| ▲ | duffpkg 21 hours ago |
| I have a home in the southwest that is offgrid and runs entirely off solar. It has a 43kwh battery that covers 100% of it's needs including AC. It has a 4kw solar array. The batteries shipped to your home inclusive of all taxes and fees, UL listed, are only $5,400 today from a variety of reputable suppliers. This is obviously different than urban london but I wanted to point out just how economical this is for huge swaths of the country and how absolutely absurd some of the pricing I see on things like tesla powerwall are. Note: There are a lot of components to an installed battery system that effect pricing such as racking, wires, busbars, breakers, etc, etc. I am referring only to the enclosed battery units with BMS. |
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| ▲ | oori 20 hours ago | parent | next [-] |
| The ratio between storage capacity and production power seems way too low, unless your daily consumption is ~10-15kWh and your batteries are over spec for harsh winter days (and then you’d need couple of sun days to recover).
Are you sure about these numbers? |
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| ▲ | duffpkg 20 hours ago | parent [-] | | In it's location the solar is very effective, the 4kw is the actual generation rather than a label rating. 100% full sun, no shade, no clouds. The array typically generates over 20kw per day. The house is pretty efficient and the weather is very nice both summer and winter. This is not an area with a harsh winter or summer. Shade and clouds of any kind, even very minor, have a HUGE effect on the production of a solar array. | | |
| ▲ | pyrale 18 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | London's latitude is north of Calgary. I don't know how far south you are, but 15-20° of latitude has a significant impact on the effectiveness of solar, especially during winter. | | |
| ▲ | duffpkg 18 hours ago | parent [-] | | Absolutely. Clouds also have a profound effect on solar output, I think much more than people realize. I am not english but my understanding is that london has a lot of clouds. |
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| ▲ | insane_dreamer 9 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | > 100% full sun, no shade, no clouds ... the weather is very nice both summer and winter Are you sure you're in the UK? |
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| ▲ | _zoltan_ 20 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| if you could tell me where I could get UL certified 43kWh battery for $5,400 I'd be very interested. |
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| ▲ | thechao 20 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | I don't know about 43kWH/5400$. But, here's the system I've been looking at: https://www.expertpower.us/products/10800w-50kwh?_pos=2&_sid... That's 50KWH of battery, plus the 10.8KW of solar, inverters, etc., all for $17K. That system is microgrid (not grid following) capable; so, you can run it during a blackout. The switchover is pretty good, too, so you don't need a second backup system. | | |
| ▲ | mbesto 20 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | I would definitely get EG4 over Expert Power for the reasons posted by other commentators. Example kit: https://signaturesolar.com/complete-off-grid-solar-kit-eg4-6... Add in a 15 kWh module and it's roughly the same price with better customer service, reliability, less parts, etc. However, I would just get an EG 18k PV, 45 kWh of EG5 batteries and 11.4 kW of solar panels from signature solar and that would cost you $18.5k | |
| ▲ | duffpkg 20 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | If I had to recommend in all in one kit, this september 2025, I would recommend an EG4 kit from Santan Solar. At brief glance they appear to be a stronger value and is from a company with a pretty strong customer service record. This is not sponsored in anyway. |
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| ▲ | mbesto 20 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Ya, the OP is not telling the truth. One there isn't a "variety", second they aren't UL listed at that price. I've spent months researching this space for an off grid setup and these are the two best setups direct from China from a cost standpoint for 15 kWh. Neither are UL listed: https://www.apexiummall.com/index.php?route=product/product&... https://yixiangpower.com/products/yixiang-vertical-15kw-diy-... Both would cost roughly $4800~$5500 for that total size. If you want good customer service, dependable, UL listed, and correctly priced, then this is the king: https://signaturesolar.com/eg4-wallmount-indoor-battery-48v-... UL listed ~45 kWh will cost you $10k, not $5.4k. | |
| ▲ | duffpkg 20 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | It would be multiple batteries totaling that. Stock and prices are constantly changing but RUiXU, EG4 and EcoWorthy are widely available brands with UL listed options. Will Prowse's website has a page dedicated to code compliant batteries and there are several long lists and excel sheets on the diysolarforum. | |
| ▲ | mediaman 20 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | I don't believe they are UL certified, but Dumfume sells 3.6kwh (300ah-12v) lifepo4 batteries for $320. 15 of those would get you 54kwh for <$5k. Might be tough to be anywhere near that point for UL certified only, though. |
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| ▲ | fyrn_ 21 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| What are these batteries? |
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| ▲ | duffpkg 20 hours ago | parent [-] | | I did not name specifics because things are constantly changing in this market and these threads tend to live for years. Stock and prices are constantly changing but RUiXU, EG4 and EcoWorthy are widely available brands with UL listed options. Will Prowse's website has a page dedicated to code compliant batteries and there are several long lists and excel sheets on the diysolarforum. | | |
| ▲ | mbesto 20 hours ago | parent [-] | | Eco Worthy is not UL Listed and 45 kWh of RUiXU/EG4 is $10k+. Everything you've said is pretty spot on except for 45 kWh UL-listed batteries at $5,400. |
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| ▲ | Izikiel43 18 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| > The batteries shipped to your home inclusive of all taxes and fees, UL listed, are only $5,400 today from a variety of reputable suppliers. What about installation? DIY? |
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| ▲ | duffpkg 18 hours ago | parent [-] | | That is a much more complex topic driven by the regulations where you live. Where my house is, there is more or less no regulation and you can do as you please. In a purely technical sense there is not a lot of knowhow beyond basic electrical understanding, to setup these systems. Physically speaking these 280ah or larger battery setups are VERY heavy, hundreds of pounds per unit. | | |
| ▲ | Izikiel43 17 hours ago | parent [-] | | Do you have it in your garage or in a shed outside? I would be concerned about the fire chances. | | |
| ▲ | duffpkg 16 hours ago | parent [-] | | It is in a utility room with some normal fire resistant features, walls are block and the electric inverters are mounted to cement board. The batteries cells themselves are in the steel cased battery boxes which help to limit potential fire risk. Very importantly these are lithium iron phosphate NOT lithium ion. There is still some fire risk with lifepo3 batteries but it is completely different than the thermal runaway possible with lithium iron. |
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| ▲ | more_corn 20 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| The system I’m looking at costs twice as much for half the capacity. I’m very interested in what brand and model you speak of. |
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| ▲ | duffpkg 20 hours ago | parent [-] | | People seem to get really mad and accusatory over these sorts of things which is why I hate posting brands and such. The information changes very frequently as to what the "best" offer is. The diysolarforum is a very good resource to find the latest information. | | |
| ▲ | stephenitis 11 hours ago | parent [-] | | It wouldn’t be that terrible to show dated proof with receipts. Inflation has probably jacked up the prices since you bought. Dating it would help. |
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| ▲ | IncreasePosts 20 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| If it's anything like my slice of the southwest, what works there may not work for a majority of Americans. Even when it gets very hot in the day(100+), the nights almost always drop down to 63 or less. Meaning if you have a well sealed house you can suck up cold air during the night and ride it out in the day and have very low cooling costs. Coupled with low humidity from an arid environment means you can also let the house get hotter before it feels like it is time to turn on the AC. |
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| ▲ | duffpkg 19 hours ago | parent [-] | | This area has few days over 100 but does see relatively cool nights. It is an ideal area for this. I would say from southernmost california to southernmost texas, this basic setup is pretty workable and that includes something around 50 million americans. Regulator hurdles in some places make it impossible though. Costs are going to scale up mostly in line with the heating/cooling requirements and cloudiness of your area. My panels are ground mounted and pointed in the ideal direction. I think this contributes to their efficiency because the ground helps cool them during the hottest periods but it is a tricky thing to nail down. On a previous home I had roof mounted panels and they seemed to perform much worse, difficult to identify the exact reason though. |
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| ▲ | jorblumesea 21 hours ago | parent | prev [-] |
| how are you able to charge 43kwh on such a small array? we have a 12 kwh setup and it recharges a 15 kwh battery in a few hours. |
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| ▲ | duffpkg 20 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | In that part of southwest there are only a handful of cloudy days per year and at a relatively low latitude. | |
| ▲ | lnsru 20 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | What’s the charging/discharge power of your battery? Is it AC or DC coupled? | | |
| ▲ | duffpkg 19 hours ago | parent [-] | | My battery is 3 separate "48v" x 280ah units in parallel. There is no grid so I am not sure what you mean by coupled. The batteries output DC to inverters which output AC. It is several years old at this point, probably the better value is in "48v" x 320ah setups now. The breakers/busbars, etc are setup for max discharge of 200A but in practice I have never gotten anywhere near that. | | |
| ▲ | lnsru 7 hours ago | parent [-] | | As electrician I install PV systems and the Chinese have nice battery+inverter combos. Inverter feeds the battery at 480V@10A DC and then the battery later delivers 3-5 kW back over the inverter. Batteries are modular and can go up to 50 kwh. 10kW rated inverter with ~10 kWp panels fully charges 10 kWh battery in couple hours and produces additional 40-50 kWh on a sunny day (southern Germany). Probably the advantage of these products is high voltage and system integration. Sadly I have no good advice for your setup. |
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