Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences => Technology => Topic started by: FULKRAM on 30/06/2011 15:08:51
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OK, My electricity tarrif is about 66% cheaper between the hours of 00:00 and 07:00.
So why not get myself a truck load of car batteries, charge them up during the cheap period and then use that stored power during the hours when my electricity is much more expensive.
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Since you will need 20 high quality, reliable heavy duty batteries, at a cost of around £4000 - £5000 and the chargers to re-charge them over night at a cost of around £500 - £1000, methinks your off to a non-starter (pun intentional) there.
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Also you don't get all the energy back ...
Used correctly, under proper conditions, a modern battery charger will routinely provide overall efficiencies on the order of 85% with a battery of 18-24 cells; 80% with 12 cells and 75% with a 6-cell battery.
http://evbatterymonitoring.com/WebHelp/Section_3.htm
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Get one of these flywheels (https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/mragheb/www/NPRE%20498ES%20Energy%20Storage%20Systems/Kinetic%20Energy%20Flywheel%20Energy%20Storage.pdf) installed in your basement.
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A better solution might be to stay awake at night and sleep during the day [:D]
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Your battery backup system sounds expensive and complex. Also keep in mind that the batteries have a finite lifespan, so you might end up replacing 100% of your batteries every few years.
Can you set up delays on some of your appliances. In particular, shut off the hot water heater after evening showers, then restart it in the morning. Run the dishwasher at night. Perhaps the washing machine and dryer too.
If you had an electric vehicle, or a plug-in-hybrid, then you could recharge starting at midnight.
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best thing I could do to cut my bill is heat my water after 00:00
Put a timer on it to cut out just before 07:00
I have 1X fridge uses very little
1 x washing machine (only used after 00:00 (yes I put a timer on it)
No drier
I open the windows and look like a chinese laundry
Dishwasher? Thats me. (but I use hot water)
main issue I have is
1) heating in my house are storage heaters
Why am I asking this?
Storage heaters are goood for 1 reason
they are hot if you charge them the night before
but they are not weather specific. Nothing worse than
making your house hot when the weather changes
and
2) If you have gone away, they need a night before they even get near warm.
If I could be at home everyday 365 days a year, this might be an option. But I hate the useless loss of energy.
Your thoughts?
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It doesn't sound like there is much else you can do that's legal. Other than changing to some alternative source of energy, the only things I can think of would be to make sure your home, your water tank and your hot water pipes are extremely well insulated, and to have some serious additional external insulation that you can put over the storage heaters when you don't want them to emit heat.
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So, please give me an example of the batteries you were talking about.
Thanks :)
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You are missing my point. For what you would pay for batteries and chargers, you would be better off installing solar or wind power generators. You might then be able to sell some of your excess power to the grid.
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So, please give me an example of the batteries you were talking about.
Thanks :)
If you need batteries for a similar charging system. Browse the Renewable Energy Boards. I found some great used UPS batteries for the cost of scrap lead... They are 4.2V batteries and weigh about 300 lbs EACH.
Used Forklift Batteries are also commonly used.
The problem is that if your system is run 100% off of grid power, there will be significant intrinsic losses. That might be acceptable for running an EV application, but not for just displacing energy usage at home.
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dont batteries die due to age & or sulfation?
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dont batteries die due to age & or sulfation?
yes, badly.
There is a problem with wasted electricity because you don't get back the energy you put in, but that energy comes out as heat. In Winter that might not be a bad thing. They would act a bit like storage heaters anyway.
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somehow? configure the system so that it acts like a solar panel & feeds the grid while sucking off the grid?
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There is one program offered by Tucson Electrical Power. They also realized that most of the usage was up in the day and down at night. With their program, you were given two different rates, the day rate(from 7 A.M.-10 P.m.), and the night rate (from 10 p.m.- 7 A.M.). A special meter on the house recorded all of the usage and you were charged accordingly. I used it for years, and with a family of 7, saved a bundle. Hopefully, your electrical company has realized the same. For example, laundry was done at night...
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suppose & maybe when everybody understands plays the grid?
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suppose & maybe when everybody understands plays the grid?
That's what the generation and transmission companies are trying to achieve. They would like to minimize load fluctuations as much as possible.
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build in a cheap 110AConditioner into the storage heater so that if the SH aint hot enough, the AC cools it off & blows heat into the room. In hot weather the AC is rotated so that it blows heat into the SH which ideally would be a water tank that would pipe into the DHW heater
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build in a cheap 110AConditioner into the storage heater so that if the SH aint hot enough, the AC cools it off & blows heat into the room. In hot weather the AC is rotated so that it blows heat into the SH which ideally would be a water tank that would pipe into the DHW heater
You can buy water heaters that work that way.
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build in a cheap 110AConditioner into the storage heater so that if the SH aint hot enough, the AC cools it off & blows heat into the room. In hot weather the AC is rotated so that it blows heat into the SH which ideally would be a water tank that would pipe into the DHW heater
You can buy water heaters that work that way.
ya but he already has the storage heater. i'm thinking cheap
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simply buy a UPS, its a thing that is used in asia in loadshedding areas, it can power up ur things for like 4-8 hours, its made up of inverter and 2 truck batteries :)