My DIY ESS is based the Wattson Energy Monitor:
First because Wattson is a great energy monitor: it displays clearly your Usage, Solar/Wind Generation, and Net Usage (= Usage - Generation) in Watts in big red numbers for everyone to see.
It is very easy to set up, using 2 Sensor Clips on one Mains cable and another on one Generation cable (inverter AC cable), these two sensors plug into a transmitter that broadcasts these two values to any Wattson unit in the house.
On top of this friendly display and easy set up, Wattson also provides a Colour Coding information: behind the device a light glows Blue when you are using little power, Purple when using average, Red when using a lot more than average and Green when Generation is Higher than Usage.
This Colour coding information is sent to the Arduino Leonardo board as a input, and using the program I developed, it opens and closes relays to trigger the switching ON or OFF of Chargers, when there is a Surplus of Power available, or Grid Tie Inverters when there is a need of Power (when the sky is grey, when the house loads are greater than Generation, and in the evening hours when there is no more Generation at all).
LiFePO4 DIY ESS Diagram:
AC LOADS & AC GENERATION => WATTSON => ARDUINO BOARD => AC RELAYS => CHARGERS or GRID TIE INVERTERS => ENERGY STORED in LIFEPO4 BATTERIES or TAKEN OUT OF LIFEPO4 BATTERIES
Battery Management System or BMS
The CALB CA180FI LiFePO4 Batteries used in my DIY ESS are the best on the market today, and very affordable too. You will find them used in most EV and Boat conversions to Electric Drive.
My knowledge of Charge & Discharge Method of this type of battery allows me to manage them in a very simple and effective way (the proof is that there are all still perfectly in balance after 6 months now)
The DIY ESS is fairly simple and it just works !
First because Wattson is a great energy monitor: it displays clearly your Usage, Solar/Wind Generation, and Net Usage (= Usage - Generation) in Watts in big red numbers for everyone to see.
It is very easy to set up, using 2 Sensor Clips on one Mains cable and another on one Generation cable (inverter AC cable), these two sensors plug into a transmitter that broadcasts these two values to any Wattson unit in the house.
On top of this friendly display and easy set up, Wattson also provides a Colour Coding information: behind the device a light glows Blue when you are using little power, Purple when using average, Red when using a lot more than average and Green when Generation is Higher than Usage.
This Colour coding information is sent to the Arduino Leonardo board as a input, and using the program I developed, it opens and closes relays to trigger the switching ON or OFF of Chargers, when there is a Surplus of Power available, or Grid Tie Inverters when there is a need of Power (when the sky is grey, when the house loads are greater than Generation, and in the evening hours when there is no more Generation at all).
LiFePO4 DIY ESS Diagram:
AC LOADS & AC GENERATION => WATTSON => ARDUINO BOARD => AC RELAYS => CHARGERS or GRID TIE INVERTERS => ENERGY STORED in LIFEPO4 BATTERIES or TAKEN OUT OF LIFEPO4 BATTERIES
Battery Management System or BMS
The CALB CA180FI LiFePO4 Batteries used in my DIY ESS are the best on the market today, and very affordable too. You will find them used in most EV and Boat conversions to Electric Drive.
My knowledge of Charge & Discharge Method of this type of battery allows me to manage them in a very simple and effective way (the proof is that there are all still perfectly in balance after 6 months now)
The DIY ESS is fairly simple and it just works !
Hi, I live in Brazil. I use a SMA Sunny Island 2224 (24V), as I have no public grid. I want to get rid of the lead batteries which are of poor quality here. I am wondering if I can use or adapt this ESS to my needs? Can I use a grid tie inverter or should I just use a offgrid inverter and simulate a own grid/generator on the AC2 input? I just do not know what the Arduino would do as there is no public grid to put energy back.
ReplyDeletehi
ReplyDeleteWhat is the ECS for? driving GTI, and steering power to grid?
regards