High capacity battery for solar power system

[Gemini1706]

is there such big batteries (a few kilo-watts-hours, enough to power a small apartment)?
Companies? links? related systems..? prices..?

who manufactures such batteries (low cost prefered)?

Appreciate the help

Cheers...

 

[House_Cat]

The major cost is not in the battery, but in the solar panels. You need to generate enough current to fully charge the battery during daylight hours, but the battery only has to be big enough to satisfy your demand during dark hours. The large solar panels are very costly.

The least expensive type of battery with the largest capacity is the common lead-acid automobile battery. You can use series/parallel combinations as necessary to get the power storage you need. Even modern nuclear powered submarines still use enhanced lead-acid batteries as the most efficient and cost effective energy storage.

 

[flatulent]

gelled electrolyte

You should use deep discharge batteries that have gelled electrolyte because they are designed for deep discharge use with long life. They are a form of lead acid types.

 

[sick_man]

my advice is a few 150 amprh truck batteries

or ones form larger 24 v system lorries

these are very large sink current
if you plan to us it to power an appartment
you need twice the energy you use
as a margin to be safe
and 1/2 as much again
as reserve

you could also use some wind power to supliment the batteries charg
as an output of 240v from say.... a few washing machine motors
wired as alternators

or indeed a few alternators from trucks

powered by a wind turnbine.....

there are loads of designs {non comercial types} so that arent massive

or get the family pedeling

or all three

a better idea is to power from liberatied gasses from water hydroxification

this will provide about 40 lts per hr

enough to power a micro genorator system that inturn supplies the gas liberator

for this as you will understand you need to be causious with basicaly rocket fuel

and only liberate as needed

hot water works best so.. does passing a small amount of the exhaust to it
as the remade water on combustion will yield more hydrogen

a plastic reaction chamber can be built
to form a balanced system
that just heats water for a closed indirect drive turbine
or indeed uses the gasses them selfs to drive the turbines

from this youll get KW 100 of them easy..... esp if you gear down then gear up
as it will give a few hundred ft lb of torque

 

[Gemini1706]

thanks everybody..

BUT..WTF? I just checked some solar panel prices: ~$5/Watts? Oh my GOD...

why those things are soooo expensive, are not those just silicon? oh my

So, as House_Cat said: it is the solar panels that is the problem...

Add to that you need an inverter (DC->AC converter) which is not 100% efficient (and costy) then you will end up with such a huge big expensive system that may last for about 25years, but will barely make the justification against MUCH simpler oil-based generator machines.. what a crap...

ALSO, to eliminate the inverter, I thought of using DC motors (since I mainly need it for motors), BUT DC motors ARE MUCH MORE expensive than AC motors (is this true, or I just did not make enough research?)...

Oh my: solar system my arse

Any thoughts, experiences, suggestions in this topic are heartfully appreciated

Thanks

 

[phonedrop]

I have done some investigation into solar and the return on investment for a retrofit at current rates ( $0.044 / kwhr ) is 19 - 20 years and on new construction the roi is 11 - 12 years. We need goverment programs!

Phonedrop

 

[Mr.Cool]

agreed. solar systems only become cost effective when government incentives are involved. california has HUGE incentive program (they pay 50% of costs!). other states are the same.

Canada ontario just announced that local government will be investigating the use of home power generation and they realize that people need incentives to get program going. great news!

good inverters are expensive. $500 to $1000. you can build one for less than $200. the single most expensive item if you build it yourself is the hall effect current sensor. using hall effect keeps your inverter efficiency high (approx. 92%).

but for the home use, does efficiency *really* matter?? the power is free, so even at 50% efficiency you still benifit.

it is true, DC motors are MUCH more expensive than AC motors. AC motors are much more difficult to control than DC motors.

Mr.Cool

 

[johnyaya]

There is a whole market / industry for alternate power. Solar and wind power usually. The systems are usually setup for 12 or 24Vdc. You can then purchase 12V or 24V appliances so that no invertor is involved. Deep-cycle batteries are a must, like the RV or marine type. These systems are intended for remote locations where there is no other option (remote cabins out in the sticks). You can also supliment your power with a generator. You then must tote in the fuel to run it though.

There are large capacity liquid lead-acid type batteries available. Some as big as your refrigerator. I do not have any of the company names handy, but I can locate it in a few days. When you get a battery that big there is a problem of transportation. They are not light! Transporting that much acid is also a problem. They are also VERY expensive. The last time I looked (>5 years ago) a battery about 1/2 the size of a 25" TV cost about $2000. The easiest and lowest cost is the RV/marine battery where you can transport by hand and get the price break from large quantity manufacturing/sales. This may not be ideal if you need 200 of them though.

 

[ash]

In Turkey a company called Mutlu manufactures high capacity batteries. I worked for telecommunication company about a month, and the company were using 2Volts 5000Amperes Mutlu batteries. As alternative you can use ship batteries, they're very large.