If you are in DFW, don't hesitate to reach out: 972 675 7725 ( call or text) or shoot me an email: info@solartimeusa.com If you are not, you can also reach out, I do solar consultations and quotes review all the time :) Leave some thoughts below! I try to respond to all comments! :)

Hope everyone has a great 4th of July weekend 🇺🇸🙌🏼☀️

@mrsrhardy

19 күн бұрын

I checked my power bill, Im putting 16kwhr back into the grid - So 15kw should be my starter base battery and do I need to replace the sunnyboy converter with a HYBRID one that can handle grid/solar/gen mix and storage/batts or is thier an additional box I can wire in and save some money?

@HenrikSvensson-is4mq

19 күн бұрын

My mother have solarpanels, in summer she prodouce 75 kwh but only use 14 kwh and sell the rest, what size of batteri can´t we invest in a batteri that can store a week without sun?

From DFW, but i live in Spain. Same thing happens here. They try to sell you the moon, this is why I did research and installed it myself. I always enjoy your honest and direct information.

@solartimeusa

20 күн бұрын

I am so glad you did! :) Yes, with solar consumer education is so important!

I made it to the end because your info is very valuable

@solartimeusa

17 күн бұрын

I so so so so appreciate it, thank you so so much!

Good video and I've gotten so many different answers from solar installers from my area over batteries and some I feel shouldn't even be installing systems and just money grabbing and actually had one telling me I can't just get a battery for my existing system 😅 I just laugh and tell them thanks for stopping by..

@solartimeusa

20 күн бұрын

holy smokes.... I know! there are just so many uneducated salespeople who are told to sell you something that you 100% dont need, or wont properly provide as they promise. I hate how solar industry is so full of idiots. Im sorry for the language.

@johnnysager8899

20 күн бұрын

@solartimeusa your ok and should have heard my language with some of these idiots and I would love to ask you so much over solar and switching my IQ8+ micro inverters to get more from my system and I am losing out on output from 400 watt panels with a inverter that only can produce 300 watts 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

Good information! Look also at using window heat pumps (cooling/heating by room) and induction cook-tops instead of bigger batteries.

Thanks for the video. That NREL calculator link is pretty helpful!

@solartimeusa

19 күн бұрын

I am so so glad!!!! Thank you for leaving a comment!

The silverado ev gives you a 205kwh battery backup system on Wheels which I just realized the other day. The truck, lightning as well gives a good back up that the solar can charge. Really awesome way to offset that higher costs. EV trucks are really expensive and so are home storage of that size, but not we can have both in one

@ivansolares2448

16 күн бұрын

It’s crazy that you can find a used Lightning with a 98kwh for $40k.

@NoWastedCalories

12 күн бұрын

What is the peak continuous kw back feeding the home?

@seabream

8 күн бұрын

​@@NoWastedCalories Both the Lighting and Silverado have continuous load ratings of 9.6 kW for their home backup systems. Even if you don't get their vehicle-to-home systems installed, they both have on-board inverters and sockets that you can use to power things in an emergency either plugging them in directly, or if your home has a generator hookup and your power demand is low enough, you can use that to power things from an outlet in the truck too.

always good information, and very informative. thank you for making these.....😃😃

@solartimeusa

19 күн бұрын

Glad you like them! Thank you for leaving a comment! :)

@keything8487

19 күн бұрын

@@solartimeusa could your channel get into the NEC codes of installing inverter's, batteries, and solar panels? i know each state has their own rules... maybe just a generalization of them? like a 3 part series... 🤔

@solartimeusa

19 күн бұрын

@@keything8487 thank you for the idea! I do want to get into more hands on install videos too! I do them daily for our business in Dallas just need to bring the cameras with me 🙌🏼

Still here!

I have curiosity, I have a solark 8k with lithium battery X 10kwh, if I wanted to add another battery of other brand Y of 10kwh, can I combine them without close loop and have set a common limit charge voltage? Btw nice video! I do enjoy your videos. Very informative🙂

Each house need PV i always say. And saving overproduction in batteries keep my house 10 months of the year nearly net independent. Fill the roofs! Well explained sizing!! +10% for capacity degradation +10% for more loading save place to increase minimum filling state. I configured my battery to a minimum of 12% (Manufacturer means 5%) +10% for fun and cloudy days after a sunny day

@solartimeusa

19 күн бұрын

Yes yes yes! So agree and thank you so much for sharing!

Thank you Martyna for the videos. I hope to use my future EV as a home battery. Maybe some day in the future you will explore this topic. Thank you.

@solartimeusa

19 күн бұрын

@@nevadaxtube yes I definitely want to! Thank you for your support!!!

Good info. I think everyone should be encouraged to have emergency backup power. Probably everyone wishes they had it once they find themselves in a long duration power outage. Can be a separate system made up with lower priced DIY batteries that can be recharged by grid, solar, and/or a fuel generator.

good job lil sis, keep on ....

Nice explanation. I added batteries (2X powerwall) after having our grid tied 9KW system for 22 years. When I installed the initial system our Kwh rate was $0.12/kw-h, now (off peak-Summer) is $0.55/Kw-h. I'm about to add a stand alone system for EV charging (60 kw storage with 10 Kw of panels. That would charge both of our EV's on Level2 chargers by every other day charging for each.

I was going to get a 16 sensor Emporia so I can get a baseline for my overnight usage, what do you think about this approach Martyna ? For those edge cases of extended power outages I say just have a cheap Harbor Freight Generator and a disconnect switch and just run you critical loads and go with a smaller battery.

@solartimeusa

20 күн бұрын

That is a very good idea. We used Solar Sense ( amzn.to/3RVbGFd - if you have solar, you need to add extra CT clamps). Emporia is less expensive and does the same thing so its a very good idea. Alternatively, you can also ask your utility provider if they can provide you with interval usage (let's 15-minute intervals). That way you can also see how much power consumption happens at night.

Great video. You should show off a span panel. Something I didn't realize was its ability to baseline per circuit draw to predict how long you can operate only on battery. I now know I can run my fridge, internet, and other have to have items for 8 days 8 hours and 43 mins. Adding a cyber truck would be insane but for prolonged outages, its around a month capacity assuming solar is hard down (no production or straight up no sun which is not likely).

Yup, battery sizing is quite complicated and very much depends on what your goals are. I installed an 11.5 kW (AC) system in February along with 15 kWh of battery capacity. I still have 1:1 Net Metering, so the batteries are there for backup purposes, and I also have a generator. I'm up north, so the idea was to have enough battery capacity to keep a the gas heat and some other, smaller loads running overnight without having to run the generator. I'm confident my batteries will do that, but they sure won't run my central A/C overnight on a hot summer day! Another thing people should keep in mind is that battery capacity will decrease with age and cycles. Ten years from now, the 12 kWh (usable down to 20%) is likely to be only nine or ten kWh of usable capacity. I'm probably being OCD, but I've been keeping a spreadsheet, tracking my production, consumption, export, and import on a daily basis, in order to see how much battery capacity I'd need to absorb my production if/when net metering goes away. My biggest export day was back at the end of April (when no air conditioning was needed) and was just shy 50 kWh. So if I never wanted to export any power (and not let it go to waste either), I'd need 62.5 kWh of battery capacity, and better 75 to accommodate future capacity loss. Bottom line: I doubt there's such a thing as "too much battery"; if budget (and space!) allows, get more than you think you need.

My brother just got his company certified for Franklin. Are they considered high end? I'm researching getting a solar and battery system, plus i just got a Cybertruck, so want the system to work with powershare (generator input?)

@solartimeusa

19 күн бұрын

Franklin is a very good battery, it is an AC coupled system, so I think it will be a big market for existing solar system additions. For new systems, Tesla Powerwall 3 ( hybrid ) seems to be making a big statement.

Great weekend for me -- I was Santa in a 4th of July parade in MA -- not so hot as Collin County in TX. Have you dealt with tiny homes on rented lots? Our roof has room for 5KW of panels, but no interior room for storage (tiny!)

@solartimeusa

19 күн бұрын

So glad and rented lots ten to be a bit more complicated when it comes to systems. But we have dealt with small duplexes and tiny homes. The problem is usually the space just like you pointed out. Depends where in USA but a lot of batteries are rated for outdoor and we have had clients build up storage homes, like small storage houses or covers for outside batteries. Wind/ air circulation is every important too!

What about off peak battery charging. Thinking of charging batteries over night with no solar ? Would this be cost effective?

@solartimeusa

19 күн бұрын

That depends on the cost difference during the off-peak rate. Cost of storing 1 kWh is still around 20 cents in some cases even more than that, so you would need a pretty big difference for it to make sense.

@seabream

8 күн бұрын

@kevanswift7797 To an extent it depends on what you mean by cost effective. If you are getting the battery storage because you want backup power* and you're going to have it anyway, you might want to use that capacity to save money with load shifting if you have time-of-use pricing, or earn money if you're in an area with a virtual power plant program which will buy power from you that you've stored when they need more supply, or just reduce your carbon footprint if there are times when the grid's carbon intensity is higher than others (e.g.: if gas peaker plants are a higher percentage of the grid generation mix in high demand periods) rather than just having it sit idle. Now, this does put cycles on the battery and cause it to age, but it's healthy to cycle the battery periodically anyway, so you might do it some of the time and get some benefit from it rather than just having it sit idle. Using it if you already have it in these ways might have a marginal cost lower than the benefit, taking into consideration the depreciation cost of the small reduction in cycle life. *whether with grid only, with solar, or to stretch your fuel further if you have a generator. The reasoning for the generator thing is basically that at low loads a combustion generator is very inefficient. If when you're running the generator you can power your backed up loads plus charge your battery storage at the correct power to bring the demand high enough to run the generator at its peak efficiency, you can run your backup loads off of the battery storage most of the time and just run the generator when you need to recharge the battery bank, and use less fuel for the amount of energy you use. This also has the benefit of being quiet more of the time, which may help with being able to sleep at night, or reducing the chances of attracting unwanted attention.

Thank you as always for such great videos. Definitely helped breakdown the way someone could setup a battery bank to meet there needs. Though i have to say I really hope nobody is going to trust a Cybertruck to backup their home with all the issues it has lol. Much better more reliable trucks out there.

Absolutely to the end of every one of your videos. You have made me do more research before installing solar with or without batteries. Any thought to a battery only system using TOU night rates to use batteries during peak energy rates and charging at night from the grid? Energy peak forced upon us is becoming the norm in the USA Also having batteries for daytime peak times lowers the load on the utility reducing brown outs for the neighborhood

My highest consumption month was July 2022 in which we consumed 3123 kWh. The house is 2400 sq ft single story and the average outdoor temp in the Phoenix, AZ area for the month was 96.8° F. We had the two, 20 year old, 3 ton A/C units replaced in mid July 2023 with 2 Lennox, 18 SEER, variable speed units. Ouch!. May 2024 we used 40% less power over May 2023 and June 2024 we used 23% less power over June 2023. The temp in May for both years was very similar however the temp in June 2024 was 7.2° F warmer than 2023 and we still saved 23%. With all that said, we don't have solar yet. I really want to avoid putting solar panels on the house and want to build a pergola in the back yard and cover that with panels. They will face South but won't have much angle to them which I don't believe will matter much seeing how the sun is 10° South of Phoenix during the summer when we need the most energy. My wife and I have had numerous conversations regarding how much pergola area we might need and how much she's willing to give me ;-) Home and garden show in PHX next week so we'll talk to solar people and landscape and pergola people and see if we can get them all together. I 100% want batteries so I want to go with a string inverter so we're not converting DC to AC and back to DC again to charge the batteries. I want to be grid tied solely for the purpose on the rare occasions that we do get extended periods of clouds that the grid can supplying what my solar doesn't. Love your videos and information and thanks for reading my somewhat long winded post. I want to make sure I'm asking the right questions when we sit down with the professionals so any thoughts or comments from everyone, are welcome.

Martyna: I hear that Tesla will soon come out with a meter that will allow A/C-coupling with their Powerwall 3. Do you have specs on it yet? Also, is Oncor allowing their switch at the meter yet? My biggest problem is measuring my consumption. Your company installed a 7.6 kWh system for me without a battery in 2022. I have specs for monthly billing, system production, and grid credit, but I'm not sure about daily consumption. I want to add a battery, but am holding out for salt-ion or solid state (have some A/C upgrades I need to do 1st.) Can you suggest something?

Love your videos! They're very informative for anyone and everyone. I can only hope that most installers are as truthful and thorough with their guidance as you are. Question: On the daily usage chart you showed it appears that you either a) have an EV that you charged at night or b) have a battery that you're charging during free night TOU. Which one is it? The only other suggestion I'd add is that users can lower their battery needs for purely storing extra solar energy by shifting their usage around if possible. For example, if you're at home during the day and you have an EV, it might be more prudent to charge the EV during the day and do your laundry and run the dryer when the sun is up rather than in the evening. While this load offset may not be available due to other constraints, it's is certainly worth considering. Keep up the great work!

@solartimeusa

19 күн бұрын

@@greg_takacs we have 2.5 evs ! No battery yet. Our usage is so high I just cannot justify the battery yet, we have pretty good buy back. We pay 19 cents and get back 15ish. Even with 2 evs and 1 hybrid we usually average $50-$200 per month of bills with No trips to the gas stations ⛽️

@greg_takacs

19 күн бұрын

@@solartimeusa I have a battery and I do free nights and so far in almost two years I have paid nothing and have $300 credit with my utility company. I also charge an EV at night and replenish my battery as well. I get some credit for solar buyback but for me the biggest benefit of battery is the safety net and that it covers me from 5pm until 9pm when I get free electricity until the morning. I'm re-upping the same contract for 2 more years as soon as I can 😂

This video makes sense if you get sunshine every day. Some places can go for several weeks without sunshine in the winter. A larger battery and an alternate source is recommended for those winters. Yes in the summer are a few weeks without rain and few clouds, so this is the time to charge the batteries, but it is also the time to run the A/C.

@solartimeusa

17 күн бұрын

That is very true and you can use PW Watts to check out the average daily output, obviously you cannot assume there will be sunshine everyday if you live in Alaska, PV Watts is a very very helpful tool to determine that.

We are in the UK and use around 22kWh per day throughout the year, we have gas heating and no need for air con. We have 25 panels 10 east 10 west 5 south across 5 roof elevations. We have two 5kW string inverters from Sunsynk in parallel, the panels are Aiko 455W all black. We are in the north of England so much less sun but the panels do work well giving 17kWh in a day of full overcast cloud in July to 60kWh on mixed cloud and sunshine we have 5x 5.32kW batteries. That system in the UK is c£23000 installed. I think we have the batteries right as we have an EV we have a dual fuel rate 50p/day connection and 23.9 day time 7p per KWh 11:30pm to 5:30am low rate. So we can charge the batteries then for winter. In our first month 6th June to 5th July we exported 418kWh our rate for that is 15p/kWh. I think our system is well sized to our needs, would you agree. We are near Manchester, UK.

@RedemptiveChief

19 күн бұрын

Which company did your install? And roughly how long did it take?

Hello Martyna... quick question... There's apparently a big thing in the news... What is going on with "Sunpower" ?

I made it to the end. I'm trying to design a system that has solar, a small home battery, and then a dual direction EV charger so that I can use an EV as a home battery that jappens to double as a vehicle. You would think this would ve way more popular but it seems very difficult to achieve if you want it to be brand agnostic. You should do a video on how yo hest get energy out of EVs to power a house without buying in to car brand hardware lime the ford, chevy, or tesla ecosystem.

Okay. Got it. 180kWh battery is good place to start.

@solartimeusa

19 күн бұрын

lol :d

Here in higest rates and anti-solar California we can pay $16/month to get a 13c kwh rate, but then our peak rate is 70c and middle rate is 40c. Because of this sizing has become more of an arbitrage calculation between charging batteries and EV's at night and then eliminating any peak usage and minimizing middle rates with the batteries. Years ago I sized my solar for 100% but if I did it today I'd probably go with solar for about 50% of my usage, battery capacity for about 65% and not grid-tie.

In Texas it looks like the grid isn't keeping up with demand, So Dallas people get solar..... Reach out to Martyna !!!

@solartimeusa

20 күн бұрын

@@KZreadhandle. thank you and I appreciate this so much 🙌🏼

Some months have 28?

@solartimeusa

19 күн бұрын

They sure do 🙌🏼🤣 all 12 months have 28 days for sure. Some have more though.

@danielcapson9842

18 күн бұрын

@@solartimeusa do you know how much you don't make sense... ?

V2H! V2H! V2H! V2H! V2H! 😀

you can just add a charger to the battery like eg4 chargeverter if there is no generator input

Yeah, I'm 👍 number "234"

@solartimeusa

19 күн бұрын

@@notapplicable-zn9us thank you so much!!!!

Buy smallest possible along with EV with V2L

I just want battery backup.

@solartimeusa

17 күн бұрын

SAME!!!!

I'm sorry but you are bit wrong, here in UK a lot of people buying battery only without solar as with some energy tariff you can charge you battery for cheap at night.

@solartimeusa

19 күн бұрын

@@stufq hey! That’s a very good point! Just didn’t have enough time to talk this though. Lots of homes in California do similar things due to different time of use charges. So I definitely agree, with time of use and different net metering policies you may benefit from having big battery even Without solar!

I've been advised by several organizations that are in the business of selling such things. They've indicated that NYC laws don't allow installing permanent batteries currently. Regretfully recent battery fires have been from cheap smaller batteries for vehicle's (bikes, etc), but I still think that's the main driver here. What are your recommendations for portable systems, such as Anker? www.anker.com/products/a1780?variant=43804197322902&ref=naviMenu_pps

In germany we use 1.5 MWh a year and not in a month... I pay 0,45 Euro/Kwh so its 675 Euro a year. Thats calculated or estimated for 2 adults. If i would use 1.5 MWh a month, that would cost me a mind blowing 8100 +- couple of hundred Euros a year... And we dont have AC or Electric Heating... :D

@solartimeusa

17 күн бұрын

WOOOW! I cannot even image! Thank you so much for sharing the numbers. I am doing a customer quote now who uses 7,200 kWh per month! : O Mansion!

Some interesting points you made there Martyna and certainly food for thought. One thing I disagree with is your battery sizing logic, because it is broad and ignores load-shifting which you only touched on as an aside comment. I think you should have impressed load-shifting as a different use case, rather than a passive comment. Sometimes a battery can store energy from the grid at night which can be many, many times cheaper and then use that energy when the cost of energy is high in the day. Each usage case will be different and as such, sometimes a huge solar array and a small battery is all that is required. The opposite is also true, with a small array and a large battery ESPECIALLY if you have cheap night rate. Take my own array as an example. Our energy usage for 2023 was 14,000kWh (average 38kWh/day). For Ireland, the average is 4,200kWh, so we use a fair amount. I have a 5.2kW array and a 15kWh battery. I also have 2 EVs. We have cheap night time electricity (usually 11pm to 8am or midnight to 9am summer/winter). For my home, we charge the battery at night and charge the EVs at night. We set our washing machine and dish washer to come on at night too. Then, during the day, the house is run from a combination of solar and battery, with the battery being topped up with excess solar and then powering the home when the sun goes down. Currently (no pun intended) about 95% of our grid consumption is during the night. The only time we use grid during the day is when the house draws more than the inverter limit of 5kW at any one time. This happens if the electric shower is on, or the oven is on with other things at the same time. However, it still reduces our peak consumption significantly. If the house needs 7kW, only 2kW is coming from the expensive grid. Shifting our load to the cheap night rate and using it during the day is the main reason I invested in a battery. I should say that I only had solar installed 3 months ago and the battery was only installed just over a week ago, but our day/night use has gone from 40/60 pre solar, to 25/75 post solar and pre battery, to now 5/95 post battery. We are also using less grid energy because of the solar and I will adding a second 15kWh battery next month and likely a third by end of the year to make sure we have all our winter energy use covered at off peak rates during peak hours.

Very wrong....sort of...You want your battery to have at least 7 days of Power Required to run your house....why? If your Off Grid you need to account for wether it it might rain 3 day's and 4 Cloudy before your see any Sun again.

@solartimeusa

17 күн бұрын

Thats a very fair point, but that would be a seperate video. This one was more focused on self consumption of sporadic power outages. I should make one about off grid :)

@TheUweRoss

17 күн бұрын

Off-Grid, there comes a point where it makes more sense to have a generator to run for a few hours to recharge batteries with, say two days of capacity, than to spend the money on enough batteries to keep you going for a solid week.

@kawaiisenshi2401

16 күн бұрын

So it sounds like understanding what goal you are looking to achieve

@kawaiisenshi2401

16 күн бұрын

​@@solartimeusayes please do

Can u play a lil prank on your viewers pls.....u know your coffee mug u hold, try holding a mug with another name on, see if anyone especially guy viewers notice that your not holding the Martyna coffee mug 😉

@solartimeusa

19 күн бұрын

hahah I love the idea! Yes! Need to try!

Exporting power to the grid is only degrading your hardware over time. Making it work at 100% all day instead of just for supporting your house. People don't think of this when they are sold energy export. Does it really makes sense? Your hardware will fail much faster. Who's paying for that failure? Only you. Out of your own pocket. Exporting to the grid only benefits the suppliers not the consumer. It is one of the biggest scams sold. I got my system to not export anything. After my battery is charged the system only outputs power for my only needs. Basically idling. This way will last me for years and years.

@solartimeusa

17 күн бұрын

Can you share what kidn of system you have ? It would be very helpful! Interesting perspective for sure!

@TheUweRoss

17 күн бұрын

Where did you get the idea that solar panels or inverters "degrade" by being run at their full capacity?

@nrgia

16 күн бұрын

@@TheUweRoss Let's see. You have a lightbulb. It will burn out quicker if you use at full brightness or if you use it at half brightness? Don't think I can make it much simpler than this.