Tesla Powerwall - Ultimate Aquarium Battery Backup

sonnus

sonnus

Member
Tesla just announced the Powerwall, this is likely to become an ultimate aquarium battery backup. I have spent the same amount of money on much inferior lead acid UPSs that have just a fraction of the capacity and only last a few years before the batteries need replacing. This is going to give many out of town reefers peace of mind.

Technology
Wall mounted, rechargeable lithium ion battery with liquid thermal control.

10 kWh
For backup applications
7 kWh
For daily cycle applications

Warranty
Ten year warranty with an optional ten year extension.

Efficiency
92% round-trip DC efficiency

Enclosure
Rated for indoor and outdoor installation.

Weight
220 lbs / 100 kg

Dimensions
52.1" x 33.9" x 7.1"
130 cm x 86 cm x 18 cm

Certifications
UL listed
models-powerwall@2x.jpg
 
It saves you money in the long run even without solar as it will flatten your usage cost.

Basically charge the battery in the middle of the night while the energy rate is the cheapest and then use the stored energy during the day when the cost is at it's highest.

For a small home ~1200sq ft one 10KWh unit should be enough and around 2 for a 2000-2500 sq foot home.
 
How long do you think this would power our tanks?
I wonder how much the install costs?
Definitely looks cheaper than a Generac!
 
d2mini said:
How long do you think this would power our tanks?
I wonder how much the install costs?
Definitely looks cheaper than a Generac!
Click to expand...

It's all based on your avg home power usage. An avg household in the US uses between 10-20KWh a day. This is a battery system designed to power your whole house so you just get enough batteries to match your daily usage. You can daisy chain up to 9 of these units for 90KWh of capacity which is quite a lot.

I will be getting a 10KWh unit to start out on our new house and see how it does. Will eventually scale to a second unit and then add solar. With the way energy prices are in SoCal this will pay for itself very quick.
 
I'm going to take a wild guess, and assume this is far and away too expensive for me to even look at.

Edit: $3500, that's not nearly as stupid expensive as I was expecting.
 
Last edited:
sonnus said:
Not to power the tank, just for backup when the power goes out.
Click to expand...

that's what i meant... power the tank when power goes out.
How long would it last if powering just the tank is what I was wondering.

In other words, if I'm not home, that's probably all that's going to be running.
No house lights, no tv, etc.

Sure, HVAC comes into play but leaving that out of the equation for now.
 
d2mini said:
that's what i meant... power the tank when power goes out.
How long would it last if powering just the tank is what I was wondering.

In other words, if I'm not home, that's probably all that's going to be running.
No house lights, no tv, etc.

Sure, HVAC comes into play but leaving that out of the equation for now.
Click to expand...

Once again, too many variables to get an exact answer. You have to see what your avg daily usage is in your house.
 
Here's what he isn't telling you and i've been saying it all along. He wants to change energy distribution.

It isn't that far fetched that a city outfitted with these in a bunch of homes and businesses that they feed power back into a smart grid when an area is effected with a brown out or a transformer failure. This keeps steam turbines from having to be kept idle during non peak so they can meet peak demand. He showed it in the slides but didn't really divulge it outright.

Bet your bottom dollar that his cars will be able to approach supercharger speeds at home and when the car isn't in use it will complement the battery. His idea is brilliant but not original. He is the only one currently that IMO can pull it off.

10kwh = 1000 watts for 10 hours or 10,000 watts in an hour.

A dart would run on that battery pack for 100 hours.

Is it cheaper than a whole house genset? Nah, not yet but it isn't bad at all and not everyone can install a genset.

For people like me where during some of our research projects I have a kid come in and stand out back pointing a temp gun at the transformer on the pole because I draw more than the transformer is supposed to take we see it as something rather epic. We are going to install 2 commercial units as soon as they hit the market so we can use more power than the utility can supply.
 
d2mini said:
In other words, if I'm not home, that's probably all that's going to be running.
No house lights, no tv, etc.
Click to expand...

My aquarium uses an average of 200 w/hr over a 24 hour period so the Powerwall would theoretically last about 2 days if it was only powering my aquarium. That is including metal halides and heaters on my 120 gallon aquarium.
 
I'm using an APC Enterprise UPS designed for server racks. It cost $2K and is worth every buck I paid for it but it's pricey by comparison. At $3500 the Powerwall is a steal.
 
sonnus said:
My aquarium uses an average of 200 w/hr over a 24 hour period so the Powerwall would theoretically last about 2 days if it was only powering my aquarium. That is including metal halides and heaters on my 120 gallon aquarium.
Click to expand...


Cool, thanks. I have no idea what mine is using but that helps a lot especially with you using MH too.
 
It is interesting, but gets pretty expensive after you add solar panels, inverter, charge controller and all of the wiring, brackets and accessories needed to keep it powered up. Figure another 8-$10k if you want to recharge via solar, add multiple powerwall packs and the cost to solar charge goes up quickly.

We went another route, a Goal Zero 1250 solar generator/charger with 8 Boulder panels. This is all the tank needs, and with some extra for lights and device charging. With 8 panels it charges quickly and has more than enough power.

I still think it is a great idea, and the prices will come down.
 
Solar panels are optional if your main use for it is for backup power. Charge it during the times electricity is cheap and it'll be ready when power goes off.
 
I saw a news report yesterday that said they are already sold out into late 2016. Seems supply is going to be way behind demand for quite some time. I would not at all be surprised if Tesla figures that problem out real fast as well.
 
Ahh, for some reason I thought this was designed to recharge the cars quickly.

Dont know where I got that from.

It costs more for a lease than the Genset I linked to.

Running the Genset on NG means I dont have to source gasoline or diesel to power it and I can run it as long as I need....gas bill will come later....


This is not something I'll be purchasing.
 
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