What to do with my "Free to me" Electricity

[seanreit]

I have a storage unit in my apartment complex that has free 120VAC included with it. I asked specifically if I could charge my battery banks in there, and they said no problem, it's accumulated amongst the complex's overhead.

I primarily ride a 48V scooter for local transportation and it has quantity 8 12Volt 12AH batteries (sealed lead acid). They are in two banks of 48VDC 12 AH for a total of 24 AH in parrallel.

If I wanted to transfer left over capacity from my bikes batteries at the end of the day to a 600w Grid Tie inverter to my apartment, I don't know how to calculate a couple of things.

1) Suppose at end of the day I have 6AH left of 48VDC, how big a chord would I need to tie my bike batteries to the grid inverter.
2) using the 6AH 48vdc how many days of doing this would I need to cover the cost of a 600W grid tie inverter (assuming I pay two hundred for the inverter).

My local killowatt hour cost here is about 11 cents. Oh, and how long would it take me to transfer the energy from the batteries to the grid tie inverter, as I would be doing it by having my wife drop an electrical chord off our balcony at the end of the day, and plugging it in.

If it's an hour, that's OK, if it's more than that, guess this is not worth doing.
Thanks in advance! For those that might not know what a grid tie inverter is, you can see this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hANi5NbcY5g
Also, they make much higher wattage, grid tie inverters, I'm not trying to make 200Watts, there is a 600W model that accepts up to 52Vdc.

 

[Evoforce]

This does not make sense to me. When you need to be charging your batteries you are going to be completely discharging them? The little bit of power you get is going to shorten the life of your batteries by cycleing them deeply everyday. and a 24 volt inverter does not have to be grid tie because you are running an extension cord to it. Inverters are not 100% efficient. How long does it take to charge you batteries when they are run flat? Even tho it would be silly to do this, your extension cord length also has to do with the wire size you need. Your batteries are also not much capacity for powering anything for very long. Light would be possible or radio but really not that practical with the cost of equipment and wearing batteries out faster.

 

[icecube57]

Hes saying after a full charge on the free elecricity. He will ride his bike. When he gets done during the day he will feed the rest of his pack to the grid. Then he will plug the scooter into the free electricity again.

 

[DervAtl]

Yes, but he's still cycling his pack, which will essentially shorten the life span. The amount of credit (for the electricity retuned to the grid) will not offset the shortened lifespan of the pack. You would be going in the hole on this one, I'm afraid.

 

[John in CR]

6ah*48v=288wh or .288kwh or about 3 cents worth of electricity, so no, you'll never recover the cost of the extension cord much less the inverter or connecting it. In addition, you'll expedite the death of your batteries by deeply discharging them. Spend the $200 on things to reduce your apartment's electrical usage. If you drink coffee in the mornings, get one of those automatic start models, and plug that in the storage room. Then not only do you get your coffee heated for free, but you get some exercise with extra trips up and down the stairs.

Another idea would be to spend the $200 on more batteries, which would increase the lifespan of those you have, as well as increase your range.
OR
$200 of batteries in your apartment that you connect to a high power charger for an hour once a day via the balcony could give you some useful electricity for lighting and bit more.

John

 

[seanreit]

Boy, once you see the answer, the big "duh" hits you. If you're putting about 7 or 8 cents in in the first place, how in the world could you get more by putting it out of the batteries and back into the grid.

Duh..........

This had to be one of the dumbest posts I've ever made, sorry for the time you guys took to read it.

 

[DAND214]

I like John's idea, put the cofe pot down there.
Dan

 

[icecube57]

You could always backfeed the free power into you box somehow. =P

 

[dogman dan]

Yeah, forget the idea of putting the power back into the grid. They talk about doing it with cars too, but it makes little sense to me, unless the e car is used in a way that would make riding a bike make more sense than buying a $40,000 e car. Like the car is driven 2 miles is what I mean. If not, you need that power to get home eh? Makes more sense to me to have a stationary battery if the grid needs the help mid day, like molten salt storage. I sure wouldn't want to put extra cycles on my 40k electric car so some guys AC can run midday.

But a free plug should be taken advantage of if it's close enough, Coffeemakers, Microwaves etc suck huge power. But that would be a bit inconvenient. But a larger freezer down there makes a ton of sense. They cost a bit to run, and you could save even more by buying food when on sale, or just buying in larger quantities that cost less per ounce. Cool though, that you have a fee place to plug in the scoot.

 

[LI-ghtcycle]

Don't apologize for your post, it has brought to light some interesting discussion that wouldn't have happened otherwise.

I have seen all the same shows where they talk about cars not being used while someone is on vacation or what ever and pumping battery power back into the grid, but they NEVER mention:

A) Batteries are EXPENSIVE

B) This shortening the life of the EXPENSIVE battery!

I think sometimes there is a real lack of common sense in reporting, and maybe just a little too much "WOW" and packaging a story.

I agree, if your a coffee drinker AND the management doesn't mind, put a pot down there. I would caution you though, if you abuse this privilege, you might loose the free charge for your scooter.

I know some of the responses have been "tongue in cheek" but hey, if they don't mind hell ya put a deep-freeze down there! And if your a hunter, that is the perfect place to store your winter meat! :wink:

 

[999zip999]

Yes but were do not hang the skins over the charger as the blood may short it out , or cause a elect. fire. I think a tanning booth will work the best.

 

[John in CR]

Hell, I'd paint an extension cord the color of the exterior wall or otherwise hide it and keep it running via the balcony all the time.

Just don't overload the extension cord and start a fire.

 

[northernmike]

Ah, sorry to say, but it might be best not abuse "free" electricity - as an e-bike user today.

If you set the example of a person out to take advantage of a landlord / property manager's kindness, more strict controls will be in place soon. And for everyone.

I'm an electrician and I BUILD these buildings - every day. Those receptacles are very, very easy to monitor, and also very very easy to switch off.

You have the advantage of people perceiving you as an environmentally conscious person because of what you drive - better to keep your landlord / property manager on your side by helping them make the building more energy efficient - they'll be happy to keep you charging for "free"!

Of course, you're paying for it in your rent in the end, anyway...

What we're seeing in some of the newer, higher end condos we work on, is dedicated receptacles at owners' parking spaces, key switchable by them, and tied to their electrical bill by separate metering. All it takes is a coil around the supply conductor. They can pay to charge their electric vehicles, and see what it cost.

 

[TylerDurden]

< What to do with my "Free to me" Electricity? >

Get a bigger EV.

 

[Evoforce]

Most of the talk that I have heard, concerning an electric vehicle powering a home, is dealing with a temporary power outage at your residence. Obviously, you hope to have enough time to recharge you car battery, before going to work. Of course, If the workplace still has no power, no problem about showing up (for most people).

 

[dogman dan]

I suspect the landlord would draw a line about the plug use if he sees a cord from the storeroom to the apt.

I agree, those fluffy EV news releases don't consider that you are putting extra cycles on a $25,000 battery. Not a good idea.

The type of use I was scoffing was the idea of plugging the car into the grid in daytime, to help the AC load on the grid in the afternoon. So you discharge the thing all afternoon and get home how? Seems like they are missing something obvious. Even if you did it while out of town, why cycle your expensive battery? More better the electric company buys storage that is stationary so they can hold some night power till afternoon. Or hold wind power awhile, whatever.

Using the EV as emergency power during a short power outage makes a ton of sense though. We get lots of em in summer, usually just a few hours, and caused by the older transformers blowing on a hot day, or lightning strikes. But a smaller generator for that is pretty cheap.

 

[Evoforce]

It also doesn't take into consideration that an inverter isn't 100% efficient. Charging up your batteries from power company to then dump back in to power your house through your inverter loses efficiency in the conversion. Thus, it puts you at a loss even if you charge your batteries at night, at the cheeper rate, and power the house at the daytime higher rate. If we could do this, we would all be doing this. Plus, then the nightime electric company charge rate, would go up, because we would all be using electricity at night!