The Tesla MID is in the Tesla Gateway or Backup Switch meter socket adapter. The Pila MID is onboard inside the battery. Pila can push power back through the plug. When utility power drops, Pila & Powerwall react exactly the same. They both detect the outage, open the MID, and power load downstream of the MID. In the case of Pila it powers loads downstream / plugged into Pila.
Im having trouble understanding this, if you back feed into a circuit why wouldn't it go out via the beaker and onto the power grid?
Why wouldn't I just buy a bunch of small UPS that are already commercially available?
UPS units are low power have minimal storage and no smart coordination or control. They also often last less than 3 years.
Ok, so why wouldn't I buy a UPS with slightly more capacity and longer lived cells? They exist.
And what sort of 'coordination' can a UPS possibly do with other UPS? It either powers it's loads or not. What does the status of other UPS have to do with it?
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 iss…
It does have power cleaning functionality when it's off-grid, let me check in with hardware if it does that in pass-through mode. Voltage drops it should detect and cover though. Automatic load shedding will be configured by appliance priority we were thinking, but open to feedback. The fridge should go out last, the wifi first. We're using a 1.6kWh LiFePo! Replacement is something we're working hard on, I unfortunat…
So in my case they are momentary voltage drops. It can accept 81-145V and will throw an error and turn off outside of that. It used to happen a lot, but there have been recent improvements, and it has only happened once in the last couple months.
And yeah, configuring priority by plug is basically how my current system works. These ones turn off at 50%, these ones at 25% and this one goes all the way until the end. As long as there is a plan to do something along those lines, that fits the use case.
An important feature for me would be 3rd party replacement batteries. Ideally I want to be able to go up to Batteries+ / Interstate Battery / whatever local battery place and pick up a replacement. All my current UPSs are Lead Acid and I can just go up the street and get a new one. If its using something like a standard deep cycle marine battery that I can pull out and swap for a new one, then I would be interested. If its totally proprietary and I have to rely on you still making them in 5-10 years when I need a new one, then it is far less interesting.
And yeah, there are the 4 outlets on the main device. I was referring to the accessories on the Tech Specs page. I know they aren't out yet. Just expressing interest in more plugs. Something with 3 doesn't really do much for me. I have something like 8-10 plugs here at my desk. And a similar amount in the living room. One with 3 plugs on it only nets you 2 additional plugs. It would be a huge mess.
A "no Electrician required" device that plugs into your wall and back-feeds power is a HUGE safety issue, and a HUGE no-no. Half the problem with home-generation is a cutoff/sync device that synchronizes the frequency of your local generation with the grid, and kills power going back into the grid from your home generator when there is an outage, so line workers can do their jobs safely. And unless there is a more ex…
There is some merit to using it with appliances like refrigerators and washing machines. No backfeeding needed.
Right -- as long as it's just feeding power to the appliance, via a downstream outlet, like a UPS typically does. You can't send power back through the outlet the Pila is attached to, but you can send power to anything connected to it downstream.
I think it's a neat product, a UPS that doesn't look like a computer peripheral, that has large enough capacity to be useful for important appliances like fridges, that can be integrated into common spaces, and with some kind of management utility that can ensure the battery health is monitored.
A "no Electrician required" device that plugs into your wall and back-feeds power is a HUGE safety issue, and a HUGE no-no. Half the problem with home-generation is a cutoff/sync device that synchronizes the frequency of your local generation with the grid, and kills power going back into the grid from your home generator when there is an outage, so line workers can do their jobs safely. And unless there is a more ex…
Why is this a safety issue? Home batteries are capable of detecting outages and ensuring that they don’t back-feed after an outage. Pila is no different.
I was commenting on the parent's mention of suspecting it could be a UPS that feeds power back into the house. It's one of those things that's super easy to DIY, or even do accidentally, but is super dangerous, so I didn't want anyone else thinking why not. I don't think you could even get a UL certification for such a device.
off grid here for many years self built systems can do the math for solar powered,off grid sytems with battery banks, in my head. The numbers posted with battery back up system are so wildly inflated as to be absurd, laughable , 32hrs for a fridge, it wont run a big fridge for 1 hr, tiny fridge for 5 hrs. bar fridge, laptop, phone and one light might make 24hrs, might, when its new, hot weather, fergetit. the way it'…
Hey there - First I will concede it's always hard to give an "average" number for something like a fridge, since all fridges consume differently based on usage, ambient temperature, ice makers, overall capacity. But I'd stand behind our numbers - we're not looking to deceive and transparently provide the remaining backup time on the device screen and app. For whatever it's worth, I've gotten familiar with lots of app…
A calculator will fail, as in order to use one, requires knowing all of the terminology, and how each variable, alwase effects the other variables
in power claculation, and if you know that, the claculator is redundent.
My first PV/battery off grid experienxces were in the early 90's, and I was gifted a small solar panel (5w), from a teacher, who had 2 100w panels
purchased from the worlds, first and at that time only retailer of PV panels.
Today the challenge is to make a system
"plug in and forget", and the tech is not, quite, there.
I have a whole bunch of random, solar, pv, back up, and UPS, stuff....that keeps comming my way, and I repurpose it for secondary and utilitairian uses, my main house system bieng much larger.
And to fair to you, marketing and splianing the solar,pv,battery thing, is a swamp.
I had a 92 dodge diesel, the "truckasaurus" that I covered the very large hood in solar, put in a big battery bank.....removed the alternator, and drove it like that year round...in Canada.
It would reliably draw a crowd,and became localy
iconic, so I have fielded all the questions and seen the hope in peoples faces, and faced the anti
solar bunch.
My house set up is also highly visible, also bieng a conversational/ideological subject.
I can see that your system has the plug in and use part taken care of, and a lot of the pieces for marketing, but determining the crossover point
between peoples expectations, and actual performance will determine continued sales success.
A beautiful UPS. But my experience in recent years has shown me that some good-looking devices are often just superficially attractive and not more stable than older devices.
Could you provide some comparisons on the website with existing UPSs? (For example, stability, safety, etc.)
Also I'd prefer to keep some more critical systems running (like my homelab server). Can this UPS prioritize power to these devices?
First: this is an electrical power source with a male plug… And I understand the intelligence inside of it, but… can this possibly be code compliant? Something similar to this is often referred to as a Suicide cord …
Second: this is back-feeding electricity into the power grid and, again, I understand you can address this with onboard intelligence and millisecond switching… But I don’t think the power company cares. I don’t think there’s any way you can legally plug a power source like this Into your home electrical bus.
I’m confused by two things… First: this is an electrical power source with a male plug… And I understand the intelligence inside of it, but… can this possibly be code compliant? Something similar to this is often referred to as a Suicide cord … Second: this is back-feeding electricity into the power grid and, again, I understand you can address this with onboard intelligence and millisecond switching… But I don’t thi…
It's a UPS. It doesn't do any back feeding. Compare it against APC SmartUPS and CyberPower.