Thread: Tesla Powerwall - battery for your house

This "technology" has been available for about 40 years.

I have original copies of Simply Living magazine with features on the Rainbow Power Company in Northern NSW offering almost exactly what is being offered now.

Rainbow Power were bullied badly by the "major " manufacturers of solar cells who happened to be a major oil company.

This is not new technology , just a company cashing in on current trends. It is also very expensive compared to the cost you can do it yourself or have a system installed by an electrician.....

Originally Posted by ramblingboy42

This is not new technology , just a company cashing in on current trends. It is also very expensive compared to the cost you can do it yourself or have a system installed by an electrician.....

Yikes! Do it yourself?
Arent there laws to prevent people from touching the power supply to the house? I thought only linesman could touch the power anywhere before the fused supply?
I assume these units connect to the supply directly.....

Originally Posted by DAMINK

I assume these units connect to the supply directly.....

These units connect to an inverter that connects your side of the service fuses. It is domestic. A REC wires it up or inspects/approves it.

Originally Posted by ramblingboy42

This "technology" has been available for about 40 years.

I have original copies of Simply Living magazine with features on the Rainbow Power Company in Northern NSW offering almost exactly what is being offered now.

Rainbow Power were bullied badly by the "major " manufacturers of solar cells who happened to be a major oil company.

This is not new technology , just a company cashing in on current trends. It is also very expensive compared to the cost you can do it yourself or have a system installed by an electrician.....

That's Rainbow Power at Nimbin. Still going.

Sent from my SM-G900I using AULRO mobile app

Originally Posted by DAMINK

Yikes! Do it yourself?
Arent there laws to prevent people from touching the power supply to the house? I thought only linesman could touch the power anywhere before the fused supply?
I assume these units connect to the supply directly.....

Yep, if the mains wiring is disturbed then a Certificate of Electrical Safety is required. This sort of work can only be carried out by a Liceneced Electrician - and wired in AFTER the main switch and meter.

BUT (there's always a but ) there is nothing stopping anyone building a solar system with battery storage that runs at up to 48 volts nominal - different panels, but you can do it - no licence or regulations around wiring that is under 50 volts. I've seen more than one off the grid system DIY'ed like this - to great effect. Not as efficient as the higher voltage, state of the art stuff with Lithium batteries but quite workable. 48 volt inverters are readily available, but integrating it with a grid system wouldn't be seamless or doable as a DIY project.

But if you don't have mains, it's a viable solution.

got a quote today for installing a tesla powerwall for the house. 14.1k!
wont even pay itself off in the warranty period.

Yikes! Would need to crunch the numbers on what that would save off my Electricity bill if I maximised it’s use but it would be around 15 years to break even for me I think.

Originally Posted by Eevo

got a quote today for installing a tesla powerwall for the house. 14.1k!
wont even pay itself off in the warranty period.

Yep I brought a 2nd hand nissan leaf (wholesale price in NZ) as my work hack which i needed to replace anyway for round town use instead of a corolla for about for the same price as telsa wall and charge it mainly on my solar panels done 25000km and saved about 4500 dollars in petrol at least miminum of 5 times more savings than storing power in wall which of course you cant charge every day because of the weather and other factors, they neec to drop in price by 50% at least...