Jump to content

Super-capacitor Batteries


Sethm

Recommended Posts

1 hour ago, The Terrible Triplett said:

@Chris Hobson, see here comes the colour, red, warning. :D

At the moment we looking at just starting the tractor :D. On the inverter side the inverter already has a boost converter. The low battery cutoff is 40 V I think for the batteries sake rather than the inverter's. So if we ask @Coulomb to lower the Axpert's minimum to 30V maybe just maybe. This will not happen until I need to replace batteries. If one looks at the rate technology is advancing maybe I will not need batteries in future. I do have a friend that has an exciting development in the pipeline whether it reaches the market soon is my quandary. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Like I said, in 2008 I said, 5 years and the batt tech and price will be there.

Then in 2012 I said same ...

It is now 2016 and I am still not holding my breath. 

YES, lots of interesting developments, very interesting new tech ... yet no-one I know in SA is using them yet and the ones that are here, my moer, dis duur.

If the tech was that feasible I would think that companies like Trojan will not pull a Kodak moment, but jump in Fast and Furious.

Edison batteries ... why is the kit not available for each one and his wife? O wait, no profits. 

So boys and girls, long lasting high usage batteries are not conducive to profits, so don't hold your breath.

 

BUT, having said all that, why is it that we in SA do not do the Edison batteries SA style? Crowd funding here on the forum and we build our own? I am pretty sure we have the knowledge, know how and factories right here in SA.

Heng, rent them out at lower cost per kWh than Eskom.

Any takers?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

33 minutes ago, The Terrible Triplett said:

BUT, having said all that, why is it that we in SA do not do the Edison batteries SA style? Crowd funding here on the forum and we build our own? I am pretty sure we have the knowledge, know how and factories right here in SA.

Heng, rent them out at lower cost per kWh than Eskom.

Any takers?

I'm interested!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, superdiy said:

I'm interested!

So am I ... we need the engineers to design from Edison's plans and then the manufacturer and the funding ... or some such plan.

Any thoughts Super?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, The Terrible Triplett said:

So am I ... we need the engineers to design from Edison's plans and then the manufacturer and the funding ... or some such plan.

Any thoughts Super?

I've read up on it a bit. The Iron Edison company's batteries are already manufactured in China, so I doubt that we will be able to manufacture it cheaper in SA, unless you become president and you can apply the same thing as in China, where if you don't like the job or the pay, you are immediately replaced by someone willing to work. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, superdiy said:

... where if you don't like the job or the pay, you are immediately replaced by someone willing to work

And the problem with that is? :D

I am more thinking along the lines of we get a bunch of material, get a professionals in to help and advice, put together even if it looks rough and tough, that one can make a battery that lasts for wayyyyy less than even China can do it, because we are willing to work.

For example, Lead, we can get a lot of that for near free. So we start harvesting.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, The Terrible Triplett said:

And the problem with that is? :D

The problem with that is we have people willing to work at unsustainable rates... just to earn SOMETHING, and when you do anything that is unsustainable it comes back to bite you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, plonkster said:

The problem with that is we have people willing to work at unsustainable rates... just to earn SOMETHING, and when you do anything that is unsustainable it comes back to bite you.

Now where did you fall out, get back up that tree and work. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, The Terrible Triplett said:

Now where did you fall out, get back up that tree and work. :D

LOL. It's difficult stuff this. I for one support a minimum wage, but with conditions. First, a minimum wage requirement is there to stop abuse, it makes it illegal to exploit people. That is its only purpose. Its purpose is NOT to guarantee what is sometimes loosely referred to as a "living wage", because a living wage is a notoriously difficult concept: I can live off R50 a day if I live with my parents and don't pay rent. I cannot live off R50 000 if I need a 5 bedroom house, my wife(s) don't work, I have 12 kids and have 5 loan sharks on my tail.

The problem is that any number you put down becomes a dividing line. Anybody who is less productive than that number -- and we have such people in this country thanks to our excellent schooling system -- immediately becomes unemployable. Deciding on that number, then, is also an exercise in deciding how many people you want to make unemployable, and thus it is a careful balancing game that I don't think we can play in South Africa, not in any way that will compete with the east.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And what has that got to do with our scheme here to get Proudly SA Power Forum decades long deep discharge Edison batteries? (rofl)

Are you saying you are paid enough / too little / too much to help scheme this idea to possible fruition?

Those backyard schemes we are so good at?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, The Terrible Triplett said:

Those backyard schemes we are so good at?

There is no way I'm going to build anything of remotely good quality in my backyard, not without time, material, equipment, know-how. Once you have those things, you started a business. Which is fine... except we have bonds to pay and mouths to feed.

Believe me, I already googled Zinc Bromine, Vanadium redox and Edison batteries this morning and concluded there is no way I could do it, except perhaps as a science experiment/diversion. My son should enjoy that... for the first 15 minutes until he gets bored.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, plonkster said:

There is no way I'm going to build anything of remotely good quality in my backyard, not without time, material, equipment, know-how.

Then you are fired. :P

 

Seriously, I do understand what you are saying ... maybe there is a way, if a engineer can assist with specs, a draughtsman with a design and then a battery manufacturer as a favour. Cost there will be, obviously, but it is for personal use, fun project and all that. I can try the battery manufacturer, but need designs and prente.

Just a wild idea.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You know, on this competing with China thing and minimum wage and all that, sometimes I get so frustrated with people. Of course it is this terrible balancing game we're playing. I've read this Forbes article that explains that the single biggest cause of income inequality is single parenthood.

Think about that. When middle- and upper class people marry, they marry up or at least within the same class. Two incomes. Redundancy. Career options. When a poor lady ends up with a kid, there is none of that. I'm in no way coming down on the poor single mother (she is the victim after all), nor trying to preach against fornication and all that, what I am aiming at is this: That what policies you put in place ought to reward behaviour that avoids this inevitable gap.

Now I don't know what things are like in China, so this isn't really a comparison. I do know we could be more competitive if we could change the culture.

</soapbox>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is no simple answer Plonk.

But with me as your pressi, will make sure all the mamma's are sorted, that all is equal and fair IF the people work hard, none of this cadre nonsense.

Malema made a good point. Pay the wekkers dividends based wekkers effort that resulted in company profits, and you will have less problems. Now the tea girl ... she also gets profits ne!

And CEO's earning those ridiculous salaries, first pay the wekkers and their profit share and THEN after all that, take your cut. No wekkers, no profits.

 

BUT you are still fired for not voting for me and shooting down my battery plan. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, plonkster said:

Yeah I wondered why the alarm bells were going off when I saw that... I believe some branches left the franchise too. Wasn't solarsolved one such party? Please, nobody sue me for defamation or anything, just want to be informed :-)

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk

don't worry, you're safe from legal action from them. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, give a thumb suck on what it could cost to replicate Edison's batts for local private use?

But NOTE THIS: It is mutually funding, so you need to also make a contribution ne!?

First one must be cheap and nasty, that we can learn fast. Rolls Royce once we have the formula pat down.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, The Terrible Triplett said:

Then you are fired. :P

 

Seriously, I do understand what you are saying ... maybe there is a way, if a engineer can assist with specs, a draughtsman with a design and then a battery manufacturer as a favour. Cost there will be, obviously, but it is for personal use, fun project and all that. I can try the battery manufacturer, but need designs and prente.

Just a wild idea.

Drawing stuff is easy. 

Casting / molding cases is easy.

Taking that to the production line is easy, but cost oolas' of moola's. 

The chemistry is a bit more difficult. I didn't spend time in school listening to my chemist teacher, but luckily these days the stuff is on the internet. And from what I've seen, if I could get my hands on a small smelter and some nikkel and iron ore, I could build a couple batteries. The next step would be to experiment with them and then do some tests to see how much load they can handle, how many discharge and recharge cycles they can endure. And then to decide which components to modify to make it better. hax0r!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, The Terrible Triplett said:

Depends. Been dealing with them for years, the main one in Fishhoek, never had a problem. He actually made deliveries in person.

And yes, there are/where franchise stores trading under the name that got a bad rep. Where sorted I believe.

On top of that, a while ago, the main GW store website was hacked, they lost a lot of business and rep, was sorted and subsequently has been sold. I had a look at the numbers.

Interesting, so did Jason leave?

 

I was part of that crowd. Learned a lot. Like how not to do business.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, The Terrible Triplett said:

Well, give a thumb suck on what it could cost to replicate Edison's batts for local private use?

But NOTE THIS: It is mutually funding, so you need to also make a contribution ne!?

First one must be cheap and nasty, that we can learn fast. Rolls Royce once we have the formula pat down.

Dude, if you're actually serious about this, we need to take it off-line. Even if it's crowd funded. Some stuff happen behind the scenes for a very good reason. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, SilverNodashi said:

Dude, if you're actually serious about this, we need to take it off-line. Even if it's crowd funded. Some stuff happen behind the scenes for a very good reason. 

I am dead serious.

2 minutes ago, SilverNodashi said:

Jason leave?

He sold it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, The Terrible Triplett said:

I am dead serious.

On the Edison batteries, perhaps one day I'll tell you a story, about a meeting at one of the big local manufacturer's offices, many many years ago, about how they decided to make the plates thinner so they could sell more batteries quicker, or risk closing business down. A couple other manufacturers followed suite. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am acutely aware of the need for profit outweighing the need to longevity in batteries and I understand why you need to keep on making profit with batteries.

The margins are stupidly low on batts if you shop right and not get milked.

And that is why ones does it small scale knowing full well it is not a retirement plan.

I am game and so is @superdiy and I bet you Plonkster, Chris, Edmund  and a few others will also be, you know, the active posters here who really are into it.

And once we have it right, nothing stopping us to share with the rest here.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...