@anthropy @maruno @TechConnectify Do you wire them between the panels and main inverter or on the AC side? I was careless when designing my setup 4 years ago and didn't think I would need batteries anytime soon, so the SMA isn't really designed for battery storage, I would have to build around it.

@anthropy @aris Do take into account your time and what you are getting into, that it's still not finished is an indicator how much worth it can be.

But also I quite frankly find it a bit dangerous what you are preaching to just get any random stuff from China without approvals. (I guess it wasn't apparent) Consider what risk you are taking and comfortable with.

@TechConnectify @GoodNewsGreyShoes Make sure to watch the entire thing.

@maruno @aris The LiFePo4 cells they're selling here for 300 are sourced from china for <100, they're the same cells, you just gotta know which ones to get.

My system is working, batteries and all, and sure I could and want to upgrade it further, but that doesn't mean it can't be something relatively easy to deploy.

@mattesilver @TechConnectify usually the warranty is that after 25 years the panels will still produce at least 80%, these days often even more, and that's the *minimum*, if one is lucky¹ it could easily be more.

¹ or lives in an area with cooler summers, and/or has bought more expensive panels with a better warranty

@anthropy @aris You know very well I am not talking about base materials such as the LiFePo4 here, which the average consumer shouldn't even know. But what it is put in, it's certification and the certification, safety and requirements of the full installation and what you are connecting it to.

You do you, but mains and high voltage DC electricity is not a toy.

@maruno @aris I don't like your condescending tone, and honestly don't care to fight about this right now as I have better things to do.

But I presume that someone knowledgeable enough to have been working on their own setup already, is capable of handling low voltage DC lithium batteries.

@valhalla @TechConnectify

thank you, I got it from the other answers.

Somehow no one mentions longevity of batteries...

Another thing is that it's all stupid-"smart". I have a PV installation, and it all requires connection to some 3rd party SaaS. Once the company goes belly-up, as they often do, it's all an expensive paperweight.

@anthropy @maruno I think the warning and words of caution are fair. These batteries can cause fire and if after inspection (if me and my family is still alive) the experts say my no-name hacked battery setups caused it, I may find myself homeless. That's why despite the margins I may end up buying from an European seller. I need to put more thoughts into it.

@mattesilver @TechConnectify batteries were mentioned in the video, in the context of how car batteries have been exceeding the longevity expectations by a lot

as for the smart, our installation is smarter than I'd like, requires a connection and sends data to a 3rd party, but when (not if) internet is not available it's still producing energy, storing it in the batteries and using it locally; I'm not sure about reselling it to the grid, but I think that would also be working. The part that will disappear if the company dies is just the data logging and reporting, and losing that would be bad, but not as bad as losing everything else.

@aris @maruno and that's entirely fair- I'm not saying not to be cautious, but I find it a little much to say that neither of us know anything about this and that I'm "preaching" for unsafe setups, when I've explicitly said I'd have to look into what good cells are later.

Any setup can cause a fire, and I've seen some extremely scary thin wiring and connections in premade bat boxes that are "okay because we probably don't pull that much amps" (youtube is full of these). The key is research tbh.

@BoydStephenSmithJr @almino I have watched the video couple of times now and have seen no ads. And even if I did, I don’t see the point in throwing a fit about it. There are more important things to get upset about than couple of ads in an informative video.

@burnitdown You are correct, but that is not the issue. The issue is under whose party's control you would be best able to support Palestinians, protest against DHS, and in general make your voice heard and organise resistance. And even though it's possible to organise resistance in a fascist dictatorship, it's much easier under a dysfunctional and comparatively mildly hostile government.

@aris @maruno Okay I've finished my long working day and I looked around a little.

I decided to be lazy and let Gemini Deep Research gather some intel on the subject, it seems to align with what I remember from my own research: https://gemini.google.com/share/3be8913c4777

One thing that I can immediately agree with from there is that https://nkon.nl is a very good european-based supplier, with cells in the exact price range I mentioned: https://www.nkon.nl/rechargeable/lifepo4/prismatisch.html

so if you DO want to try it, that's the way.

@maruno Also sorry if I came across rough earlier. I was busy and didn't have the mental capacity to get into some debate about the safety of things, and also didn't like the seeming implication that I didn't know what I was doing (I've been doing this for many years and definitely did my research and talked with experts in the field).

If you do want to have an openminded discussion about it I'm all open to it. But.. please don't just berate me with assumptions, it honestly feels condescending.

@anthropy @maruno Thanks, I really appreciate the effort!

@almino @Janne_O I don't think anyone threw "a fit", but I also think that it is acceptable not to dismiss even small compromises in the quality of experience.

Unwanted ads are a theft of time, a resource we don't know how much we have and can never get more of.

@TechConnectify I am not completely through your video but have an interesting videolink to the recycling problem.
It's completely in German but it shows a process to completely separate all layers of a solar panel to get pure materials for new panels.

Einfach genial: Lösen diese Erfinder das Solar-Schrott-Problem? - hier anschauen

Wohin mit dem ganzen Solar-Schrott? In den nächsten Jahren erreichen Millionen Photovoltaik-Module ihr Lebensende und bisher gibt es kaum eine effiziente Lösung, sie vollständig zu recyceln. Der Physiker Harald Gross aus Dresden will das ändern: Mit Blitzlampen will er PV-Module in ihre einzelnen Bestandteile zerlegen. Schnell, sauber und energiesparend. Eigentlich forscht er seit Jahren an sogenannten Gasentladungslampen. Durch Zufall entdeckte er in seinem Keller, dass seine selbstgebaute Blitzlampen-Anlage Materialien von Solarmodulen nicht nur verbinden, sondern auch mit einem einzigen Lichtblitz trennen kann. Gemeinsam mit Michael Heuschkel entwickelte er daraus eine Recyclinganlage, die in nur wenigen Minuten ein ganzes PV-Modul zerlegt, und das bei einem Stromverbrauch von gerade einmal 1 kWh. Doch kann das wirklich funktionieren? YouTuber Leo Tiedt testet die Blitzlampen-Technologie in der Praxis: Lassen sich alle PV-Module so einfach recyceln? Und hält das Verfahren, was es verspricht? Dr. Ian Marius Peters ordnet die Innovation wissenschaftlich ein. Ist die Blitzlampe tatsächlich eine Alternative zu den bisherigen mechanischen, thermischen oder chemischen Verfahren – und könnte sie das weltweit erste marktfähige Solar- Recycling-System werden?

(www.ardmediathek.de)

Or on yt

https://youtu.be/21a6o-E4ZLk?si=T6oAB2NeFNf1ezI4

us, yesterday evening “we've just spent the day looking at conference video, we're tired, but the laptop is already connected to the big(-ish) screen in front of the couch, let's watch something lightweight, like @TechConnectify preaching to the choir¹ about how cool solar panels are”

us, yesterday evening, a bit more than one hour later: “ouch”

but it was the good kind of “ouch”, because those things needed to be said, thanks for doing so

¹ at least in our case

@TechConnectify This may be your best video yet, certainly the best not on dishwashers or christmas lights.