I was looking at the next vehicle and came across Tesla selling solar panels - but also the Tesla powerwall2 - a battery backup solution.
Just wondering whether anyone has experience running this with their HiFi - as a way to isolate themselves from the noisy powergrid.
Youâll probably find the inverter to be ânoisierâ than mains power.
Ask the same question of people with PV solar power
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I think generally inverters create quiet rough sine waves of AC. I dont have battery backup on my panels, but I must admit that I dont notice a difference between daytime and night, although that might be because there are so many more noises during the day that Iâm not listening as intently.
But generally speaking I (and I think others have agreed on similar discussions) would not buy a Tesla battery backup for HiFi reasons, although if cheap enough I might but for Solar Panel storage reasons. At the current price, I dont think I would get my money back.
We now have an 8kW solar array, so our house is now technically a solar power station as we generate more than we consume.
The Powerwall 2 is available on looonnnggg supply leadtimes. We ordered ours in February, delivery was July. Except that itâs now September âŚor later. A new Powerwall+ is in the pipeline which has the same capacity as a Powerwall 2 but higher peak output if I remember correctly.
We are not doing all this for the hifi. The hifi has to live with the power that it is being given. We are doing it to reduce our long term carbon footprint and to provide a back-up in case of more brown-outs here in the UK. We have so little faith in the UK Governmentâs ability to plan strategically for anything anymore, that the 2% generating capacity headroom that we do have over peak consumption is too narrow a margin to be safe. It just took Little Barford gas power station and one N Sea wind farm to go off-line a couple of years ago for the brown outs to start. There are likely to be more before Hinckley C comes on line in 6-10 yearsâ time.
Hope this helps, if only a bit, BF
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I agree I have on a aircon unit which uses an inverter in another room, and when on I can always hear the hi-fi performance go down⌠so much so that itâs not even worth listening to my Naim system anymore when that air conditioning is on
In hindsight I wish I had never bought that aircon unit.
be careful what you wish for @MMky
It would be interesting to know if Elon Musk uses hi-end hi-fi equipment with over engineered toroidal power supplies at home?
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When my wife uses the hairdyer, the audioquality drops.
Iâve added a measurement device between the wall socket and the hifi, surprisingly the audio quality is ok.
3 overengineered toroidals seem to need only 26 watt having the music turned up 
Yes but the point is that user a Tesla power wall is not the best idea for enjoying hi end hi fi
Good to know! I wouldnât be doing this for the HiFi / but good to know the impact so we can design accordingly if going this route.
If you think about AC generators for HiFiâs, the PSAudio Powerplant20 costs ÂŁ10k for just 2KW. Granted that this converts rough AC to cleanish DC, then DC back to Sine wave AC.
So bearing in mind the cost of batteries being the main component in a Tesla power wall, you can see that a lot probably doesnt go towards generating a clean AC sine wave.
When my wife talks to me with the hair dryer on, her audio quality also drops
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If you have / will have pv panels, be aware that some invertors and optimizers are very noisy too.
Interesting I was watching the Ford F150 reveal, it claims to be able to power your house for 3 days.
Was aware they also fit a power converter for AC powering tools, etc âŚ
âVehicle to Gridâ is something I hope takes off for all car manufacturers. Much more greener solution rather than have batteries in your house AND on your drive.
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At least until the power goes off and your other halfâs taken the car to the shopsâŚ
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Does your concern for carbon footprint account for the making of the powerpack, what it contains, how long it will last and how it is disposed of?
Just interested.
Iâm not sure it matters. Someone needs to be the early adopter. If no one buys in to the early development stage, the technology never reaches scale, and we donât progress.
Early electric cars were a bit - err - niche? But thatâs changing.
If they ever get the epr to work looking at Finland and France not likely any time soon
Taishan seems to be in commercial operationâŚ
Yes they seem to be able to get running in China but not in Europe
Hi Gary,
Delighted that you too extend the thinking beyond âtank to wheelsâ type CO2 emissions. We still have a great deal to learn about full Life Cycle Analysis. The payback for an installation like this would probably never arrive in France with its very low carbon electricity. For us, itâs about saving both household electricity and importantly gasoline as we are switching to an electric car ( with its own high level of embedded carbon).
Itâs a long winded way of saying that we think so but still have much to learn about LCA.
Best regards, BF
Hi Terry, what does the acronym EPR mean in this context?
Best regards, BF