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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

#171

Post by nikodunk »

selykg wrote: post #163
nikodunk wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great points! This is meant as whole room backup - so it’ll keep your fridge (and a few other small devices like wifi, etc) running for 2-3 days - a pretty long outage. It’s basically a huge, 21st century UPS. It can also do arbitrage and charge when it’s cheap and deploy the power when it’s expensive. The main problem with a powerwall is it doesn’t work for renters, and costs 20,000+ (and permits, etc) if you do own…

I can’t afford something like this but I would absolutely get something similar to this if I could. My sump pumps are literally one of my biggest home ownership worries.

We can start a Sump Pump with the 7,800W startup power (2,400W running).

I’d recommend DIY if you don’t want/need/can’t afford an integrated solution. I built my own with parts off Amazon but it doesn’t take a bit of knowledge and research. Fun project though.

This is definitely aimed at the other 99% that’s not gonna wire this up themselves though, of course :)

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

#172

Post by VectorLock »

coleashman wrote: post #88
linsomniac wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1: And of course some sort of isolation of the house from the grid when it's back-feeding.

Yep, and to clarify Pila includes an MID onboard so while Intentionally Islanded there is no backfeed. But in terms of a whole-home disconnect, I believe we'll see more generic options appear that are somewhat DER-agnostic.

>Pila includes an MID onboard

How does that work? Is just not putting energy out the input "plug" count as a MID?

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

#173

Post by Aurornis »

nikodunk wrote: post #147
turtlebits wrote: post #117

I don't understand this. It's a tiny backup battery with an expensive enclosure, with only 100W of solar input? How are you expected to run solar wiring with this in your living room? The places that can afford this rarely have power outages, so having an dedicated appliance sitting in your living room or kitchen for those 1-2 times a year doesn't make sense. The capacity is barely enough to run your fridge for a day…

Great question. It’s 1.8kwh and 2.4kw out (7.8kw surge) can run a fridge for 2-3 days, and is meant as room for room backup. For sure you can build something yourself for cheaper - I have - but most Americans don’t. Only 0.03% of the US has home battery storage like Powerwall or a bank of LiFePo batteries, and the 99% uses diesel generators or waits it out. That’s the part of the market we’re trying to simplify thing…

> Great question. It’s 1.8kwh and 2.4kw out (7.8kw surge) can run a fridge for 3-4 days,

Your marketing page says 32 hours for a fridge (1.3 days, first icon in the table)

Your other comment said 2-3 days for a fridge.

This comment says 3-4 days for a fridge.

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

#174

Post by pseudosavant »

I’d love for something like this to be great, but the economics just don’t make any sense. This is a 1.6kwh battery for $999. You’ll never save what it cost to buy the unit before the battery is worn out. It’d be hard to save more than $1-$2 per day.

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

#175

Post by Aurornis »

redeux wrote: post #137
Aurornis wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The solution is far cheaper than something like the Tesla powerwall That's like saying a $120K luxury pickup truck is a good deal because it's far cheaper than buying an entire semi-truck. This is a UPS. Comparing it to the Powerwall is a marketing trick to distract people from the high price.

Powerwall is a UPS as well. It’s just larger and more expensive.

Right, just like a semi truck is a truck as well. It's just larger and more expensive.

But comparing the two doesn't make sense.

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

#176

Post by Animats »

gwbas1c wrote: post #73

So it's just a smarter UPS, (that can integrate with solar panels) but you only compare it to a standby generator. Seems like you need to compare it to a UPS too, because that's what it really, really is.

Right. There are dozens of those things on Amazon, usually called a "power station". 1.1KWh costs about US$700. 2KWh costs about US$1000. This thing is 1.2KWh for $1000.

"Reserve now ... Orders are expected start shipping by the end of 2025."

Can't get funding? Or just testing demand without a real product? Nobody does Kickstarters for a me-too product.

It has an "app" user interface, requiring both a cellular connection and the service remaining in business. Plus it wants WiFi so it can receive "software updates". What could possibly go wrong?

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

#177

Post by coleashman »

VectorLock wrote: post #155
coleashman wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This audience is definitely more up on tech - I've been surprised how often folks I talk to have never heard of UPS's! We know we're not the first people to think of automatic plug in backup :) Aspirationally, we aim to do to the UPS what the Powerwall did to the lead acid battery bank -- Bring it into the 21st century, level up to better technology, add software intelligence so it's not sitting idle 99% of the time,…

>add software intelligence so it's not sitting idle 99% Its a battery backup, how would it not be sitting idle 99% of the time?

Good clarification! Smarter backup batteries like Pila or Powerwall can be configured to dynamically charge and discharge, giving the benefit of outage protection and energy management. For example, charge up from the solar power you produce at home, and use that stored solar power to offset energy usage at night or when utility power is expensive. They they have a "backup reserve" setting which allows you to set a minimum charge to always be stored for an unexpected outage. Smart features like "Storm Mode" can use severe weather alerts to automatically charge up to 100% ahead of an outage to ensure you're prepared for possible outages

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

#178

Post by yjftsjthsd-h »

nikodunk wrote: post #149
j-bos wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It also means battery in Spanish.

And Italian. It’s actually named after Alessandro Volta’s (the guy who named the Volt) name for the "Pila di Volta" - his stack of soaked rags that stored electricity, or what we'd nowadays call a battery stack. Pila is a Pile that stores electricity or a Battery - Pila :)

Huh. I always sorta associated the word with a voltaic pile ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltaic_pile ), which... https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pila gives an etymology of coming from Latin's "pīla" = "pillar", which feels close? Or maybe it's just a coincidence.

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

#179

Post by lancewiggs »

crazygringo wrote: post #144

It looks beautiful. But I honestly don't understand what the market is. OP answered in one of the comments that it will run a single fridge for 32 hours. I understand the benefits of a UPS that will run your desktop computer during a brief power outage of a couple of hours. And I understand a generator that will keep your house running for 10 days after a natural disaster. And I understand a Powerwall that can suck u…

The market exists - I have a product from another company - Bluetti - (1).

The Pila is a beautiful device, but that beauty comes at a price - it's a lot more expensive than, say, Bluetti's range of portable power stations and others too. They are also expandable, connect to solar panels and so on, and apparently the German market has embraced batteries like this with solar panels to give your home a degree of independence very easily.

(1) https://www.bluettipower.com/collections/power-stations

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

#180

Post by nikodunk »

abetusk wrote: post #51

1.6 KWh capacity with 2.4 KW output [0]. I couldn't find a price on the website (the $99 is just for a reservation) but from this thread it looks like it's priced at $1k [1]. For context, in the USA, 30 KWh is a rough estimate for average daily home usage [2]. [0] https://pilaenergy.com/tech-specs#faq [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43333996 [2] https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/use-of-energy/electricit...

The point IMO is not to backup your whole home though. That already exists with Generac (20-50K if you need to dig a new gas line) or Powerwall (10-20K depending on electrician and needs). All need permits.

This is meant as a more precise, room-by-room backup solution!

Maybe I’m wrong though, just wanted to position.

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