What is infuriating to me is that some of my power bill ends up paying lobbyists to bribe politicians into continuing the monopoly.

@bradhaughton6698

4 ай бұрын

Honestly that is no surprise that's how power company get their support and funding

@ibonk9673

3 ай бұрын

yeah man but becareful how u say that or else you sound crazy

@dougsheldon5560

3 ай бұрын

The ones here in Illinois went to jail. One was the ComEd president

@davidflorey

2 ай бұрын

That’s why they’re called “power companies”…

@ajinkyakamate421

Ай бұрын

Then start arguing for removing the regulations into the energy market. Because it is the single source of corruption and easier for companies to lobby politicians to pass regulations that favour then and destroy the competition. The only reason the power company has monopoly in any given area is because it is legally mandated by government regulations. Start arguing for 100% removal of regulations and then you migh see competition increasing and you as a customer benefiting form it. Because little bit of regulation is again the same, the regulations started as just little and we know what they are now. If you wish gov to regulate just a little bit then you are just naively hoping that the same corrpt politicians will by magic be not corrupt this time. Imagine if there were regulations on how many political parties can there be any given area? What if it was legally mandated that any area can only have 1 political party? What would you call it? And wont you argue to remove all restrictions on no of political parties and candidates as much as they want to, and argue for removing all bariers of entry right(exceptions : convicted violent criminals eg terrorists/murderers etc banned from being a candidate)? Same logic applies to power companies.

I’m Norwegian and live in the Netherlands. Both countries have separated the power grid from the power supply. You are free to change to any operator anywhere in the country, no matter where you live. That forces them to compete on price and service quality. It was done about 20 years ago. Huge improvements. The US seems pretty outdated in such things…

@braticuss

4 ай бұрын

Depends where you live. You realize the USA is many times larger than your country? In many areas there is only 1 company.

@nobodylmportant

4 ай бұрын

we used to have that, then corrupt politicians got in the way and repealed those kind of things and made competition nearly illegal (varies from state from state,) and we used to have a lot more company/corporate regulation that stopped them from getting away with murder, sometimes literally. needless to say, the current people in power are 110% to blame. the people of that party, 110% reason to blame, even the people that left communist & socialist countries to come here to get away from it. are confused if they ever left their home country in the first place, and they are extremely disgusted and disappointed - rightfully so.

@elmojito

4 ай бұрын

I am in Spain and the same is true here. They have one fixed distributor as they own the power lines but you can choose among many different end supplier billing you. Prices are very very variable by company. I have a rate for electric vehicle which is very inexpensive, below €0.04 during 6 hours every night so you can charge solar batteries and cars and much better than trying to cover with batteries all your consumption (better payback).

@tbyte007

4 ай бұрын

​@@braticuss it's the same in the whole EU and EU is bigger than US population wise.

@gebali

4 ай бұрын

​@@braticuss It is because the US government and US corporations are more corrupt. That is the only reason. It's not about size or poulation density. It's about fairness and democracy. The EU, Australia, New Zealand, and other developed countries, all have choices of multiple energy providers. • Mainland USA: Around 35 people per square kilometer. • EU (European Union): Varies across member countries, but roughly 120 people per square kilometer on average. • Australia: About 3 people per square kilometer. • New Zealand: Around 18 people per square kilometer.

I have been off grid for 7 years . My system is 72kwh's of chevy volt batteries, 21000 watts of used panels. I run 2 inverters one 12kw low frequency split phase. A 6kw low frequency inverter charges my chevy volt. My inverters have no software ! And they don't need the internet to make it work. It's been running seven years this way.

@markp1950

4 ай бұрын

It must be good to live in a free state instead of a slave state.

@rklauco

4 ай бұрын

How do you manage to survive winter? I generate the most power in summer - when I don't need heating and car requires less powermto run, etc. In winter, the production is horrible (we had a period with less than 5kWh from 12kW array - in 14 days!!!).

@randymatthews5263

3 ай бұрын

Wow, nice! How much was the batteries and how did you get them. I’m starting putting in my small system to follow your lead

@squashduos1258

3 ай бұрын

What is the life expectancy on each equipment…..$120K is quite a bit…panels needs to be replaced…etc

@terrya6486

3 ай бұрын

I use chevy volt batteries broken down into forty eight volt segments.​@@randymatthews5263

Put a soft start on the AC and it will save a bit more. Awesome set up.

What they charge you for electricity is insane!! In Western Washington state we pay about 11 cents a Kw. Moving out of California in 2018 was the best decision of my life!

@ScrapKing73

4 ай бұрын

Just a little bit North of you in British Columbia we have a government electricity monopoly, but we pay even lower rates than you. I don’t think energy monopolies themselves are the problem, it’s whether they’re public or private, and how they’re regulated.

@jamesvandamme7786

4 ай бұрын

@@ScrapKing73 It also helps to have real cheap hydroelectric power.

@lepotdefleur9906

2 ай бұрын

@@jamesvandamme7786 Yup, here we have Hydro-Quebec , my rate is 0.06509 per Kw/hour then it go up to 0.10041 if I pass a certain amount per 2 months. I still need to insulate my house more, got some major heat loss from old windows ,doors and the floor joist, this should lower my heating/cooling bill.

@MitchOfCanada

2 ай бұрын

Alberta Canada, $0.30/kwh after fees

@KPHVAC

2 ай бұрын

@@MitchOfCanada That's insane. I'm really lucky to have $50 electric bills. I also have natural gas but that's $180 max for the coldest month or two.

Have you considered how to reduce your power consumption in the first place? That is usually the best thing to do before considering how to generate more with solar. I Denmark where I live there is a great focus on building low energy houses - to minimize energy consumption for heating. But the isolation works both ways - so also against heat in the summer 😉

Just something you mentioned pertaining to your gas usage. It's now been 17 years since I've had any heat in my house no gas whatsoever. I insulated everything floors wall ceilings attics. The gas company chargers based on your usage during the summer months. Anything over that allotment during those warm months they charge 5 times the rate of what you use in winter time. As far as it goes with cooling the house I can't Express more than the use of thermal tint on the windows. You can feel almost the 20% drop difference in heat coming through the windows. It's a bit pricey but it paid for itself. Just like the insulation a little more pricey initially. I have 10 tons of air conditioning in my home and I only turned the system on to test during final inspection17 years ago.These little things reduce my bill to the point where at the moment my simple solar generator is keeping the utility companies at bay. When you don't have to pull permits and get anybody involved with what you do to stay off grid, I I'm smiling all the way to the bank.

When there is no competition, be the competition! Good for you! Take back the power, fight the power!

Off grid over 20 years with no house payments and no utility bills. Internet $80 a month for unlimited and I run a business online. Solar and wind power with batteries. Propane heat, OD water heater and stove. Wood stove backup. You can do it!

@user-uv2yl6cm4c

2 ай бұрын

You should look into the sand battery. That'll definitely help with heating the air in the house and heating the water as well.

@user-uv2yl6cm4c

2 ай бұрын

That way the only use of propane will be for cooking.

@kawaiisenshi2401

18 күн бұрын

What does OD mean

@solarcabin

17 күн бұрын

@@kawaiisenshi2401 On Demand. It does not have a tank and heats water only as needed.

$0.42/kWt hour? Crazy! I pay $0.09/kWt hour and I live in the desert where we run our AC 24/7 for at least 5 months out of the year. I'll have to confirm it with my wife, but I'm pretty sure my electric bill is NEVER more than $200/month.

@junkerzn7312

4 ай бұрын

Most of the cost of electricity is infrastructure, so the actual $price/kWh tends to depend on usage. States with very high consumption tend to have lower $/kWh rates. But the bills wind up being comparable for average homes. California isn't even in the top-10. It's middling for actual electricity bills and a bit higher for electricity + NG bills (around #10-#12). In fact, the average electricity bill in Arizona is higher than the average bill in California even though Arizona electricity costs only $0.15/kWh. New Mexico, on the other-hand, has the 2nd lowest electricity bill in the U.S. Low prices and low bills. It varies. That said, heavy electricity users in California do get dinged. If you are a heavy user you really need Solar to keep the bills reasonable. I also live in California and am a fairly heavy user. I save around $3000/year by having roughly 7kW worth of solar on my home. My monthly electricity bill (not including natural gas) varies between $25/month in summer to $150/month or so in winter. And that includes charging an EV. I'm working towards reducing it even further. -Matt

@brawnbenson552

4 ай бұрын

He didn’t mention his family and business use so much electricity that they most likely are in the highest usage tier.

@terrifictomm

4 ай бұрын

@@junkerzn7312 I live in northern Arizona and pay $0.09/kWh.

@StevenChristenson

2 ай бұрын

@@brawnbenson552 I don't know about SDGE, but Pacific Gas And Electric will NOT let you use a tiered plan in Northern Califonia, you MUST go with a Time of Use Plan. The reason is simple... if you don't have a battery the peak electricity costs can kill you because they occur as production wanes and ends. In fact due to a snafu, I was on the 2-tier plan for almost 3 months. It's pretty amazing how much more reasonable costs are when you can stay in the first tier all day and month! To add insult to injury, however the default Time of Use plan charges MORE per "off-peak" kWh than the tier-1 plan! Only when you move to say EV-2 plan do you actually get a decent spread in rates between peak and off-peak AND a reduction in the off-peak rate over the other plans.

This time last year, we were in the process of having battery backup installed along with expanding our solar before NEM 3.0 went into effect here in California. Our choice was NeoVolta based in Poway, CA. The NeoVolta system is 14kWh expandable to 24kWh (we did that) with an integrated Solar Inverter as well as a secondary input for pre-existing solar or a fuel generator. They also use LFP batteries which was a selling point because we feared NMC battery problems which were getting a lot of attention at that time. We have PG&E, but live in an area where a local Irrigation District has been fighting to offer service for over 20 years but can't get PG&E to sell the infrastructure. Mind you, we are being hit for most of 2024 with a PG&E price increase because they haven't done even basic maintenance in our area in 25 years. PG&E, SDG&E, SoCal Edison are all for-profit corporations that have played fast an loose with maintenance for decades and when they get caught red handed (the San Bruno pipeline explosion, all of the forest fires. Destroying the entire town of Paradise.) Killed people and then somehow weasel their way out of it by filling false bankruptcy-- since when does bankruptcy discharge court ordered settlements? If I could cut the PG&E connections to my property, I'd do it in a second but until I can, I'm going to self-generate as much as I can.

Tips for stretching the battery life over night - turn off things you don't need. Running servers? Are you sure you need all of them 24/7? Running lights? Are all of them off when nobody is in the room? For things like this, there is perfect cooperation between presence sensors (radar based) and in-wall light switches. If nobody is in the room for 5 minutes, just turn the light off. Same thing about opened windows - few sensors will tell home automation that the window is opened for too long and you should close it to avoid heat creep. Car charging - leave the car plugged and charge only when your battery is already full and only use the excess energy that would normally go back to grid. Garage doors - long-opened garage doors will again allow heat creep into the house - be it hot or cold air, that you will then need to spend energy to compensate. Simple notification on the phone for garage doors opened for more than 3 minutes (usual time to put kids and bags into the car and leave garage) will remind you to close it, avoiding heat differences. But no matter what, in the end, you will still need utility company if you want to keep your standard of living. Just use it as little as possible.

@acmefixer1

4 ай бұрын

Ricky forgot about the energy stored in the EV. It holds more than all three of the Franklin batteries. It's called V2H - vehicle to home. If he had a Bidirectional charger, the EV could supply enough energy to run his house all year. Putting a few more panels on the roof would charge both batteries and EV, taking the load off the batteries. Also converting the appliances to heat pumps will reduce the load on the batteries. The problem with network equipment is it makes enough heat to require 24/7 air conditioning, so turning off all but a minimum will do little to reduce the air conditioning. Plus the equipment that makes the most heat has to stay on 24/7. What saves money is insulating the dwelling. When a company gets a law made that costs the consumer money, that's known as rent seeking to the economics field. It's a legal form of corruption that should be outlawed.

@StevenChristenson

2 ай бұрын

@@acmefixer1 The problem is that almost no V2H or V2L currently on the market can supply a house. One reason is peak and sustained capacity. An F150 Lightning CAN supply a house with a max of 80A. However almost all other EVs can only supply a paltry 3.3 kW or so (13 amps). That's not enough to run the average AC unit - though it could run the average home.

@acmefixer1

2 ай бұрын

@@StevenChristenson By your logic, if the EV can't keep the air conditioning running, then the battery ESS can't either since it has much less capacity than the EV. But on hot days the Sun shines brightly so if the house has rooftop solar, it can run the air conditioning and have some left over to charge the EV and/or batteries. This is why they say it's best to insulate a home since it will reduce the amount of energy needed for heating and air conditioning.

@tealkerberus748

2 ай бұрын

You can go off grid without sacrificing your standard of living. You just get very good at finding more efficient ways of doing things. Running the washing machine on sunny days when you've got lots of power coming in is better anyway, because that's good weather for hanging the washing out to dry. A more efficient and possibly smaller fridge doesn't warm up your house as much, and if it's smaller, that reminds you to use your bought food while it's fresh and not let it sit there going stale until you throw it away. A well insulated house uses very little heating and cooling, and is pleasanter to live in than a poorly insulated house even with the HVAC running. Lights are a red herring in energy efficiency. I have all 12vDC LED lights in my house, on a separate battery set and everything isolated from the 240vAC system, and I leave my outdoor lights on 24/7. There's just no reason to switch them off.

@acmefixer1

2 ай бұрын

@@tealkerberus748 There is a reason to switch off the LED lights: the more hours they're on, the dimmer they get. Finally they're putting out too little light and must be replaced. Same with the wearing out of the electric system.

I also switched to T mobile's 5G home internet last year from Spectrum's monopolized cable internet at my apartment in Texas. It's absolutely amazing.

@paperburn

4 ай бұрын

I have spectrum and they said 100 MB is all you can get. Metro fiber started coming on line in my neighborhood and now I constantly get 200 MB all the time. 🤔

@StevenChristenson

2 ай бұрын

@@paperburn The average user is overpaying for anything over about 50MB. I have 100Mb fiber and it's pretty stable compared to the at least monthly 1 to 10 hour outages I had with Xfinity/Comcast in Silicon Valley, no less!

Great comment on moving off natural gas to solar/battery. We replaced the HVAC (heat pump), R8 duct, added additional return to guarantee 1600 cfm in and out (4 ton). When Jan 2023 cold season hit our natural gas bill went from $30 to $99. Our neighbors went from $30 to $300-$600. Our water heater is in our insulated garage and suffered from the cold. My daughter and I spent a couple hours with a R8 insulation wrap. Following cold months dropped to high thirty’s. My conclusion is HVAC Heatpump is extremely efficient and has 99 speeds of operation maximizing efficiency. It does not take a huge hit on the battery to start as ramp up, maintain and ramp down keeps the home comfortable for winter or summer. Last comment, I would not switch the water heater from natural gas as there is literally no maintenance for 15-20 years (optional yearly discharge or anode replacement if you want 20-30 year life). Heat pumps require monthly/quarterly air filter cleaning, they are noisy, produce vibrations, require exhaust duct (my opinion for cold air) and the cost at the end of day are pretty close in Southern California.

@danielmcwhirter

2 ай бұрын

My GE heat pump/resistance heat hybrid water heater ($1,400 price in 2010, then less a $400 utility rebate) is still running fine in 2024 after fourteen years. No maintenance required except rinsing off the air filter. It never shows it using the resistance heater. 50 gallon capacity, 63 gallons at selected temperature (130F) for the first hour. I did put a water softener in front of it to avoid our hard water lime buildup.

My dog hates it when the stranger utility person goes on the yard and checks the meter! Bravo to you leading the charge to fight the monopolies!

@whattheschmidt

3 ай бұрын

I didn't realize they still had that anywhere lol. My meters all go through cell service for usage.

Couldn’t agree with you more about fighting against monopolies, wish I could hit the like button on this video more than once. 👍👍👍

Your channel is one of my favorites! Keep it up buddy!

My backup generator is going to be my Cybertruck. I’m also going to adjust my batteries to feed our home/grid during peak cost hours. No system is perfect, but I’m grateful to have solar, batteries and EVs. Thanks for your great videos :-)

@StevenChristenson

2 ай бұрын

Cool. Specs say the Cybertruck can supply 11.5 kW to the house I assume that's continuous. That's some real power. Most home batteries can supply about 3-7 kW continuous. But most EVs on the market are capped at about 3.3 kW (if they offer Vehicle to Home at all!)

Seriously impressive setup.

Awesome video Ricky! Lifepo is my favorite chemistry too! I like things that just ALWAYS work, forever.....or as close to it as I can get 😄

@stefanweilhartner4415

3 ай бұрын

sodium ion is on it's way. 20%cheaper than LFP

Perfect timing on this episode. We’re specifying a solar system right now. We have a SPAN, would love a detailed followup video on the SPAN/FRANKLIN integration. SPAN’s documentation naturally doesn’t play favorites when it comes to integration. I’d value your take. Thanks.

Great setup, mate

Thank you for explaining your reasons for choosing Franklin.

Great Report, one additional point to LFPs , the code allows to have them in closer proximity, thus increasing the density of the setup, Franklin can scale, a lot.

I have experienced multiple 10 day outages and many shorter duration outages, some lasting hours, some lasting days. We've always lived just on the edge of urban areas but far enough out to be among the last restored during am outage. Our most recent 10 day outage was last year. We have had whole home backup generators for years and plan to go solar in the near future. Franklin is at the top of our list for battery backup because of their ability to use the backup generator to recharge the batteries.

Great video Ricky!

Glad you are going with a battery solar system. We have a SunPower system and are also happy.

Are you considering replacing your A/C with a heat pump? This will save you big money in the summer as it runs off DC power and will also give you heat in the winter. Since it does not get very cold in San Diego this is a better option than your gas furnace.

My parents lived in North County with SDG&E as their energy provider for over 40 years and the cursing never slowed. As a high school kid I can remember so many cars with bumper stickers that said: "Welcome to North County. Owned and Operated by SDG&E."

i've been completly offgrid for 2 years now, with 9 Kw PV array and 15 Kwh Lifepo4 battery pack. we have plenty of wood for heating during winter. As for hot water we use Propane Gas tankless water heater that costs around 25$ a winter, and a Solar water heater for the rest of the year. Going Solar for electricity is the best decision ever since the cost of 1Kwh is 0.35$

I am so glad someone recognized the power of an individual over legacy monopolies. I have 8.5kW system, Tesla Model 3 (no gasoline), heat pump HVAC and hot water (no natural gas), and most disruptive of all... I am plant based vegan (No meat, dairy, or processed food monopolies).

Wow! You really should look at using less electricity rather than getting a larger battery and solar system. I live in an off grid house, and our battery bank is 9KW, and works fine for us. We are very conscious of the power everything consumes, and our power consumption is below average. Also... All our heating is not electric. We have solar hot water, with one of those glass tube systems (works amazing) and for heating we got a wood stove. Heating on the winter consumes too much power, so if you offload that to other systems, you will have enough electricity with the current system. So if you have a heat pump I would say, just use it as an air conditioner in summer when energy is plentiful, but for heating get a pellet stove and a solar heater for the water, as it is way more efficient than making electricity, and then heating the water. And then, just reduce the amount of stuff plugged in 24/7, get timer switches or something at least, and only buy high efficiency household appliances, and try to use them efficiently also.

@ssoffshore5111

4 ай бұрын

Agreed, 1000 kWh+/month seems crazy to me. I don't own an EV though.

First love the channel, you as the thought provoking host and this episode. I can’t help to ask questions for myself as if I were in your situation . 1) solar/battery for off grid living ain’t there yet… right? 2) the pinnacle would be off-grid energy charges my EV. And maybe we, I mean me, are seeking solutions to self-sufficiency at the wrong end. Maybe it’s reducing consumption. Like the Eco Resort we stayed at in Belize… it ran on 4kW per day. I have found some success with multiple heating/cooling sources here in the Pacific Northwest. And my take home point is lessening energy consumption where I can, i.e. 110watt oven and likely a future 110watt water heater and a safari hunt for energy hogs. Hello SPAN. I ask: should we look for the balance of energy independence from many sources rather from one magic bullet…While we await affordable technology? PS I love and am envious of your system. Thanx for the straight up review. Cheers!

Super cool battery system. Exactly what I’m looking for… once I get a house

work with a food group that installed a dual battery franklin system, really looks pro.. no solar , powers a dozen big 2 door freezers... and a walk in... no grid downs yet.. SoCal for my small house. 1 server rack battery and victron 3KW. inverter off grid in town all summer 50 % so far this winter.. with 13 panels. from salvage job.. thanks

excellent presentation there Ricky, looks to be the USA version of what we have in the UK, the givenergy AIO (all in one) theres is 13.5kw lithium iron 100% DOD & with the gateway gives up to 7kw surge in the event of grid down, BUT in a grid down scenario during the day the solar is added to the 5-7kw supply possibility and can be retrofitted to current solar systems, i myself am saving for a AIO/Gateway, as i live alone will be able to export back to the grid when @ work for circa 15-30p per kwh and still have enough juice for when i @ home, next step is adding more solar on the south and then on the east :)

Great Video, Live in Panama and this is a huge monopoly. Energy cost just went up in January. and we are a country we cannot say No more grid we need to pay them until we die. I am connecting currently my Solar system but as always the permits takes sometime around 3 months. but trying to cut my bill off completely, that means paying 2.50 a month since that is something i will have to pay even if i do not use the grid during the month. Probably next year will start the battery project.

My wife and I just bought a piece of property in upstate NY (50 acres) and we're hoping to build our house on it completely off-grid. We're not sure yet just how big of an array we'll need, but we expect to put in around 30-35kwh of batteries along with 20kw-30kw of solar panels. We're planning on making sure that the system is easy to expand just in case it's not enough to begin with, but we'll get there eventually. Thank you for the information you provide, it really helps us to at least know what questions to ask and were to look for solutions.

@AmandaComeauCreates

3 ай бұрын

Be sure to focus on conservation of energy first and then size the system. Insulation, air seating and low energy devices should be foremost in your mind :)

I'm curious if you will be going to geothermal or more heat pump based. How much do the PV panels reduce the rafiative heating of your home in summer?

Excellent presentation. I'll add that you wouldn't need to charge your vehicle during extended outages, or low solar production periods (use public charging instead for that two weeks per year scenario). And soon you'll be able to use your EV to feed your home batteries, if not already. This would eliminate the need for additional solar panels and batteries.

"Net Zero" means that over the course of a whole year, you generate as much power as you use. That's kind of the bare minimum threshold for self-sufficiency. When you're going off grid, it's not enough to generate as much excess power in summer as you need to heat your house in winter, because electricity doesn't store well over that sort of time span. You need to measure your 'Net Zero' over each day. Generating excess power during the day in order to have that power to use overnight is a good time span for most batteries. If you can do that, you're free of the electricity company.

I find the lights on the outside annoying. Just adds to the light pollution and it doesn't actually serve a purpose. Who is going to go outside and check the power meter via the lights when they have a smartphone with an app in their pocket at all times?

@xiaoka

4 ай бұрын

I imagine your neighbors don’t really want to know how much your battery has left in it too. I hope you can turn that off in the settings.

@braticuss

4 ай бұрын

You can dim them or turn them off.

@user-to2rf1rj5v

4 ай бұрын

@@braticuss AT least there's that. But, the best part is no part. This is just a useless thing that should never have been engineered in. Just like the charge status light bar on the front of the Rivian.

@braticuss

4 ай бұрын

@@user-to2rf1rj5v I disagree, I like the lights. Better to have options.

If you use both 5G and cable internet, you aren't fighting your cable monopoly even a little. You're still paying them and that's what they care about.

@snookmeister55

4 ай бұрын

I like Starlink. It has been an option but it has also been my only choice at times.

@dertythegrower

4 ай бұрын

​​@@snookmeister55 still does not work in rain and snow... i would not be reading your reply if i had it in the woods three miles away heh

@dertythegrower

4 ай бұрын

only way to beat it is using a small business wisp... which most people dont know about in many areas. There used to be a mapsearch ability but it got bought out and taken down (ubiquiti wisp tools)

@JackPinesBlacksmithing

4 ай бұрын

Not true. I live in Seattle and had no issues with weather-related outages. I don’t know the tech to know why they don’t suffer from the same issues as satellite TV but am guessing the low-earth orbit is part of it.

@JackPinesBlacksmithing

4 ай бұрын

That said, I ditched Starlink, not because it doesn’t work, but because it was oversubscribed, thus not always the greatest performance, and AT&T came out with their $50/mo home 5G internet, half the price of Starlink and better performance.

You need a video on the SPAN panel. IIRC, it does intelligent "load shedding" of circuits in the house as the battery gets depleted. Correct?

The Generac PWR Cell offering that I have is very similar it seems. We don't have peak/off peak pricing though, so we just use it to sell back to the grid and use as automatic backup when the grid goes down.

Good content!

Here in Puerto Rico most people are getting solar. is required to stay connected to the grid to get the project approved. is insane but is the reality. The best thing is the peace of mind.

My daughter that lives in Encinitas had the same issue! I think the gas costs the utility about 10% of the price to customers but it is all buried in the overhead costs of the utility. I live in northern California where PG&E does the same thing.

I wouldn't say we're in a gold age of batteries yet. I think we have the potential to be in a golden age within the next 10-15 years, but we certainly seem to be on the cusp of that transition point.

@whattheschmidt

3 ай бұрын

What a company that installs Tesla batteries wanted for 2 Powerwalls was insane. I laughed on the phone, I thought it was a joke quote. If I remember correctly, for just 1 it was $24K and 2 was $35K or something dumb. They are obviously trying to rip me off, I know the units themselves are about $8400. Add the gateway + install....I installed 8kW of solar + a 200 amp panel upgrade and move 100amp panel to subpanel in garage for under $20K (before tax credit). Huge battery packs in cars are under $20K for about 80kWh. I just want between 20 and 30kwh of hours batteries for a reasonable price. Anyway, I'll go through with it within 3-4 years. That will help bring an ROI with it, right now I don't have financial incentive and I have 2 Ecoflow Delta Pros that can backup my house when needed manually (minus the high ticket electric demand things of course).

The most important thing, is running refrigerators and freezers. A person can get large enough portable batteries for emergencies, that can be charged from the grid, later they can invest in solar etc.

Another great video, keep them coming! One questions - if you can get less expensive grid power at night, can you use grid power to top up the batteries?

@StevenChristenson

2 ай бұрын

@senseidadproductions: There is a round trip loss of 11% (up to 14% that I measured this winter). The net of that is unless the "off peak" rate is 15% less than the peak rate, it's not fiscally practical to use grid power off peak and discharge at peak. Where the off-peak charging makes sense is in anticipation of a storm or planned power outages, or when you have a dismal day that doesn't manage enough production to charge the battery and you want to make it through the peak period.

You just described grid tie like every would go for that option. Try mini split rather than central heating to reduce energy usage

I live in Southern California -- Winter Rates are $0.26 - $0.53 per kWH and Summer Rates are $0.27 - $0.60 per kWh on our Time-of-Use plan with SoCal Edison (our electric utility provider/monopoly) ... I went with solar in 2022 and it's incredible to see how quickly they're hiking the kWH rate. Thankfully, my solar system on NEM 2.0 covers my entire utility bill between solar generation, selling to the grid for credits, etc. --- but I'm looking to add Enphase batteries to my system in the next 5-10yrs for more independence and anticipating higher usage/utility fees/EV purchase(s)

Thank you, dear... Sometimes, it is not under their control. When they lose input1 and input2 and remaining only input 3 and 4. That's will not be enough to run their bussiness and have no other choice than to increase the cost... Good choice to have back up. Thanks.

Another way to fight monopolies is to practice permaculture and related disciplines, as well as going for localization instead of sourcing to outside areas. If you harvest rainwater to water tanks and soil you lessen grid dependency and build personal resiliency. Pumping water from afar pulls a lot of electricity, as well as requires a lot of infrastructure. Harvesting your own rainwater lessens brownouts because less electrical grid strain. Harvesting rainwater also assures people lower in the water table have less flooding as well as a more stable clean water source. Letting rainwater evaporate off is a huge waste. Worse (cost-wise) is letting rainwater run to a storm drain network. Most storm drain networks then commingle sewage and rainwater and then dump the system overload into rivers, lakes and the ocean. This is wastes higher quslity water as well. Letting stormdrains be the sold source of rainwater management adds to carbon lost to water instead of soil . Higher carbon in water adds to screwed up weather patterns, and also loses soil fertility, permeability and water retention in soil. If you install raingardens/bioswales you also reduce ground subsidence and related foundation repairs, as well as reduce irrigation costs. If you recycle your greywater you also reduce the amount of carbon lost through poorly-managed, centralized systems, and more pumping costs...

@DDGLJ

4 ай бұрын

I agree it’s valuable to go off-grid in any way you can, not just solar. We live in the country, so, an old-fashioned pump and a septic system takes care of most of that by default. Rainwater goes into the ground except for what we divert into rain barrels for the garden & greenhouse. Permaculture is a little tough here (MT) but we are working on it. There are many ways to reduce stress on the environment and avoid monopolies, depending on where one lives.

@b_uppy

4 ай бұрын

@@DDGLJ Have you seen how Brad Lancaster manages rainwater run off? He's brilliant. Greywater is an excellent resource as well, and can be easy to harvest with a simple set up. It can be nutrient-rich without the pathogen issues of blackwater. Make a set up that diverts it to landscaping or trees/orchard. Every bit helps.

Yes - in Australia power has increased greatly in the past few years to around $0.32c per kilowatt, but solar here is huge so many who can afford are investing in both solar + batteries.

Thanks for sharing, this is an awesome set-up. Did you calculate your cost of power (LCOE)? Let's say for 20 years and assuming 5% hurdle rates? Are the alternative options to use your $80K better?

Hi Ricky, I’ve been listening to you for a long time and sat in on a panel you moderated at the EV show and San Diego a while back. Thanks for all the info . I like this idea of fighting monopolies. Our local Internet provider was getting worse overtime and it was the only choice so we started using data over our phones for a while until our Starlink showed up which is great.

I bought my house in Sacramento and it needed a new HVAC system and water heater before we could move in and had both switched to electric. Got the whole house on electricity and had PG&E disconnected and the meter removed. So glad we did it. See all the gas surcharges that people are dealing with is bananas.

Why haven't you used some of the vertical wind turbines? Are they not available?

Great video Ricky (and no click-bait title). I luv it. Informative while showing a path forward no matter the cost. Not just motivation, cost.

5:27 Pretty impressive Franklin PowerWall. I have never heard of them before. BTW, do you know what the standby power draw is, meaning the inverter is on but no AC loads running?

42 cents is insane. You’re saving money if you pay to use a super charger to charge a car.

@dertythegrower

4 ай бұрын

the costs are going up, since ford and gm are now going to use tesla system (deal done last july with all three).... in michigan, four times lower cost than a normal sedan engine at todays price

In Europe the grid is separate from the generators and the grid has to allow all generators onto the grid. Which means you typically can choose between ~100 energy companies.

@TwoBitDaVinci We recently installed a similar system. I did discover a few issues, and I'm curious if you have noticed. 1. The roundtrip loss Panels -> Battery -> Back to House is stated as 11% (under "Standard Test Conditions), but this winter in Northern California I notice it is about 13.9% (look at the Charge and Discharge information for your aPower and compute the difference/percentage). That matters because payback decreases due to those losses, and some people who think that they can charge their battery at off peak and discharge it to cover their peak loads may actually be paying MORE if the rate difference is less than about 13% between the two. That is, "Time of Use mode" might cost more than "Self Consumption Mode". 2. Our system is a "partial backup", meaning we have a backed up critical circuits panel, and the rest are "non-essential." Unfortunately the FranklinWH system as installed has no knowledge of the other loads (including our AC), so what it reports for imports and exports to the grid are not what the utility company sees. It's a bit of a gut punch to think you imported only 12kWh in a month and discover it was actually 60kWh.

I'd say many around the world in general couldn't easily do this. But even being in a situation where it's not possible to do this in my situation I'd like to know what the projected maintenance cost of the system (Solar Pannels, Batteries, Control Units) is on top of the initial investment. Also does the system have any requirements for certain features (beyond updates) tied to being online? This was a great vid though, super interesting. Be so good if the utilities would still take power and store it in some manner for the community.

Interesting 👍🏿

Question; Does Franklin have a resale program like, Tesla where they grab all of their customers batteries and resell the energy back to the utility company as a block of power? I'm pretty sure this will be a big selling point for Franklin.

Please talk about thermoelectric generation. I have a fireplace and lots of free wood as a possible source of supplemental energy generation

you should move 2 hrs. east to Yuma az. In the 18 years I lived there it only went down below freezing a couple times

@TwoBitDaVinci

4 ай бұрын

Az and south Utah are definitely Interesting to me! I love the culture food and weather tho.

Could you do a video on the Ridgeblade? Is San Diego windy enough? Would it be a good addition to your self generated power grid? Look forward to future videos.

4:56 It looks like a Nintendo Wii 😂

How well do the batteries perform in freezing cold weather, as far as I am aware LFP batteries won’t charge when at 32°f - 0° c. Do they have some kind of battery heater built in. I’ve 2 Tesla batteries but would have preferred the safer LFP that I’ve in my motorhome.

You can buy a Ruixu server rack battery 30,kw for 7,758.00, it's worth a look.

Hi, when you did the grid shutoff was there any negative effect on computers (if they don’t have their own UPS)?

The crazy thing is even if you have a good well, solid home power generation exceeding your needs there are jurisdictions where a place not connected to the grid is not considered habitable and they won't let you live there, sometimes this extends to municipal water and or sewage when you have a well/sceptic.

I'm wondering if these Franklin batteries can be added to a system that already has Tesla Powerwalls, or if you have to wait until when you're replacing your existing Powerwalls.

- don’t kid yourself, power company isn’t your brother. Is more a case of keeping your enemies close. Our utility is a cooperative and in theory customer friendly but reality is it is fiercely anti rooftop solar. Not to mention they charge $30 per month for access to the grid. - I’ve heard it can be difficult to get a mortgage if not grid connected. - I expect there is a big impact to homeowners insurance availability and cost if not on grid. I’d buy batteries in a heartbeat if I could even pretend they had some kind of payback in my lifetime however at the moment they make no sense for us here in northern Colorado.

Here in the UK, a $80k investment would take more than 20 years to pay back, by which time solar panel and battery efficiency will have declined somewhat. I believe panels last maybe 20 years, many large solar farms here change them out at 10 - 15 years for more efficient later generation panels, sadly they go to landfill. It would not make financial sense here as rhe number of panels needed in the not so sunny UK would mean a much higher up front cost. I doubt anyone would be able to get a 22kw charge for an EV from home solar, unless they have literally hundreds of panels.

Wow, Franklin batteries are way cool. Question, is wind generation an option during cloudy days? I live Jamul zip code and keeping my eyes on wind generators, Matt just did a new video on the subject, but still no one with the must have solution.

Hi, connections to the grid will have the future possibility of selling power as part of a cooperative to sell as part of a peaking plant ie high export prices… coming soon to a district near you (hopefully)

2:05 For me the government is the most frustrating monopoly.

Does your system accommodate an electric vehicle which could act as your fourth battery charges like everything else and provides winter power.

You are SO lucky your solar influx is that constant! 1600 KWh in the best month, around a 1000 in the worst month! Here in the Netherlands it's between a factor 6 - 10, we can never, ever, ever go off grid unless some new form of generation is developed!

Consider a soft start for your 4 ton air conditioner . To reduce the amount of energy for surge when its compressor kicks on.

SPAN + FranklinWH are truly a power couple! SPAN Panel integrates seamlessly with FranklinWH for smarter home energy management that helps you save more and extend your battery during power outages. Thank you, Ricky for showing us how to enable ultimate home energy management system! 🔋☀⚡👏

Great video, thanks. Is it possible to integrate a wind generator into your system? With some of the newer roof mounted models it seems it would be possible? And would diversify the power generating capability. Thanks again!

@TwoBitDaVinci

3 ай бұрын

Yah it’s something I’m looking at! Not very windy where I live tho

What panels do you have? I am looking into the Franklin paired with REC panels and Enphase microinverters.

Talk to your utility to see if you can get a load shedding rate. I work in a hospital and we get the load shedding rate. We pay 3 cents per kW. Also power rates are usually cheaper after 9 pm, talk to your utility to see if you can charge your batteries when rates are cheaper.

Any thoughts of adding a wind generator to help supplement?

Hey Ricky, you do great work. Would you consider doing an objective video on Quantumscape? It's a developing solid state battery company that is getting very close to solving the lithium-ion shortcomings and going into production. They have reached all their milestones over the last couple years. The big question, will it ever come to be?

I feel you! PG&E JUST JACKED our rates to $.51 and I also have solar NEM2. There's no reason to pass on the costs the way they do. Something is extremely wrong. Literally they just ask to charge more and BAM they do. Our generation cost is low...it's all transmission cost.

That's a crazy amount of infrastructure - batteries, Span ($80K!) etc. Here in New Hampshire we have 27 panels and a single Tesla Powerwall 2 ($30K after tax credits). In the winter months we wouldn't be able to charge up a single battery. We live in the woods and have had 30 power outages last year. All were less than ten minutes except one which was three hours. The Powerwall kept us going, we didn't even notice. But we have a small gas generator and wood stove in case we had an extended outage. I consider even a SINGLE battery is a luxury, a one battery allows for 10-14 hours of running absolute essentials and allows the solar panels to work during an outage. The emphais should be on electricity generation first, storage second.

What about a wind power 🔋 episode

I have a similar service, and it is solid

Here in Chicago we got free solar installed by SunRun but they charge us 40$ for "renting it" so I'm not sure if we produce enough solar to combat our electric bill plus the rental fee. We have 12 panels

Those batteries do look very cool. They seem large for only 5kwh each, or maybe I misunderstood I have 5.6 kwh batteries that are server rack size approx. 5 inches tall by 24 inches deep by 19 inches wide. They now sell for about 1300.00 each. I do love solar

All power companies are connected to each other via grid that runs across the whole country because of that if you live in California and wanted to buy electricity from New York, you should be able to do that. It’s the lobbyist at the federal government that keeps us from getting cheaper power off the grid. I appreciate your research and knowledge of solar systems. I’m too old to be able to take advantage of it but thank you anyway.!!

I had T-Mobile internet and it worked great until more users were added to the services and at some point had been throttled so bad that I could not work from home and speeds were under 10Mps. Had to go back to cable internet not willingly but had no choice as there were no affordable options. I have solar and powerwall for years and I believe in using the battery backups during peak rates times to save on paying the higher rates. I am mostly self sufficient but use only about 1/4 of the battery during the peak times, I need the remainder in case for power outages. We need more affordable battery options for backup and to add more capacity for backup and for daily use. My hope is one day to be off grid but it appears we would need more solar panels to do this during the winter. Summer/spring/fall is not a problem, but winter is tough for power production due to short daylight hours. I believe the route you are going is cool, but yes this type of projects are so costly to be green.

Holy crap! Those three units cost $54,000! There's so many other battery options out there that you could have. God, at least three times the amount of battery storage that you have right now. And probably still put about $20,000 back in your pocket.