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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

#461

Post by 1vuio0pswjnm7 »

Aurornis wrote: post #284
vessenes wrote: post #220

Judging by the negativity here you're going to be a massive success -- search up the dropbox, airbnb, coinbase and ethereum launch threads if you want to feel good about where you're at. :) That said, I like this idea -- a modern coordinated UPS. I live in an area where people have 3-10 days a year of no power; being able to pick and choose what power they'd use during an outage would be a significant benefit to them…

> Judging by the negativity here you're going to be a massive success -- search up the dropbox, airbnb, coinbase and ethereum launch threads This is not a new product, though. Battery power inverters with AC and solar input are a popular class of products. You can buy similar products with higher capacity and better solar input at Costco or Best Buy. I think people are confused by the "Show HN" tag and the misleading…

"Please don't post insinuations about astroturfing, shilling, brigading, foreign agents, and the like."

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Interestingly, the guidelines only refer to "insinuations" not unequivical accusations supported by evidence.

IMO, the later has value.

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

#462

Post by arresin »

Aurornis wrote: post #305
bitwize wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Entering an existing market with nothing new but a sleek, Apple-like UI that makes it eady for the average user has proven to be a business success again and again. And it's had detractors who turned out to be wrong ever since "No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame." If not before.

> Entering an existing market with nothing new but a sleek, Apple-like UI that makes it eady for the average user has proven to be a business success again and again The competing products also have apps with good UIs. This is a marketing play. It appears to be working, given how many people are convinced it's a new idea.

This is crab in a bucket mentality.

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

#464

Post by Tade0 »

VectorLock wrote: post #154
Tade0 wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only in Germany, as per Commission Regulation EU 2016/631 systems under 800W are not regulated as power generating facilities - you just need a two-way meter installed on request by your power company and you're good to go.

Does the two-way meter have a way to prevent back feeding the grid in the event of a power outage? Having an unregulated device even under 800W seems like it could be dangerous to anybody working on the power lines.

The inverter does that, as it shuts off the moment voltage is not in the +/- 10% range of the nominal 230V.

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

#465

Post by m463 »

thyristan wrote: post #431
chadconway wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which ones?

A bog-standard Uninterruptible Power Supply. Available from multiple manufacturers (big names are e.g. Eaton, Schneider/APC, but there are lots of choices) in all sizes from "powers your desk light" to "powers your whole house/datacenter/emergency room". Maybe there is value in marketing such a product to ordinary people that are not in IT or electrical engineering. Maybe you can improve on existing control interface…

I think this space needs some disruption. Most UPSs are dreadful. Cheap, lead-acid and unreliable. And the power banks with attractive specs that seem to be built around 100ah lifep04 batteries... they don't seem to work as UPSs. (and they're expensive)

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

#466

Post by cwillu »

rtkwe wrote: post #459
cwillu wrote: post #419

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's no more of a pulse than any other dead short that would trip the breaker instantly rather than on a delay. The fault current that a breaker is required to be able to interrupt is two orders of magnitude larger than we're talking about feeding into the wire, and a 15 amp breaker is designed to _not_ interrupt a 150 amp load until a second has passed (there's a rating curve for this): some loads might require that…

Yeah should be fine but I'd still rather not intentionally try it and count on it. Breakers can fail closed. Doubly so because it doesn't even do what we want it to which would be to switch the main breaker off.

Don't get me wrong, it's still a stupid thing to do, but not because there's any danger to the wiring.

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

#467

Post by sergiomattei »

chadconway wrote: post #362
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…

Would financing help?

The problem with financing is that it externalizes the cost of the monopolistic utility company onto the disadvantaged.

Debt is already the method of choice for acquiring a generator, battery backup or solar panel installation in Puerto Rico.

Debt is a burden they shouldn’t have to take on for their day to day utilities. This is a livability problem—it isn’t a luxury.

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

#468

Post by lowbloodsugar »

chadconway wrote: post #406
lowbloodsugar wrote: post #229

I’ve got several Jackery batteries at this point and my wife complained that they were a waste of money right up until our breaker panel gave up the ghost and we were without power for several days. Your product is more expensive but not significantly so, and has some nice features the Jackery does not. For homeowners like me though, all of this becomes unnecessary once I can power the house from my car.

How will you power your fridge when the car isn’t home?

I’ll use the other car.

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

#469

Post by altairprime »

Symbiote wrote: post #436
altairprime wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Do you have frequent enough power outages that waiting an extra minute for tea is a concern? I’ve had ten power outages in the past six months, one mile from an international airport. I’ve lived through hundreds hours of power outages due to PG&E’s fucking incompetence in the past ten years. You’ll have to judge for yourself whether that justifies my comment - but, if you were a startup considering a 240V outlet on…

I've never been in an American datacentre, and power provision looks more complicated than in Europe, but I guess there is 240V power available. That should mean there are UPSs already available, although possibly they don't come in small sizes.

As I vaguely understand it, and I’m not an expert at all here - American 220V is two 110V phases tapped off the feed and glued together at 180 degree offsets; European 240V is one phase tapped directly off the mains feed. So it’s definitely constructed differently! Their battery could tap into the electric range 220V/50A circuit and then redistributing that somehow - or it could tap into the 110V 15A circuit and synthesize 220V/xxA itself. I’m not sure what makes the most sense, or how the NEMA outlet legalities work out! But it’s definitely a lot of interesting research.

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

#470

Post by bradknowles »

rsync wrote: post #456
bradknowles wrote: post #450

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a UPS. It doesn't do any back feeding. Compare it against APC SmartUPS and CyberPower.

The OP described it as plugging into mains outlet and then, in the event of an outage, feeding power back into that mains circuit to power every outlet on the circuit. Did I misunderstand?

The description was very poor. They could only feed power back into the one circuit that hardware is on, and the would also be a violation of multiple safety standards, as well as the National Electrical Code. That’s a good way to get someone hurt or killed, and to have your ass thrown in jail for sporting such a stupid device.

This is why you have lockout devices on breaker boxes, if you’re going to have an emergency generator that plugs into the same box.

Or you have automatic transfer switches that handle cutting off your feed back to the power company, before turning on any battery or power generation equipment at your site.

Take a step back and look at how it’s constructed, and what the inputs and outputs actually are. It is clear that it’s just a pretty UPS with a weird proprietary wireless communications system, and should be compared against the likes of APC and CyberPower.

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