I stopped reading at paragraph 4. What idiot is buying lead acid batteries in 2023 for solar storage systems?
4 12V 200AH deep cycle lead acid batteries cost $1552 on Amazon and hold as much energy in practice as a 100AH 48V LFP battery which last 15 years, minimum, and only costs about 6% more up front. (Not linking to specific batteries in order to not shill for them, but do a little searching for 100AH 48V 4U server rack LFP batteries on youtube, and you will find dozens of tutorials.) Quality inverters last 30 years, not 10.
Are these people TRYING to light money on fire? Are they fronting for someone by trying to make solar look impractical? Or are they just stupid?
Low Tech Magazine remains a great sourcebook for an alt-history novel or role playing campaign. Its advice has increasingly diverged from efficient paths toward sustainability/decarbonization as the high tech approaches (advanced solar, wind, nuclear, batteries, electric vehicle, heat pumps...) continue to improve.
Over the past 20 years I have noticed this tendency among a subset of people people in the environmental movement. Some people loved solar power only when it was expensive and small scale. A future world powered by solar once evoked images of cozy little villages, bicycles, deglobalization, handmade wooden toys, and a slower pace of life. Now that solar power is inexpensive and scalable, it's unappealing to people who value the cozy aesthetic more than they value meeting quantifiable IPCC emissions targets.
Its notable he skipped the primary chemistry people use for storage too, LiPho. They are guaranteed to last 10 years, they are about $150 per KWH and can sustain 0.5C charge and discharge.
For me at least the storage is about 1/3 of the cost of the system and I'll likely have to replace it once (probably with Sodium Ion since that is taking off and $50 a KWH) and a new inverter and there is no way it costs even half the total system install over the lifetime.
Other than the fact that most batteries on Amazon are counterfeit garbage.
If you want something better and brand name, you'll pay more. Sometimes, significantly more.
It still doesn't make sense to use lead acid for off grid, deep cycle or not. UPS systems still use them because lead acid loves to stay charged at 100% and not drop below half, which is fine for UPS that are intended to run only during occasional power failures.
LFP batteries also last for thousands of cycles and are safe, probably safer than lead acid.
Speaking of idiots, ordering batteries on Amazon is a great way to acquire really shitty batteries. Lead-acid works fine and is maintainable. The price parity is extremely recent and supply-chain problems still mar the lithium side.
Also, where did you buy your inverters in 1993? I've used about six different brands on various deployments and ten years is about right for MTBF there. I sure wouldn't trust a fifteen-year-old inverter to handle 3500VA continuous, and god forbid there's a spike...
This is a common misunderstanding. The lithium batteries used for off-grid and RVs are not the kind you're thinking of. They are LiFePO4, and far less susceptible to thermal runaway than, for example, an average laptop battery.
4 12V 200AH deep cycle lead acid batteries cost $1552 on Amazon and hold as much energy in practice as a 100AH 48V LFP battery which last 15 years, minimum, and only costs about 6% more up front. (Not linking to specific batteries in order to not shill for them, but do a little searching for 100AH 48V 4U server rack LFP batteries on youtube, and you will find dozens of tutorials.) Quality inverters last 30 years, not 10.
Are these people TRYING to light money on fire? Are they fronting for someone by trying to make solar look impractical? Or are they just stupid?