What are the best alternatives to the Tesla Powerwall?
December 22, 2021 12:32 AM Subscribe
And what advice do you have for a first-time solar power shopper, who isn't budget-conscious?
- My #1 priority is reliable backup power in an outage.
- Tesla has a spotty reputation when it comes to customer service, so strong customer service would be a great plus.
- I know Enphase and LG are the other two market leaders, alongside Tesla.
In a power outage, you can use a car to power the refrigerator to keep food safe, and battery operated LED lights. Solar panels + a battery can be set up so the battery(ies) is always charged, and extra power goes into the electric grid, and that can power the basics.
posted by theora55 at 7:44 AM on December 22, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by theora55 at 7:44 AM on December 22, 2021 [1 favorite]
Generac makes the PWRcell.
I have no experience with that product, but our electrical contractor is an authorized distributor of their products, and has been very pleasant to work with, and is very proactive about contacting us for maintenance of our generator. There are definitely several alternative contractors who are also available to maintain the genset. We did not go "lowest bid" on the generator, because the ability to be powered during an outage was more important than saving a few dollars. Our contractor is one of the area's larger electrical contractors and they have several teams that just do generators. This felt much better than going with some mom and pop shop from a customer service perspective, because of the ongoing maintenance issues tied up in a generator, and the likelihood of spare parts being stocked, etc.
It seems like it would be prudent to find who sells alternative choices, and how well respected the available vendors are (BBB complaints, etc).
posted by jgreco at 7:48 AM on December 22, 2021 [1 favorite]
I have no experience with that product, but our electrical contractor is an authorized distributor of their products, and has been very pleasant to work with, and is very proactive about contacting us for maintenance of our generator. There are definitely several alternative contractors who are also available to maintain the genset. We did not go "lowest bid" on the generator, because the ability to be powered during an outage was more important than saving a few dollars. Our contractor is one of the area's larger electrical contractors and they have several teams that just do generators. This felt much better than going with some mom and pop shop from a customer service perspective, because of the ongoing maintenance issues tied up in a generator, and the likelihood of spare parts being stocked, etc.
It seems like it would be prudent to find who sells alternative choices, and how well respected the available vendors are (BBB complaints, etc).
posted by jgreco at 7:48 AM on December 22, 2021 [1 favorite]
Honestly, work with your local solar integrators. If you search your market for integrators that aren't resellers of Tesla products, you will find out about the other best-of-class products that are out there.
I specifically didn't want to go with Tesla power walls because they are lithium ion chemistry, which can be a fire risk. For that reason, I wanted LiFePo4. I worked with my integrator, and we ended up with Fortress Power storage.
If you are also looking to do grid-tied and reselling, you'll need to have an inverter capable of handling this configuration. With enough storage and the right inverters, you can do whole-house, grid tie, and switch to battery at night (go off grid). Our system is split panel, where the battery only services a subset of the house in grid outages.
Our inverter is not capable of doing the scheduled off-grid part, but some of the ones marketed more to the bug-out crowd are.
posted by tomierna at 9:39 AM on December 22, 2021 [3 favorites]
I specifically didn't want to go with Tesla power walls because they are lithium ion chemistry, which can be a fire risk. For that reason, I wanted LiFePo4. I worked with my integrator, and we ended up with Fortress Power storage.
If you are also looking to do grid-tied and reselling, you'll need to have an inverter capable of handling this configuration. With enough storage and the right inverters, you can do whole-house, grid tie, and switch to battery at night (go off grid). Our system is split panel, where the battery only services a subset of the house in grid outages.
Our inverter is not capable of doing the scheduled off-grid part, but some of the ones marketed more to the bug-out crowd are.
posted by tomierna at 9:39 AM on December 22, 2021 [3 favorites]
Didn't know about the Enphase system, so thanks.
We have Enphase for our solar, and knew that it wouldn't work with a Powerwall. Need to make some phone calls...
posted by Windopaene at 9:24 PM on December 22, 2021 [1 favorite]
We have Enphase for our solar, and knew that it wouldn't work with a Powerwall. Need to make some phone calls...
posted by Windopaene at 9:24 PM on December 22, 2021 [1 favorite]
We just got solar put in (last week!) and the installers very strongly recommended Enphase to us if we wanted home batteries. Haven't had a chance to really take the whole system for a spin yet - getting solar panels in mid December in the PNW is a bit, er, anticlimactic? - but they said customers have been very happy with the Enphases.
posted by potrzebie at 3:59 PM on December 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by potrzebie at 3:59 PM on December 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by SemiSalt at 4:59 AM on December 22, 2021 [2 favorites]