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chadconway

38 karma · joined August 31, 2017

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chadconway··on BYD says new fast-charging system could be as quick as filling up a tank
Awesome to see BYD continue to innovate! I wish Tesla continued to push on powertrain improvements like this rather than making a triangle shaped truck.
chadconway··on Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls
Can back feed when the grid is up. Can't back feed when the grid is out. It has an onboard relay to disconnect from the grid when there is an outage.
chadconway··on Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls
100% right!
chadconway··on Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls
Yes, it has 4 outlets and can turn them off automatically based on your priority settings.
chadconway··on Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls
This is mostly correct. One additional feature is that it can back feed when the grid is up. This allows you to save money on your energy, charging when energy is cheap or from solar and discharging when energy is expensive.
chadconway··on Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls
I agree!
chadconway··on Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls
Yes, absolutely!
chadconway··on Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls
Yes & no, there are two reasons to push power back: 1- to save money on energy, charge when cheap discharge when expensive. Pila can do this. 2- to backup. Pila can’t do this. It can only backup appliances plugged into it.
chadconway··on Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls
Suicide cords are from dumb generators. Pila has smart safety controls that don’t feed power back through the plug unless it’s connected to grid.

Utah just passed a law allowing this & Germany has allowed it for years.

chadconway··on Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls
I think the modern path for new builds is a SPAN Panel which adds an MID, breaker level load control, & flexibility of install.
chadconway··on Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls
Correct, integration is key for a seamless consumer experience.
chadconway··on Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls
Pila can only back feed on-grid. Pila has a built in Microgrid Interconnect Device (MID). When an outage is detected, like Powerwall Pila opened the MID and continues to power downstream loads that are plugged into Pila.
chadconway··on Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls
How will you power your fridge when the car isn’t home?
chadconway··on Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls
Great question, our device has a metal case that offers much better thermal performance than your typical camping battery.

Yes, you can boil a kettle with it!

chadconway··on Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls
Generators in this price point are loud, low power, unreliable, & even require maintenance.
chadconway··on Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls
There is a MID (Microgrid Interconnect Device) built into the battery which opens when there is a grid outage. During an outage power is only supplied to devices plugged into Pila.
chadconway··on Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls
This only backs up appliances plugged into it.
chadconway··on Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls
I think offering financing & working with utilities to further reduce the price will be a key unlock for more affordability.
chadconway··on Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls
Challenge accepted
chadconway··on Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls
Yes & in Utah.
chadconway··on Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls
Thank you for the feedback! We’ll try to simplify the wording and streamline the website.
chadconway··on Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls
This product is capable of bidirectional power.
chadconway··on Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls
The ITC (Investment Tax Credit) doesn’t go to the company it goes to you as the consumer.
chadconway··on Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls
Safety is #1. That said, there are millions of EVs on the road today & I feel like they are pretty safe.
chadconway··on Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls
Where do you live now?
chadconway··on Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls
This is my favorite comment!
chadconway··on Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls
Zigbee is on the same frequency as WiFi and therefore suffers from all the same issues that WiFi has interference and limited range. SolarCity used Zigbee for communication with solar inverters. It was very unreliable. Tesla moved to WiFi after acquiring SolarCity.
chadconway··on Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls
Unfortunately, AC powerlines are extremely noisy. Powerline comms are used by SolarEdge to communicate with their optimizers. Because it’s a small closed loop there is far less noise than the home grid.
chadconway··on Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls
Lithium batteries can be made to be safe. There are millions of electric cars on the road.
chadconway··on Show HN: We built a Plug-in Home Battery for the 99.7% of us without Powerwalls
Would financing help?
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