With all the world news going around, and the struggle of a lot of latin american economies have given place to rolling blackouts. Even in places such as California, rolling blackouts have become a thing. So what to do?
I am amazed on the level of population that just keep themselves victims to the fluctuation of the city infrastructure and endure whatever the conditions are held to. If you own a mobile or laptop, blackouts are mitigated thanks to on-device batteries, but what about other devices such as your routers, your TV, or your fridge. What about your whole house?
Here is where battery banks have been available and on demand for the people that want to 'fight' their government faulty service. Equip themselves on keeping their devices running regardless of climate, natural disaster conditions, and/or just faulty installation.
When fighting rolling blackouts there are different strategies you can go with, depending on how common this is, the best strategy would have your budget and solution.
Here are some of the scenarios that you can get:
- Blackouts are not common but I hate to see my internet go down.
- Blackouts are common, I want to keep my lights on, even if appliances are offline.
- I don't care about the lights, but the internet is super important.
- Blackouts are very common and I don't want to miss anything to go offline.
PowerWalls, DIY and cost
The use of Powerwalls made famous by Tesla/SolarCity was a custom made lithium enhanced appliance that will charge and hold energy from your Solar Panel. These panels will get energy from the sun and store it on these powerwall.
Tesla has priced this powerwall for 11,500 USD including installation and everything in between. However if you want to do it yourself you can save 95% and get it down to a few HUNDRED dollars. Perhaps 300-500 usd on batteries, and another 200 USD on material. Mainly a power converter which will switch from the input from the street, and switch as soon as blackout is detected also known as Automatic Transfer Switches.
The ATS microcomputer control circuit will detect the voltages of two power sources and make a judgement about the detection result. When any phase of the utility power fails, the dual power automatic transfer switch will convert the load power supply from the utility power to the standby power.
I won't go into detail about the process on building one, but you can certainly find many Youtube videos showcasing the building of these powerwalls from scratch. The solution of having a PW is that you will be able to enjoy most of the amenities in your house including kitchen appliances, TV, and internet for several hours with no interruption.
Specific electric power banks
These batteries sit between your device and your wall plug. This will keep specific devices running despite a blackout. These devices can get pretty expensive, so doing a good shopping will decide how reliable is this investment if you need to buy one for every single device in your house or office.
If most of your work is done in a laptop, then you already have these battery backup, otherwise, is time to make the math work. If there are too many devices, the PW would be a better option.
Solar generator
This is for something that will need a lot of power, these solar generators could get you covered if you want to do specific things around the house. Like use the blender, or the microwave. But I don't think it is for long term use, so if your blackouts go on all night long, it might not be the best solution unless you just want to keep on a few lights.
The price is also a bit steep going from 500-1500 USD depending on the capacity of the generators.
Summary
If you live in a place where more than 2 hours of blackouts is something common and you just need that A/C running enough to cool your room. Or if you are a night owl who do most of the work during the night, the best option is to get a PowerWall, or build one yourself and save a lot of money in the process.
If you just experience blackouts a few times a year, then maybe consider having the battery banks connected to your essential devices as long as they are not too many, otherwise the bill might just push you to get a generator.
What you think about these solutions? Would you get a PW? Share your experience.