Generac Battery Cost???

[Schattentarn]

I am looking at two houses. One, I am going to give to one of my daughters. That house has solar power but I think it is the stone-age type because it has 12 batteries under the house. If we get this place, I want to replace those batteries with a modern battery, preferably a Generac. So, I go to their site and they want me to give them what amounts to be an application, no prices.

So my question is, can anyone give me a ballpark idea of what they cost? I know these can be scaled up or down but isn't there a basic price per gradation ?

 

[EastenerWesterner]

I have an off grid friend, the old type batteries ran him about 10k. Had a whole shed of them.

Briefly looked at a Power wall, had a similar price tag and probably would need 2. Think you will be looking close with the PWRcell.

Chip shortages are putting the newer technology on back order right now

 

[Mountain trapper]

I am looking at two houses. One, I am going to give to one of my daughters. That house has solar power but I think it is the stone-age type because it has 12 batteries under the house. If we get this place, I want to replace those batteries with a modern battery, preferably a Generac. So, I go to their site and they want me to give them what amounts to be an application, no prices.

So my question is, can anyone give me a ballpark idea of what they cost? I know these can be scaled up or down but isn't there a basic price per gradation ?

My battery bank cost around $3200 for 8 flooded lead acid batteries. It provides almost all the power I need for my house, shop and fur shed. My generator comes on at 2-4 am to make up what the batteries can't provide.
Next year I'm going to replace my 8 battery bank for a 10 battery bank. I'll probably go with the same 430 AH flooded lead acid. The only other battery that I might consider would be lithium. Most other batteries aren't the best for a true off grid system.
Check out unboundsolar.com. They have everything related for solar plus prices, comparisons and pro and cons for each item. They also give price per kwH for each battery.

 

[Brent S]

The first thing you should consider is what kind of load do you need to power what you have and then size the battery to that. As far as types of batteries brand dosent matter, but you basically have two choices. Lead acid or lithium. Both have some minor different options in each category but mostly your limited to these two for now. Lithium is by far superior for solar but it’s also double or more for the same capacity. The pro side is it lasts more than double the life of lead acid so it will pay for itself eventually. Its just more painful up front. the Tesla power wall is top of the line, both in quality and price…. I ended up stringing together ten 100AH acid glass Matt batteries together (form of lead acid) for 170.00 each. Unfortunately that is only enough to run half of what I am installing. I may go with 12 batteries on my next portion too. I’m still considering lithium on the second part of my split system but will likely go with lead acid again due to costs. So simple answer, 1700 so far for my 2500w solar panels, and that’s only half of my 5k setup. You also need to factor in the cost of cables, connectors, etc. which can be a few hundred more. In reality, Solar isn’t nearly as economical as just buying electricity.

 

[Helen Back]

See what kind of incentives the local energy provider is offering, on top of federal. With all of the green money Xiden is throwing around, and gov Nuisance, it could likely pay for itself soon. That is, if it is grid tied. If you go that route, have someone set up a transfer switch to a battery bank in case the grid goes down. They will tell you they can't because you will backfeed the grid and hurt someone, but that is not true, if the transfer switch is done right. Best of both worlds.

 

[Brent S]

I don’t think solar will ever pay for itself on your home. Electricity is just much cheaper to buy. However, the security of knowing your independent, and cleaner for the environment are good things. My primary desire was to have power security in the event the grid goes down, which means off grid, which also means more upfront costs.

 

[Mountain trapper]

I don’t think solar will ever pay for itself on your home. Electricity is just much cheaper to buy. However, the security of knowing your independent, and cleaner for the environment are good things. My primary desire was to have power security in the event the grid goes down, which means off grid, which also means more upfront costs.

If you're grid tied you have more battery options. We're 100% off grid so there was only a couple choices for batteries. I like the independence of making our own power and not being connected to the power lines, but it wasn't cheap. Since power wasn't available here there wasn't any other choice.
If power was available where I live I probably wouldn't go full solar like I did here. Especially in our current income level. Prices on solar gear have dropped a lot but its still very expensive.

 

[Schattentarn]

I saw the batteries today. There are 24 in all. They say "deep cycle" on the side so they are not car batteries. They look fairly new.

 

[Dani]

We have the generac for the whole house. The generac system was about $3200, the propane tank was around $1000 along with another $1000 to fill then an electrician to wire in was around $900

 

[EastenerWesterner]

I saw the batteries today. There are 24 in all. They say "deep cycle" on the side so they are not car batteries. They look fairly new.

About Twice as deep as car batteries, you just described my off grid friends system. His system would run the Gen so he could make coffee in the AM.

I would look at several possibilities depending on what you want overall.
Totally off grid? Some grid tied. PGE power outage survival.

Example-I moved in with a 10k system grid tied with a 7500k Gen transfer switch running 6 circuits. Survival mode type system. Dual fuel Gen added with quick connect to propane line.
I looked a batteries to run more advanced survival mode like running the deep well pump. Wasn’t going to be cost effective. Figured out a cheaper solution to deep well.
Now if I want the AC and the life of luxury, maybe I will spend the big bucks for the battery In an emergency situation. Until then, switching the bedroom ceiling fan to a Gen run line will suffice.

Its all a matter of money and what your goals and needs are.

 

[Mountain trapper]

About Twice as deep as car batteries, you just described my off grid friends system. His system would run the Gen so he could make coffee in the AM.

I would look at several possibilities depending on what you want overall.
Totally off grid? Some grid tied. PGE power outage survival.

Example-I moved in with a 10k system grid tied with a 7500k Gen transfer switch running 6 circuits. Survival mode type system. Dual fuel Gen added with quick connect to propane line.
I looked a batteries to run more advanced survival mode like running the deep well pump. Wasn’t going to be cost effective. Figured out a cheaper solution to deep well.
Now if I want the AC and the life of luxury, maybe I will spend the big bucks for the battery In an emergency situation. Until then, switching the bedroom ceiling fan to a Gen run line will suffice.

Its all a matter of money and what your goals and needs are.

I looked in to running my well pump on solar too. It would have cost more to run the well pump than it does for my entire house. My well is 650' deep and my pump is 5 hp.
My AC runs great if my backup generator is already running, but the heat pump won't start the generator. I need to add a hard start kit to the heat pump then it will make the generator start.

 

[Schattentarn]

I am bidding on two houses. One for us, on generator only, and one for my daughter which is in a state of remodeling but has a generator and solar. Both are completely off grid except for water which is spring fed and supplied to all 40 cabins by the association for $250./year.

I would want to add enough solar and battery capacity to run a computer and TV during the day but that is all I need it for.

This "subdivision" is 6200 ft., one road in--one road out in the other direction, nobody has ever heard of this place. It would have great defenses against a Goldern Hoard.

 

[Mountain trapper]

I am bidding on two houses. One for us, on generator only, and one for my daughter which is in a state of remodeling but has a generator and solar. Both are completely off grid except for water which is spring fed and supplied to all 40 cabins by the association for $250./year.

I would want to add enough solar and battery capacity to run a computer and TV during the day but that is all I need it for.

This "subdivision" is 6200 ft., one road in--one road out in the other direction, nobody has ever heard of this place. It would have great defenses against a Goldern Hoard.

You'll have 40 neighbors? Plus an association? How many acres are each house on? Even in California it would probably snow at that elevation. Who plows the road during winter?

 

[Schattentarn]

These are summer cabins for most people. Over July 4th weekend I was told six non-full time residents showed up. There seem to be less than a dozen full time residents but I don't have an exact count. The association supplies the water and a guy with a bulldozer opens up the road if snowed in. We will not be there in the winter so no problem even if they don't.

 

[Schattentarn]

My daughter came in today with a portable solar "generator". It is really a solar array and a lithium battery with plugs, etc., and able to run small devices. BUT it made me look at scaling this up.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/NATURE-S-GENERATOR-1920-Watt-Hour-Portable-Solar-Generator/1000514877
So this cabin I am buying has a propane generator and propane appliances. I imagine waking up, turning on the generator, making coffee, checking email, watching the news and then turning off the generator and going about my day's business. In the evening, the process would be repeated. But during the day the above device could be used to recheck the news, email, TV, etc. without depleting the propane. What do you think?