How To Keep The Lights On And Your Family Safe When The Grid Goes Down...

Hey , we’re taking a break from the normal business and finance content here today because there’s an estimated 2+ million people in the Florida and North Carolina who still don’t have power as of this morning thanks to Helene and Milton…

As a result, I’ve gotten multiple phone calls from friends over the past week asking me about the best way to install a solar battery system to their home to ensure they’ll always have power...

So today I wanted to share the same insights I gave them, with you…

This is going to be an extremely detailed break-down, so please feel free to forward it to your family and friends if you find it useful…

If you’re new here, I know a decent amount about this topic… In fact, we have the largest residential solar battery system in our county with 32kw of panels on the roof, and 90kwh of battery storage which is expandable up to 125kwh.

To put that into perceptive, a Tesla Powerwall has 15kwh of storage.

But before we dive into solar battery systems, let’s talk about why you DO NOT want to waste money on a traditional diesel or propane generator from a company like Generac or a portable unit from your local Home Depot...

1: They’re LOUD. The moment a back-up generator fires up, everyone on your street knows it. A generator like this runs at around 76 decibels, which is a bit louder than a gasoline powered lawn mower!

This turns you into a target and brings all kinds of the wrong attention. It’s simply unacceptable today.

2: They can run out of fuel. If you live in a suburban neighborhood, a permanently installed, full-home back-up generator will be tapped into the city’s natural gas system.

This means you have an unlimited supply of fuel for your generator as long as the city still has power and can pipe that gas to your home under pressure. In a serious disaster or grid-down scenario, that’s not going to happen…

Whatever fuel you keep on hand will likely run out within days, turning your $5,000+ generator into a worthless hunk of scrap metal.

On the other hand, a solar battery system will continue to run as long as the sun continues to shine and it’s completely silent which is why you want to choose a solar battery system for your backup power needs...

With that in mind…

There Are Two Options To Choose From Depending On Your Budget And Desired Goals…

A single portable unit designed for powering essential appliances like your refrigerator, or a, “whole-home” system…

Let’s start with the whole-home option, because if you’re like me, you’d prefer to ride out WW3 with air conditioning and ice-cubes… 😅

The good news is that the variety of whole-home systems has increased dramatically in the past 24 months alone, while the prices have dropped substantially…

There are now dozens of options to choose from, but I’m going to save you a ton of time today and just tell you about the one I’d go with and that I’m recommending to my closest friends…

And that’s the EcoFlow Delta Pro Ultra… (I have no affiliation with EcoFlow).

EcoFlow has produced the best consumer-grade portable solar battery systems in the market for years. The Delta Pro Ultra model is their first whole-home system and it just came out in 2024.

Here are why it’s my #1 choice…

1: It’s modular and expandable so you can grow into it...
2: It’s portable, so if you move you can take the system with you.
3: It’s super easy to setup and use. Their software and app is designed for non-techie consumers like us, instead of electricians.
4: Ecoflow is the leader in this market. They aren’t going anywhere.

The modular expansion feature is important…

It will allow you to start with 1 “stack” that consists of the control module on top, and at least one battery. Each battery stores up to 6kwh of power.

Each “stack” can support up to 5 batteries, for a total of 30KWH of power storage per stack…

You can connect up to 3 full stacks together for a combined total of 90kwh of storage, which is the same amount of storage we currently have here at the ranch…

Here’s What You Need To Know About
Output And Storage…

Each Ultra controller can distribute up to 7.2kw of power into your home at one time… Think of it as the amount of electricity that it can push out, just like the amount of water than can come out of your garden hose…

If you have two central AC units running while using your clothes drier, and your oven, 7.2kw might not be enough to power all of those systems at the same time.

You might have to turn off one of those items and take turns.

If you pull your water from a well-pump like we do, 7.2kw is probably not enough to run your house as full normal capacity.

So if that’s your goal… If you want to be able to operate your home off-grid like you normally do without any kind of disruption or compromise, you’ll want to get two Ultra Controllers, or two “stacks”…

Having two stacks doubles your power output capacity from 7.2 kw, to 14.4. That’s enough output to power everything in a single family home at the same time without any kind of compromise.

If you have a larger home with a lot of power needs like we do… Two central AC units, a well pump, electric drier, and electric central heat, our max load during the summer is 12kw. This means we’d be fine with two stacks.

But the moment we plug the Tesla in to charge?

That load jumps up to 17kw. So if we want to charge the Tesla and use the central AC at the same time, we’d need 3 stacks which would provide up to 21.5 kw of power output from the system at one time.

If you don’t have an electric car, you should be just fine with 1 stack, and definitely good to go with 2.

Now that you know how much power you want to feed into your home, it’s time to determine how much power you want to have on tap in the batteries which will ultimately determine how long you can satisfy your home’s power consumption…

Most online sources will tell you that a typical single family home consumes about 30kwh of energy per day.

But if you live in the South like we do and you’re running your AC constantly, that number increases significantly higher…

With our 2 AC units, well pump, and Tesla charger, we consume anywhere from 80kwh, to 140kwh of power per day during the summer.

Would we need to charge the Tesla in an emergency? No, so that number would drop to the 80kwh mark...

Can you reduce you consumption by managing your power use conservatively in an emergency? Of course… But I need my AC people, so personally I’m sticking to our 80kwh target.

If the grid is down, that means we’d need to go with 3 stacks with the maximum of 5 batteries each, for a total of 90kwh of battery storage.

But here’s something else you didn’t know…

You don’t want to drain lithium batteries below 20% of their capacity. Can you? Yes…

But doing so can damage and degrade them, significantly reducing their life-span which would normally be 10-15 years.

So even if you have 90kwh of storage, you really only have around 72kwh that’s usable.

So for our personal example, a maxed out system would have enough battery storage to power our home for about 30 hours at full power use.

Can we turn off the AC and manage that consumption? Yes… And that would extend our range to 3-5 days assuming zero additional input from the sun.

And if you have 3-5 days of power stored up, that means you really have infinite power because you’re likely going to get at least one full day of sun during those 3-5 days to recharge them.

Which brings up another good point…

Solar battery systems are fantastic when the sun is shining, but if you’re in cloudy winter weather, those clouds are going to reduce your charging capacity by 50-80%…

Once you have a solar battery system, you’ll soon realize there’s no such thing as too much battery storage.

Alright…

Next, we need to change those batteries, which means we need solar panels…

We’re currently in October in Austin TX, and our 32kw of solar panels are generating around 84kwh of power each day with full sun. In July, they’ll generate around 90kwh per day.

On cloudy winter days in February, we’ll see production range anywhere from 40kwh, to 90kwh with full sun.

So 32kw of panels is enough to bring our batteries back to 100% on a daily basis when we’re using the house at full capacity.

So What’s The Costs Of All Of This? 💰

Well it obviously depends on how many stacks, batteries, and panels you go with…

But here’s a breakdown from EcoFlow’s system calculator…

1 Stack with all 5 batteries and their Smart Home Panel comes out to $18,000.

This does not include any solar panels or install, so let’s just round that up to $30,000…

This whole-home system would allow you to live a largely normal life indefinitely assuming you don’t live up north with constant cloud cover.

It would also allow you to reduce your monthly electric bill by 50-90% depending on your consumption…

AND…

The Federal government will give you a 30% tax deduction on the total cost of your system through the Federal Solar Investment Tax Credit program…

So that $30,000 is now just $21,000. 😎

If you’re interested in the EcoFlow Delta Pro Ultra, I’d recommend giving them a call and have them walk you through your questions over the phone, and then put in you in touch with a local installer.

Now Let’s Take A Look At A Budget Option…

Alright, what if you don’t have the cash to setup a whole-home system…

Well EcoFlow has tons of smaller portable options…

If you’re not tapping into your home’s breaker panels system, these portable batteries are designed to power individual appliances like your refrigerator.

This is a major consideration if you’re diabetic and require refrigerated insulin which is something no one really thinks about in disasters like the one taking place in NC and FL right now…

So the primary use of a smaller portable system like this would be to keep your fridge running and extend the life of your food supply or critical medications.

It would also be used to charge up rechargeable batteries for flash lights, radios, etc… Or to boil water or cook a meal in something like an Instapot.

(Using an Instapot to sterilize water and spoiled food in an emergency is a highly under-rated ability by the way).

The EcoFlow system I’d recommend is there EcoFlow Delta Pro... (Not the new Pro 3).

It has 3.6 kwh of battery capacity, and can power all major appliances with the exception of a well pump.

The one thing you need to keep in mind is that you’ll need to buy their portable solar panels to setup outside…

If you have your system plugged into your fridge, that means you’ll want to make sure you have a long extension cord, or buy longer solar panel extension cords to run from outside, to your Delta Pro inside…

A Delta Pro with their 400 watt portable panel is $2,599. Personally, I’d get a second 400 watt panel to ensure you can keep the battery powered on cloudy days.

It would also be a great idea to jump on Amazon and buy rechargeable AA, and AAA batteries and charging stations for them for your portable devices like flashlights, headlamps, radios, etc, which you’ll be able to charge up using your Delta Pro.

In Conclusion…

I believe that it’s more important than ever to increase your personal safety and self-reliance…

Every aspect of modern society is dependent upon electricity, and your local power grid is is one weather event, cyber-attack, or substation attack away from light’s out…

Investing in a solar/battery backup power source that’s right for your budget could save your life, and it’s cheaper than ever to remove your home’s dependence on the grid.

Sincerely,

Mike Dillard ✟
www.MikeDillard.com