Bandit216
Well-known member
- Thread starter
- #1
Background: I live in an extreme (cold) climate and several years ago, while on vacation, the house sustained over $20,000 in water damage when a severe winter storm caused a multi-day power outage along with frozen and burst pipes. The result of that unpleasant experience was the decision to install a grid-tied solar power system with a battery backup and a secondary input for a generator.
The current battery backed-up solar power system provides 4-8 hours of automatic, battery-only backup power to the home's critical circuits - enough for most power outages, or at least long enough to get thru the night until the manual generator can be connected and started. Given our long winter nights and two month period when the solar panels largely go to sleep, the idea of additional Lightning-provided, multi-day power backup is appealing. The unappealing part is the idea of spending even more money on an expensive, and already reasonably sufficient, alternative power system.
I've attached a diagram of the planned system upgrades using the known capabilities of the Lightning's On-Board Power (not the still unknown requirements and capabilities of the Charge Station Pro and it's car-to-home automatic power system). By simply installing a $40, 30 amp receptacle and a $100 manual switch (highlighted in the blue boxes) it will be possible to add a safe and code-approved, multi-day, power back up to any similarly configured home power system.
If it turns out additional charging speed is needed, the 80 amp Charge Station Pro can be added to the 200 Amp main panel using the unused circuit breaker slots left after moving the critical circuits to a separate, dedicated panel. As it is now in my system though, the Level 2 charger is jumpered down to 16 amps to ensure most charging power is provided primarily by solar generation. Adding the bi-directional charging capability of the Lightning to power the entire house thru the main panel is more complex and too expensive to be worthwhile for me.
Conclusions for others who love the idea of the Lightning's backup power capability but who'd like to avoid the expense of adding bi-directional power using the Charge Station Pro:
1)If you are planning to install or upgrade a grid-tied, battery backup solar power system spend a few extra dollars to insure your inverter has a secondary power input capability.
2)If you already have a "power wall" type home backup power system you probably already have most of the equipment needed to integrate a second power source using the on-board power capability. So, talk to your electrician about code-approved and less expensive ways to add the Lightning as a second, backup power source.
I realize most home power systems aren't nearly so complex, but it was in reading the many good suggestions and observations in the various Lightning power threads that I came to realize I can add the Lightning's impressive backup power capabilities for thousands of dollars less than originally thought. Hopefully this power configuration diagram can help others figure out more efficient (less expensive) ways to add the Lightning to their home infrastructure.
The current battery backed-up solar power system provides 4-8 hours of automatic, battery-only backup power to the home's critical circuits - enough for most power outages, or at least long enough to get thru the night until the manual generator can be connected and started. Given our long winter nights and two month period when the solar panels largely go to sleep, the idea of additional Lightning-provided, multi-day power backup is appealing. The unappealing part is the idea of spending even more money on an expensive, and already reasonably sufficient, alternative power system.
I've attached a diagram of the planned system upgrades using the known capabilities of the Lightning's On-Board Power (not the still unknown requirements and capabilities of the Charge Station Pro and it's car-to-home automatic power system). By simply installing a $40, 30 amp receptacle and a $100 manual switch (highlighted in the blue boxes) it will be possible to add a safe and code-approved, multi-day, power back up to any similarly configured home power system.
If it turns out additional charging speed is needed, the 80 amp Charge Station Pro can be added to the 200 Amp main panel using the unused circuit breaker slots left after moving the critical circuits to a separate, dedicated panel. As it is now in my system though, the Level 2 charger is jumpered down to 16 amps to ensure most charging power is provided primarily by solar generation. Adding the bi-directional charging capability of the Lightning to power the entire house thru the main panel is more complex and too expensive to be worthwhile for me.
Conclusions for others who love the idea of the Lightning's backup power capability but who'd like to avoid the expense of adding bi-directional power using the Charge Station Pro:
1)If you are planning to install or upgrade a grid-tied, battery backup solar power system spend a few extra dollars to insure your inverter has a secondary power input capability.
2)If you already have a "power wall" type home backup power system you probably already have most of the equipment needed to integrate a second power source using the on-board power capability. So, talk to your electrician about code-approved and less expensive ways to add the Lightning as a second, backup power source.
I realize most home power systems aren't nearly so complex, but it was in reading the many good suggestions and observations in the various Lightning power threads that I came to realize I can add the Lightning's impressive backup power capabilities for thousands of dollars less than originally thought. Hopefully this power configuration diagram can help others figure out more efficient (less expensive) ways to add the Lightning to their home infrastructure.
Sponsored
Last edited: