The UPS power out from th einverter is going to be connected to an automatic transfer switch that will be fed with both grid and backup power inputs, and will provide output on a dedicated circuit in my house giving priority to the grid, switching to UPS when no grid and power is available from the batteries …
Well shucks, a few days ago my house was either struck by lightning, or affected by a very close lightning strike. I never noticed, but I lost output from a panel! They will be coming out next week to swap the microinverter, and panel if needed. I also noticed that the Enphase map is out of whack, they will need to fix that! There isn’t three panels here
Along with the panel I lost a Z-Wave light switch and my Weatherflow Tempest Weather station
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I’ve never seen those before, interesting
How much power do you typically use over a 24hr period? I’m guessing its a fraction of us wasteful Americans with all our AC’s
Yeah, prices of batteries is through the roof. I refuse to pay as much as a car for batteries. I feel like I could buy an EV and it would have the same amount of battery, but then comes with a free car!
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We typically use ac for cooling only in July to mid August, this year being the exception and having started to use it before mid June. We also use the ac for warming rooms until mid October, and then we start using a gas furnace with radiators.
Also, we use each day 10kwh to charge my wife’s phev Renault capture,worth about 40miles of gas free mileage
When ac is on, and we have a normal day of car charge, work from home, homelab setup (10kwh), 4 people worth of dishwasher, washing machine and whatnot, we use 40-50 kWh per day:
When not using AC, the daily consumption goes down to 30kwh per day:
Swapped the battery in my generator today. From what I can tell, the installer didn’t even install one of the correct spec. The generator states 525CCA Group 26, but this hunk of junk is only 400CCA! I’m going to get on them about it and try get them to refund me something. My neighbors smaller generator has the same battery and he only got a year and a half out of it.
Replaced with a much larger Interstate AGM from Costco
Original
Grabbed this from Costco and topped it off
Getting the new one in was fun, it was much larger. Had to unbolt a side panel to get some more room
I cut off the battery terminals the installers butched with impacts and used some new ones which are much easier to work with. Crimped on some nice Panduit connectors with my hydraulic crimpers and used some nice glue lined heatshrink
Closer look at the junk battery
Saved the $15 core charge by getting Costco to pay me for one of my junk old UPS batteries I have a whole box of 
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Nice to see good terminations on battery wires. I couldn’t tell you how many electrical issues I have encountered from poor battery wire terminations.
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Here is how I found the positive terminal a few months after install. impact driver go brrrr
And this is how they fixed it…
I was not happy. Bought myself a crimper and wrote off their service guys.
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Looks like my consumption before I switched to mini splits. On a hot day where we spent most of the time in the living room and had the main AC on I’d be seeing 100-110kwh a day
Switched to splits and keep the setpoint 2 degrees lower, and now I’m seeing 60-70kwh a day. Big difference!
Now to get some real attic insulation and see how much of a difference that makes
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Yeah, that is frustrating when the “professionals” do a worse job than you. When I work on someone else’s stuff my bare minimum standard is that I can do it better than they could.
Seems to happen with like 90% of the “professionals” I hire. After I write the check I stand back and start thinking I could have done it for half the price
Do you know why the power consumption on the mini splits is so much lower?
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I try to only run the central AC when the sun’s power can cover the energy usage due to no storage batteries. Roughly 50kWh per day is computer usage though so no offsetting that.
Have you ever heard of roof sprinklers for cooling? It sounds kind of silly but some of the people I’ve talked to about it swear it works.
For one they are just much, much, much more efficient overall. 33 SEER rating vs 16 SEER of my main AC
Then add the fact that they are not themselves located in a hot attic, there is no ducts running through a hot attic, and there ARE NO DUCTS!
Then the fact they can ramp down the compressor. Compressors and pumps etc are much more efficient at lower speeds, so sitting at a lower speed all day saves a ton of power than running flat out at 100% for a shorter time
Another thing is that my house, and everyone’s house is not perfectly sealed, and the AC being outside the conditioned space can cause negative pressure, sucking warm air into the living space or into the AC, meaning it has more to cool
Because the mini splits air handlers are located in the very room they are cooling this can’t happen.
I can also have them set higher with the same level of comfort. My AC thermostat set to 76 would let the house heat to 78 and then come on, cool down to like 75 and then turn off. When its off, there is no nice cool breeze, so I always set it lower. The splits just maintain a setpoint by varying the compressor output, so they stay on 24/7 and keep the air the same temp
Also, I can cool just one area. I can set my office to 72 and keep the rest of the house 80 if I want. With the main AC, its all 72 if I want it 72 in the office, and that would use a ton of power
I don’t understand why they are not more popular.
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Sounds like it’s just a case of house manufacturers knowing how to do it the old way and not wanting to install the new thing.
I mean, that’s why we still use non-reversible heat pumps in traditional ducted AC systems and provide all heat with a gas heater.
JFC, my condenser is listed at 14 SEER…
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Paired with HVAC companies that refuse to learn anything new. God forbid someone learns a new skill
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Looking around, it seems like $10-15k is what I’d be expecting to install a mini split in my house. Also seems like the nature of my two story house is going to make it difficult. (and considering I can’t just run the refrigerant lines on the outside)
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If you can, DIY it. It was easier than I expected
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I have not, but I believe it. The solar panels actually made a big difference in the heat of the roof
The orange is where there is not a solar panel
Looks like the panels don’t get as hot as an asphalt roof too
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Probably because there’s space between them and the roof which allows for air cooling below as well as on top. While the asphalt roofs have wood and then trapped attic air.
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