How I'm combatting rising fuel prices with solar.

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Just want to do a shout out for the 18650 battery store. Had a problem with one of the cells I bought back on May 27th called and talked to them Tuesday they asked for a screen shot of the BMS reading which I sent in the following day and they shipped out a replacement today. No hassle at all, granted they had the screen shot showing exactly what the cells were doing.

https://www.18650batterystore.com/collections/lifepo4-prismatic-cells
You can NOT ask for better customer service than that!
 
I made a pulling strap out of the cut off end of a ratchet strap by burning holes near the ends and the cells came out without to much trouble. I've got the old cells and the new cell all on the table hooked in parallel to balance them all together. I'll probably leave them like that for 24 hours.

I was surprised how much dust was inside the battery box. It has to be coming in through the fan openings when they aren't running. The fans very seldom run, I'm not even sure they are actually needed except on those 95+ degree days.

Just wanted to add another thing their tech guy told me. He said with the way I have my solar and battery setup on my golf cart and the fact that in over 100 days the battery only has 25 cycles on it I can reasonably expect more than a 20 year life out of the battery.
 
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I made a pulling strap out of the cut off end of a ratchet strap by burning holes near the ends and the cells came out without to much trouble. I've got the old cells and the new cell all on the table hooked in parallel to balance them all together. I'll probably leave them like that for 24 hours.

I was surprised how much dust was inside the battery box. It has to be coming in through the fan openings when they aren't running. The fans very seldom run, I'm not even sure they are actually needed except on those 95+ degree days.

Just wanted to add another thing their tech guy told me. He said with the way I have my solar and battery setup on my golf cart and the fact that in over 100 days the battery only has 25 cycles on it I can reasonably expect more than a 20 year life out of the battery.
Is there a filter on the fan?

Ben
 
Our place will be completely off grid and solar/wind powered. Just finished clearing the last 2 trees where the panels are going. Our rack of panels will be made from wood from the trees we harvested and will double as a lean to for wood storage. I'll post pics once we get it going!
 
Our place will be completely off grid and solar/wind powered. Just finished clearing the last 2 trees where the panels are going. Our rack of panels will be made from wood from the trees we harvested and will double as a lean to for wood storage. I'll post pics once we get it going!
We've been completely off grid for 15 years now.
 
We've been completely off grid for 15 years now.
Excellent. We are in our first week. So far so good. Haha!
Any tips for newbies starting out especially things you would've wished you had when building a home/barn?
 
Excellent. We are in our first week. So far so good. Haha!
Any tips for newbies starting out especially things you would've wished you had when building a home/barn?
Jeez that would be encyclopedia thick!

Topping the list would have to be a LARGE shop to work in and a basement or three is a must have!

Another big BIG one for me would be to have all my power system and batteries underground. Every single piece of any power making / storing equipment will last longer if kept at more consistent temperatures! Ideally at 70 degrees.
 
The solar powered golf cart is looking to pay for itself in fuel savings alone in under two years! I didn't really realize how much fuel I was burning just getting around the place until I quit having to buy it all the time. This past week not having the GC I've burned about 5 gallons of gas riding the lawnmower to do my chores. Yeah I could walk but then I wouldn't have the energy to do the work once I got there!
 
We have been trying to go solar since last year. It's honestly been so frustrating and even though things seem to be installed, still not working. Guy is supposed to be coming out. I really hope we can get it up and running soon. Our world is just messed up.
 
Jeez that would be encyclopedia thick!

Topping the list would have to be a LARGE shop to work in and a basement or three is a must have!

Another big BIG one for me would be to have all my power system and batteries underground. Every single piece of any power making / storing equipment will last longer if kept at more consistent temperatures! Ideally at 70 degrees.

That's also a good temp for curing fiberglass, lol... sheer coincidence? I think not, lol. 🤔
 
Jeez that would be encyclopedia thick!

Topping the list would have to be a LARGE shop to work in and a basement or three is a must have!

Another big BIG one for me would be to have all my power system and batteries underground. Every single piece of any power making / storing equipment will last longer if kept at more consistent temperatures! Ideally at 70 degrees.
We are building a large barn and a root cellar, the ground around us is pretty rocky though. We have a well insulated pump house that also stores the batteries and other equipment- so I’m hoping that will work ok. I believe my husband did a bunch of research about batteries and purchased the ones that still perform well under below freezing conditions. 🥶
I’m sure it’s an encyclopedia, you could probably sell this info with the amount of people looking to go solar now!
Hoping that works!
 
We are building a large barn and a root cellar, the ground around us is pretty rocky though. We have a well insulated pump house that also stores the batteries and other equipment- so I’m hoping that will work ok. I believe my husband did a bunch of research about batteries and purchased the ones that still perform well under below freezing conditions. 🥶
I’m sure it’s an encyclopedia, you could probably sell this info with the amount of people looking to go solar now!
Hoping that works!
No type of battery I know of actually does well in below freezing temps. Many will work at reduced capacity. You should really try and keep them above 50 if at all possible.
 
Well that turned in to an all day affair. Getting the battery apart didn't go so bad using a short piece of ratchet strap to pull the cells out with. Getting them back in was another challenge, which I had to do three times. The first time I put them back in I reversed the order. The second time I suddenly had voltage leaking in to the battery box. So back out and back in again still I couldn't figure out why so I called the tech guy at 18650 and sent him pictures, he was as stumped as I was. Finally I decided to take the positive bus bar out where it passes through an insulator and the case. The problem went away. Put it back problem is back. WTH? It wasn't touching anywhere but I was getting a full 52.8 volts from the battery box. Now I'm really scratching my head asking WTH? So was their tech guy. I decided to trim out the insulator and wrap the bus bar in electrical tape, thirteen wraps later and it finally quit leaking. Only thing I can figure is steel box roughly 1 foot cube with 5kw @52 volts inside was acting like a transformer and somehow passing power. Still do not understand how or why but it's not happening anymore so...... Hopefully I can get it back in the cart tomorrow.


I also made some thin filters out of old cotton cloth and taped them in place. These are just to keep dust from falling through the fans when they aren't running.
 
Got down to -6c last night / this morning so I ran out to check and see if the heaters I put under the LifePO4 battery in the golf cart were performing as they should. I am very happy to report the thermostat and heater are both working as they should. The battery is at 3.2c even though the temperature is -5.5c right now.
 
Got the solar panels up! Just the beginning but these three will charge the batteries and allow us to run the well pump and take care of our small RV until we can get the rest built in the spring.
4A3733E1-A9CB-482D-BF91-13FB6FEF471D.jpeg
 
Hey @Biggkidd How is your electric cart doing? I was enjoying your posts on your modifications and then .... I miss hearing what you are doing on it.

I have decided to create small emergency power stations for critical components in the house using LiFePO4 batteries, but they lack the creativity and gusto that you were describing as you built your cart and converted it to custom made batteries.
 
Hey @Biggkidd How is your electric cart doing? I was enjoying your posts on your modifications and then .... I miss hearing what you are doing on it.

I have decided to create small emergency power stations for critical components in the house using LiFePO4 batteries, but they lack the creativity and gusto that you were describing as you built your cart and converted it to custom made batteries.
It was doing well until I broke the Aluminum frame and haven't been able to fix it since. Granted it is a 1988 cart and it was never designed with the higher power of a higher voltage LIfePO4 battery bank. I think the tail dragging wheelies did it in! Every time a novice drove it they started off by pulling a 3-4 ft wheely just not expecting the insane torque it has. Thankfully they generally only did so once!
 
It was doing well until I broke the Aluminum frame and haven't been able to fix it since. Granted it is a 1988 cart and it was never designed with the higher power of a higher voltage LIfePO4 battery bank. I think the tail dragging wheelies did it in! Every time a novice drove it they started off by pulling a 3-4 ft wheely just not expecting the insane torque it has. Thankfully they generally only did so once!
I am sorry to hear that, could you repair the frame using steel L iron or aluminum box tube? I hate to think of you without your solar wheels!
 
I am sorry to hear that, could you repair the frame using steel L iron or aluminum box tube? I hate to think of you without your solar wheels!
I may be able to make a steel and bolt clamp of sorts but it's got weird angles to work with. Kind of an S shape and an I beam that cross and need to be rigid. The I beam is the frame rail and the S piece is what the outside center of the body rides on top of and the front of the rear leaf springs bolt to the bottom of.
 
Here's our solar setup. It will power the house, shop and fur shed. Currently the backup generator runs an average of 4 hours a day year round. I'm going to add another 5 - 415 watt panels and a 1500 watt wind generator to the system. With the price of diesel, and going up, the new panels and wind turbine will pay for themselves in about 2 years. The grey building houses the 12 kw Perkins generator, battery bank, 55 gallon day tank and all electronics. There's a 300 gallon off-road diesel tank just outside the building.
View attachment 89285
@Mountain trapper did you guys ever get a wind generator? We are looking at purchasing one here shortly and I was curious to see if you had, and what you thought about it.
 
@Mountain trapper did you guys ever get a wind generator? We are looking at purchasing one here shortly and I was curious to see if you had, and what you thought about it.
No. We decided against one for now. I'll need to do more research on them. For now the new solar panels that I installed are working great. The backup generator hasn't need to start since I made the final connection.
20230927_103300.jpg
 
No. We decided against one for now. I'll need to do more research on them. For now the new solar panels that I installed are working great. The backup generator hasn't need to start since I made the final connection.
View attachment 117589
About how much did those panels set you back?
 
With the pole mount, pipe, wiring, conduit, backhoe and trencher rental, probably around $6000. By my estimates they will pay for themselves in 3.5 years just in diesel savings.
Nice, we upgraded batteries already and are doing much better, however they did run out with the storm the last 2 days. Fully charged today though. Was thinking of a turbine to at least get some juice on days like this.
 
Nice, we upgraded batteries already and are doing much better, however they did run out with the storm the last 2 days. Fully charged today though. Was thinking of a turbine to at least get some juice on days like this.
A year ago August I replaced my battery bank with 12- 2 volt Rolls batteries @ 1169 amp hours each. I think I paid around $5,000.
 
A year ago August I replaced my battery bank with 12- 2 volt Rolls batteries @ 1169 amp hours each. I think I paid around $5,000.
We have some extra solar panels I'd like to set up eventually, but we would need to build a whole new frame for them.
 

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