Back Up Power for the house

[09CTSV]

Well today sort of sealed the deal on getting back up power for the house. We've had an ice storm and lost power for about an hour today. I've been pricing the power walls and now that GM has come out with one which will allow the Vehicle to back feed the house, it is probably something we will look at early next year. With a 34.4 KWH battery and the ability to back feed the IQ's 200 KWH battery we should be able to run off the batteries and solar during the day and if needed charge the batteries back up at night for 50% of the cost. In the winter that would be about 2.3 cents per KW. Our peak hours are 7 AM to 7 PM and they would raise our rate to 140% of the normal power. We should be able to not draw from the grid and charge up from solar during the day.
The nice part is if there is a power outage, no need for a generator. We should be able to get by for a few weeks with the power from the IQ and the power wall batteries.

[Swany00]

hope it works out for you, the problem I hear from solar folks is they were promised far more than what was really delivered.

[MY03C5Z]

A Generac whole house generator sounds a lot less expensive and simpler than what you’re doing. If it makes you happy though I guess that’s all that matters.

[donuts]

A Generac whole house generator sounds a lot less expensive and simpler than what you’re doing. If it makes you happy though I guess that’s all that matters.

This right here. One might be a fool to rely on government motors when the lights go out in Georgia.

[Vandelay Industries]

Generac prices aren't bad, but the code-required foundation and slab is a deal killer. :yesnod:

[ricks327]

Generac prices aren't bad, but the code-required foundation and slab is a deal killer. :yesnod:

:rofl::rofl: Those 400lb generators are foundation killers.

[JRD77VET]

Generac prices aren't bad, but the code-required foundation and slab is a deal killer. :yesnod:

Huh? They had the foundation slab in the back of a truck, transferred it to a hand truck and put it in place. It even has "GENERAC" embossed in it.

Unless your fancy truck is less than $14 K ( Generac plus tanks with installation ) it's not a good deal especially if your not home when the electric goes out. I can be at work or just "out and about" and if the electric goes out, it automatically comes on. I don't have to physically "tie" my transportation to my house to keep my freezers and refrigerator running.

[owc6]

Generac prices aren't bad, but the code-required foundation and slab is a deal killer. :yesnod:

You owe me a keyboard!

[owc6]

117720

[JRD77VET]

117720

:iagree: Exactly like that. 300 lbs and has the "nuts" embedded in the concrete slab to bolt down the Generac

[Bill]

I wonder what DJ's Chevrolet Bolt could power, and for how long, if he backfed the Bolt battery to his house?

[owc6]

:iagree: Exactly like that. 300 lbs and has the "nuts" embedded in the concrete slab to bolt down the Generac

That and 1500 gallons of propane.

:yesnod:

[LATB]

Well today sort of sealed the deal on getting back up power for the house. We've had an ice storm and lost power for about an hour today. I've been pricing the power walls and now that GM has come out with one which will allow the Vehicle to back feed the house, it is probably something we will look at early next year. With a 34.4 KWH battery and the ability to back feed the IQ's 200 KWH battery we should be able to run off the batteries and solar during the day and if needed charge the batteries back up at night for 50% of the cost. In the winter that would be about 2.3 cents per KW. Our peak hours are 7 AM to 7 PM and they would raise our rate to 140% of the normal power. We should be able to not draw from the grid and charge up from solar during the day.
The nice part is if there is a power outage, no need for a generator. We should be able to get by for a few weeks with the power from the IQ and the power wall batteries.
What is the cost of this setup?

[dvarapala]

I wonder what DJ's Chevrolet Bolt could power, and for how long, if he backfed the Bolt battery to his house?

Bolts don't have that cabability. :nono:

Bolts are a relatively old design. Their peak charging rate is a piddly 50kW, and DC fast charging was an option so not all Bolts have it. And none of them has the ability to serve as a backup power source.

[99 pewtercoupe]

Generac prices aren't bad, but the code-required foundation and slab is a deal killer. :yesnod:

😂😂😂
Post of the month potential right there

[LATB]

That and 1500 gallons of propane.

:yesnod:

That is awesome. I'm debating between 250 and 500. The LP is only for the generac and a gas FP in the house.

[09CTSV]

We have had solar since we bought the house. Even charging what some of you knuckleheads call an appliance, our highest electric bill has been $176. Out of that $80 was for charging and the rest was keeping the house at 68 for the dogs during a heat wave. Oh and that charging cost would have been around $200 in gas.
I still have to finalize the pricing for the set up we want. The base set up is $9200 but we want to add on an additional battery bank which will probably raise it $3-4K.
As for the "fancy" vehicle not being plugged in. With soon to be two EV's, the wife not working and both having the capability of V2H charging, the possibility of both vehicles, the battery bank and the solar not being available is rather slim.
Our solar runs "net Metering" right now. Waiting on a quote for the set up we want but it could be less than a 2 year payback on the purchase and install cost. Our electric rates are .11 cents per KWH in summer and .05 cents per KWH in winter. With the off peak rates we would cut those in half but also pay 140% of base rate during peak hours of 7 AM to 7 PM. This is where the battery and solar would keep from pulling from the grid and allow to either charge in the off peak hours or not have to charge at all.
With having the solar panels already installed, it cut the cost of the system by quite a bit. The panels are only 4 years old and the system has been basically trouble free since we moved in. During the summer we generate on the average 1.0 MWH of power from April thru September and then drop off in the winter to about half of that. For 2023 we generated 10.5 MWH of power and so far this year we have done 10.4 MWH.