago, in jest, protesters from across the island took their damaged appliances to the power company headquarters and dropped them off there.

- Diabetics have to use generators or special machines to keep their insulin refrigerated.

I could keep going. It's a shame that this absurdity is happening in the wealthiest country in the world.

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

#99

Post by rtkwe »

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) Can't be automated without a failover switch to disconnect the house from the grid so it doesn't back feed into the actual power lines outside the house and either break or risk injuring linemen who think a line has been disconnected and isolated.

In addition to that you're feeding energy back in through a much smaller wire so you're limited to the capability of the circuit it's connected to and the devices have to be smart enough to actually limit their output to what the wall can handle. Otherwise imagine you have 2 of these each on 1000W circuits (not a normal circuit but for convenience lets pretend) and you have 1500W of load running elsewhere in the house. One runs out of power because it had a lower charge state when power failed, now unless the remaining UPS limits it's output and browns out everything you're pulling 150% the rated power of your circuit, potentially damaging the wires or the loads you're powering.

This is potentially what's causing fires on nVidia's high power connectors, one connection wears out or is simply loose so more power flows through the remaining pins and it's too much for those wires causing fires/melting the wires.

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

#100

Post by coleashman »

__d wrote: post #60
coleashman wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our first product is focused on 120V, but we'll be iterating on a 240V option. Out of curiosity which 240V loads are you most interested to connect?

I’m in Australia and everything is 240V (well, I think technically it’s 230V now) here. Any timeline yet for international distribution?

On a personal note, I'll also be really stoked when we're shipping to Australia. Lots of friends down there, and have been lucky to work on some past home energy products for the Australian market.

Parts of Pila's power electronics are already 230~240V capable. We've just launched in the US, and are doing our best to stay focused on excellent support for our home market before expanding. That said, I could see 2026 being the right time for expansion... stay tuned mate!

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