I am looking at buying a portable battery that has a stated capacity of 2048WH.

I t would be used in the house as a power cut back up, having suffered a storm related 3 day power cut last year and lost 2 freezers full of food. But it would also find use as a powerbank on camping trips predominately for bike charging. That's what I want to discuss 'cos I think I may be getting my sums wrong.

So:

Portable battery = 2048wh

2 bikes, 3 batteries totaling 42wh.

Going to assume empty to full charges (it'll never happen but we have to start somewhere).

Assuming a 20% charging inefficiency would mean bike batteries needing approx 50wh.

Assuming a further 20% converting from portable battery to charger seems to give a total of 60wh needed from power source.

This would seem to result in a possible 34 charges from the powerbank.

Seems a tad on the large size to me, colour me skeptical. Am I looking at the numbers wrong?

 

Further to this I can get a portable array of solar panels rated at 400wM.

Assuming a conservative 100w for 5 hours (will be camping during long summer days) would give 500wh ish back to the battery, more than replacing that taken by charging the bikes.

 

This all looks a bit too rosy and convenient to me, or am I just being a pessimistic ex Brummie?

Look forward to the discussion.

I am looking at buying a portable battery that has a stated capacity of 2048WH.

I t would be used in the house as a power cut back up, having suffered a storm related 3 day power cut last year and lost 2 freezers full of food. But it would also find use as a powerbank on camping trips predominately for bike charging. That's what I want to discuss 'cos I think I may be getting my sums wrong.

So:

Portable battery = 2048wh

2 bikes, 3 batteries totaling 42wh.

Going to assume empty to full charges (it'll never happen but we have to start somewhere).

Assuming a 20% charging inefficiency would mean bike batteries needing approx 50wh.

Assuming a further 20% converting from portable battery to charger seems to give a total of 60wh needed from power source.

This would seem to result in a possible 34 charges from the powerbank.

Seems a tad on the large size to me, colour me skeptical. Am I looking at the numbers wrong?

 

Further to this I can get a portable array of solar panels rated at 400wM.

Assuming a conservative 100w for 5 hours (will be camping during long summer days) would give 500wh ish back to the battery, more than replacing that taken by charging the bikes.

 

This all looks a bit too rosy and convenient to me, or am I just being a pessimistic ex Brummie?

Look forward to the discussion.

I'd look again at your batteries. A 15Ah 36V Battery would be 540Wh (ignoring losses/inaccuracies).

I am looking at buying a portable battery that has a stated capacity of 2048WH.

I t would be used in the house as a power cut back up, having suffered a storm related 3 day power cut last year and lost 2 freezers full of food. But it would also find use as a powerbank on camping trips predominately for bike charging. That's what I want to discuss 'cos I think I may be getting my sums wrong.

So:

Portable battery = 2048wh

2 bikes, 3 batteries totaling 42wh.

Going to assume empty to full charges (it'll never happen but we have to start somewhere).

Assuming a 20% charging inefficiency would mean bike batteries needing approx 50wh.

Assuming a further 20% converting from portable battery to charger seems to give a total of 60wh needed from power source.

This would seem to result in a possible 34 charges from the powerbank.

Seems a tad on the large size to me, colour me skeptical. Am I looking at the numbers wrong?

 

Further to this I can get a portable array of solar panels rated at 400wM.

Assuming a conservative 100w for 5 hours (will be camping during long summer days) would give 500wh ish back to the battery, more than replacing that taken by charging the bikes.

 

This all looks a bit too rosy and convenient to me, or am I just being a pessimistic ex Brummie?

Look forward to the discussion.

I have several of those devices. For my house, I have a 15kwh one that cost £2000 from Aliexpress. Before that, I bought two 1.5kwh ones plus 3 x1.5kh extension batteries direct from VTOman.

 

They all work very well. The 1.5kwh ones are fairly heavy at around 20kg, so your proposed one would be heavier still.

 

There is no financial justification for any of them, except when you have a cheap night tariff so you can charge them at night and use the electricity from them during the day. It's more a question of whether you want the independent and secure electricity supply.

 

I'm a very low electricity user at about 5kwh per day in the summer and 7kwh in the winter. Your 2kwh is not going to last long if there's a power cut, but at least you'd be able to charge your phone and microwave some food. An average TV is about 200w, so that would last 10hrs with nothing else. You need to figure out what you expect to power, what that consumes and for how long to decide whether 2kwh is enough.

 

Lastly, solar charging is a bit hit and miss. Its great if you have clear sunshine, but any shadows or cloud will reduce it right down. If it's cloudy, your 100w would be very optimistic. 400w solar panels are quite heavy too. You might be better off getting a bigger power bank that you don't need to charge. Some can be charged off 12v too, so charge while driving.

 

Your 42wh for a bike battery is way off, as pointed out above. That's about what you heed to charge your phones.

Doh ! Of course, the bike batteries are 1512wh, I knew it was all looking a bit too convenient. So one full bike charge would, as good as, deplete the powerbank.

 

The main aim here is to give a degree of power cut independence. I would be looking to run an upright fridge freezer and a very small counter top freezer. It's difficult to calculate usage as, of course, they turn on and off. Suffice to say 2048wh, when combined with minimal opening, would have saved the food from the 72hour power cut we suffered. It was a close thing given the insulation on the fridges.

The power cut was complete. So router was off, cell tower was off - no internet, landline, or mobile service. We have a log stove, a gravity fed evaporating Rayburn and many rechargeable lamps (wind up as well as battery), so we did OK. We played a lot of scrabble and went out in the van to charge phones - not that they were any use.

 

The use of the battery in the van is a nice to have meaning we could use sites with no mains hook up. We tend to set up, spend 2-3 days exploring by bike, then move on. So that would charge the power bank..

 

I have been looking at the Ecoflow stuff. Expensive but is complete with all charging inputs (inc. 12v)and the outputs I need. Main unit is 26kg, not sure about add on batteries.

What was the Aliexpress one you bought, Saneagle? Sounds large for the money.

 

I have roof mounted P.V.'s on the original feed in tarrif. Overall this pays us more than we consume. There is an assumption that we export 50% of what we generate so, if we were to use excess solar to charge the powerbank it would effectively be free as we get paid for 50% whether we use it or not. Whether I can find a way to control this or not remains to be seen.

Doh ! Of course, the bike batteries are 1512wh, I knew it was all looking a bit too convenient. So one full bike charge would, as good as, deplete the powerbank.

 

The main aim here is to give a degree of power cut independence. I would be looking to run an upright fridge freezer and a very small counter top freezer. It's difficult to calculate usage as, of course, they turn on and off. Suffice to say 2048wh, when combined with minimal opening, would have saved the food from the 72hour power cut we suffered. It was a close thing given the insulation on the fridges.

The power cut was complete. So router was off, cell tower was off - no internet, landline, or mobile service. We have a log stove, a gravity fed evaporating Rayburn and many rechargeable lamps (wind up as well as battery), so we did OK. We played a lot of scrabble and went out in the van to charge phones - not that they were any use.

 

The use of the battery in the van is a nice to have meaning we could use sites with no mains hook up. We tend to set up, spend 2-3 days exploring by bike, then move on. So that would charge the power bank..

 

I have been looking at the Ecoflow stuff. Expensive but is complete with all charging inputs (inc. 12v)and the outputs I need. Main unit is 26kg, not sure about add on batteries.

What was the Aliexpress one you bought, Saneagle? Sounds large for the money.

 

I have roof mounted P.V.'s on the original feed in tarrif. Overall this pays us more than we consume. There is an assumption that we export 50% of what we generate so, if we were to use excess solar to charge the powerbank it would effectively be free as we get paid for 50% whether we use it or not. Whether I can find a way to control this or not remains to be seen.

If you use an Ecoflow Stream AC pro with an Ecoflow smart meter you can get it to charge using only your spare export.

Doh ! Of course, the bike batteries are 1512wh, I knew it was all looking a bit too convenient. So one full bike charge would, as good as, deplete the powerbank.

 

The main aim here is to give a degree of power cut independence. I would be looking to run an upright fridge freezer and a very small counter top freezer. It's difficult to calculate usage as, of course, they turn on and off. Suffice to say 2048wh, when combined with minimal opening, would have saved the food from the 72hour power cut we suffered. It was a close thing given the insulation on the fridges.

The power cut was complete. So router was off, cell tower was off - no internet, landline, or mobile service. We have a log stove, a gravity fed evaporating Rayburn and many rechargeable lamps (wind up as well as battery), so we did OK. We played a lot of scrabble and went out in the van to charge phones - not that they were any use.

 

The use of the battery in the van is a nice to have meaning we could use sites with no mains hook up. We tend to set up, spend 2-3 days exploring by bike, then move on. So that would charge the power bank..

 

I have been looking at the Ecoflow stuff. Expensive but is complete with all charging inputs (inc. 12v)and the outputs I need. Main unit is 26kg, not sure about add on batteries.

What was the Aliexpress one you bought, Saneagle? Sounds large for the money.

 

I have roof mounted P.V.'s on the original feed in tarrif. Overall this pays us more than we consume. There is an assumption that we export 50% of what we generate so, if we were to use excess solar to charge the powerbank it would effectively be free as we get paid for 50% whether we use it or not. Whether I can find a way to control this or not remains to be seen.

All the modern powerbanks have all the sockets on them, so yo don't have to stick with Ecoflow. There are some nice ones about 4kwh that have wheels and pull-out handle, like a shopping trolley. The VTOman one is 3.6kwh. It's quute expensive at £1649 compared with what you can get on Aliexpress. As I said, I got 15kwh for £2000.

https://uk.vtoman.com/collections/featured-collection/products/vtoman-flashspeed-pro-3600-portable-power-station?variant=51346534007093

 

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005010805453389.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.1.134dIR8oIR8ofp&algo_pvid=04e4502d-ad7f-49bf-bdfe-dad88e69f4dc&algo_exp_id=04e4502d-ad7f-49bf-bdfe-dad88e69f4dc-0&pdp_ext_f=%7B%22order%22%3A%22-1%22%2C%22eval%22%3A%221%22%2C%22fromPage%22%3A%22search%22%7D&pdp_npi=6%40dis%21GBP%211156.59%211156.59%21%21%2110729.04%2110729.04%21%402103868817697838185433933ea293%2112000053556667739%21sea%21UK%21137056759%21X%211%210%21n_tag%3A-29919%3Bd%3Adbd35664%3Bm03_new_user%3A-29895&curPageLogUid=3A57kKEIem0B&utparam-url=scene%3Asearch%7Cquery_from%3A%7Cx_object_id%3A1005010805453389%7C_p_origin_prod%3A

Top quality portable Solar has roughly halved in cost since I bought the panels on my solar trailer. Excluding delivery, £99 for 110W Sunpower panels. I have 3 on my trailer, so 330W peak output.

 

On a summer blue sky day I get the equivalent of 5 or 6 hours worth of full power generation over the course of the whole day, so 1.5kWh to nearly 2kWh. On average from April to early September, I get half that, depending on weather.

 

For the portable bike battery charging, one panel and a cheap boost charge controller is all you need, doesn't need to go via your van battery, inverter, battery charger. Elejoy MU400SP is what I use.

 

For home resilience, much bigger batteries are available, also from Bimble, although then you need an inverter in addition to run your freezers.

 

Freezers and fridges are very demanding for power during start-up. Too small a power pack might not manage to start a big freezer.

Top quality portable Solar has roughly halved in cost since I bought the panels on my solar trailer. Excluding delivery, £99 for 110W Sunpower panels. I have 3 on my trailer, so 330W peak output.

 

On a summer blue sky day I get the equivalent of 5 or 6 hours worth of full power generation over the course of the whole day, so 1.5kWh to nearly 2kWh. On average from April to early September, I get half that, depending on weather.

 

For the portable bike battery charging, one panel and a cheap boost charge controller is all you need, doesn't need to go via your van battery, inverter, battery charger. Elejoy MU400SP is what I use.

 

For home resilience, much bigger batteries are available, also from Bimble, although then you need an inverter in addition to run your freezers.

 

Freezers and fridges are very demanding for power during start-up. Too small a power pack might not manage to start a big freezer.

Yes,I agree with your opinions.

Yes,I agree with your opinions.

Are you a bot?

 

The above is not opinions, it is measured reality!

It does seem that Ecoflow come out of this with a good degree of convenience as it has a two way inverter, a 12v input and an MPPT charger built in. No untidy extra leads floating around or extra bits to forget.

I'm aware of the Shelly smart meters and their ability (via clamp on current detectors) to monitor power flow. What I'm not sure on is exactly how they communicate with, say, an Ecoflow unit. If I can understand this and get the battery to take excess solar to charge it, then it would be a no brainer. It would utilise power that is otherwise being dumped onto the grid.

It does seem that this control relies on an app to operate it. Not being a smart phone user I'm trying to find out if it can be done from a laptop. Anyone know?

[mention=10079]Benjahmin[/mention]

Might a petrol 'suitcase' size generator fit into the mix somewhere? They aren't a 'silent' solution of course so better for home use to keep the freezers from thawing out rather than a campsite.

 

Many years ago I regularly stayed on a small campsite (one of those 5-unit only ones) that didn't have EHU and my 1Kw generator kept my lead acid batteries topped up over 2-week stays (I'd only run the generator when site occupants were out).

 

There's lots of choice for £500 or less - just a thought.

It does seem that Ecoflow come out of this with a good degree of convenience as it has a two way inverter, a 12v input and an MPPT charger built in. No untidy extra leads floating around or extra bits to forget.

I'm aware of the Shelly smart meters and their ability (via clamp on current detectors) to monitor power flow. What I'm not sure on is exactly how they communicate with, say, an Ecoflow unit. If I can understand this and get the battery to take excess solar to charge it, then it would be a no brainer. It would utilise power that is otherwise being dumped onto the grid.

It does seem that this control relies on an app to operate it. Not being a smart phone user I'm trying to find out if it can be done from a laptop. Anyone know?

The Shelly (I think only the ones sold by Ecoflow) and Ecoflow smart meters communicate with the Ecoflow power station via WiFi. I don't believe you can get charging control with the Shelly, just discharge with zero export.

Edited January 31Jan 31 by chris_n

(I'd only run the generator when site occupants were out).

I`v had experience of someone putting their generator on at a campsite and going out for the evening. I resolved if it ever happened again I`d #8$%* switch the thing off.

I think I may have mentioned this before on this forum. Still irks me now thinking of it. Deep breaths deep breaths............

It does seem that Ecoflow come out of this with a good degree of convenience as it has a two way inverter, a 12v input and an MPPT charger built in. No untidy extra leads floating around or extra bits to forget.

All the powerstations I've seen have that. It's not limited to Ecoflow.

 

If you were truly objective, for the same weight and cost of the solar panels, you could get a petrol generator, which would be a much more reliable and predictable way to charge the power station or anything else.

As quiet as they are these days, noise puts a petrol generator out of the picture. I live in a very quiet rural location and my neighbor is an utter d***head who thinks he is entitled to monastic silence.

I'm finding it hard to find specs (beyond shouty headline features)that tell me exactly what is on each make. I'll have to take another look.

As quiet as they are these days, noise puts a petrol generator out of the picture. I live in a very quiet rural location and my neighbor is an utter d***head who thinks he is entitled to monastic silence.

I'm finding it hard to find specs (beyond shouty headline features)that tell me exactly what is on each make. I'll have to take another look.

 

I'm one of those utter d***heads who thinks he is entitled to monastic silence, when I 'm not destroying my neighbour's eardrums with my abysmal and unspeakably awful electric guitar playing, making their lives hell. Before buying silent cases for my PCs, I considered making sound-dampening boxes to cover them using rockwool slabs. Wear a mask, don't breathe that stuff in.

 

Would enough layers of this stuff recuce petrol generator noise?

 

https://www.insulationuk.co.uk/products/100mm-rockwool-rw5

Edited January 31Jan 31 by guerney

I'm one of those utter d***heads who thinks he is entitled to monastic silence, when I 'm not destroying my neighbour's eardrums with my abysmally and unspeakable awful electric guitar playing. Before buying silent cases for my PCs, I considered making sound-dampening boxes to cover them using rockwool slabs. Wear a mask, don't breathe that stuff in.

 

Would enough layers of this stuff recuce petrol generator noise?

 

https://www.insulationuk.co.uk/products/100mm-rockwool-rw5

You need to let the exhaust out and the air in. That's where most of the noise comes from. It could be done with baffles, but you'd have to find a way to separate the exhaust and the air intake.

You need to let the exhaust out and the air in. That's where most of the noise comes from. It could be done with baffles, but you'd have to find a way to separate the exhaust and the air intake.

Utilise a very long wide plastic tube to lengthen sound wavelength eventually emitted, to human inaudible sub-bass and direct it away from the d***head neighbour's property? And push air through that tube with fans? The tube could be boxed in by rockwool panels. Encasing the tube with plaster of paris or concrete mixed with water soluble EPA glue would be cheaper possibly, but you'd need a lot of it and plaster of paris can ring at certain frequencies (I know this from making my own speaker cabinets), even with oodles of water soluble glue. There's bound to be some way.

 

Otherwise, know the rules. In my experience, Councils don't investigate noise complaints unless it's regular and 24/7. I doubt a few times a week will be a problem, or during power cuts. Council noise measuring devices have such crap mics, they hardly ever pick up any noise above offending levels at all, and I believe that's by design to save Council money and paperwork taking offenders to court. ASB staff only deploy the recording devices if they can hear the noise and judge it to be disturbing, but they're usually old and deaf, and I believe hiring deaf ASB staff is again by design to save Councils money. And that's how I've managed to make my neighbour's lives hell with my epicly loud and horrendous electric guitar playing at all hours day and night for so many years, albeit intermittedly. Cameras watching for Council ASB staff helps. If the d***head neighbour can't get you into legal trouble, torture and ignore the d***head neighbour and live your life, do what you've got to do. In my case I've got to get better at playing guitar.

Edited January 31Jan 31 by guerney

This particular d***head Has decided that he doesn't like the fact that we have retired. Although younger than us, he hasn't worked for around 15 years and has got used to there being no-one else around during the day as all were out at work. So I retire and, after 25 years of working on other peoples houses, I started doing work on my own, using a well insulated garden shed as a woodwork shop. He took extreme exception to this, threw his toys out of the pram and stood at my front door yelling that he hated living next door to us since we retired and that he wanted us to move. Which isn't going to happen. He has since carried out a continuing campaign of belligerence, harassment and general unpleasantness, shouting through the hedge when I'm in the garden if I dare to make a sound, rude gestures as I walk past the front of his house and general d***ckheadedness.

It has reached the point that I regard the man as beneath contempt, so I try to totally ignore him as it's worth my energy.

If I respond in any way to anything he does it feeds whatever crap is going on in his head and it releases further torrents of verbal diarrhea so, to save further stress and aggravation (mine) I keep totally stum, carry on and ignore him. His provocation attempts are getting more and more clumsy and pathetic and I feel the lack of response is slowly doing his head in, 'cos the only thing a playground bully understands is a punchup, and he's not getting it.

So I do nothing deliberate to provoke or wind him up because that is the energy he runs on and I won't have it.

I live my life and will not respond to the negative energy he emits. I don't want these behaviour's in the world and will not engage, respond or be party to them.

 

Rant over - back to the batteries.

This particular d***head Has decided that he doesn't like the fact that we have retired. Although younger than us, he hasn't worked for around 15 years and has got used to there being no-one else around during the day as all were out at work. So I retire and, after 25 years of working on other peoples houses, I started doing work on my own, using a well insulated garden shed as a woodwork shop. He took extreme exception to this, threw his toys out of the pram and stood at my front door yelling that he hated living next door to us since we retired and that he wanted us to move. Which isn't going to happen. He has since carried out a continuing campaign of belligerence, harassment and general unpleasantness, shouting through the hedge when I'm in the garden if I dare to make a sound, rude gestures as I walk past the front of his house and general d***ckheadedness.

It has reached the point that I regard the man as beneath contempt, so I try to totally ignore him as it's worth my energy.

If I respond in any way to anything he does it feeds whatever crap is going on in his head and it releases further torrents of verbal diarrhea so, to save further stress and aggravation (mine) I keep totally stum, carry on and ignore him. His provocation attempts are getting more and more clumsy and pathetic and I feel the lack of response is slowly doing his head in, 'cos the only thing a playground bully understands is a punchup, and he's not getting it.

So I do nothing deliberate to provoke or wind him up because that is the energy he runs on and I won't have it.

I live my life and will not respond to the negative energy he emits. I don't want these behaviour's in the world and will not engage, respond or be party to them.

 

Rant over - back to the batteries.

 

I am sorry to read that you have been subjected to this disgraceful anti-social behaviour. What you describe is probably criminal - it is certainly worthy of an ASBO.

 

If I were you, I would set up recording cameras, go about your normal life, and I would gather data. Then I would report it to the police as anti-social and threatening behaviour, if he crossed any line. While it likely pays to try and coexist with eccentric neighbours, what you describe is completely unacceptable intimidating behaviour.

This particular d***head Has decided that he doesn't like the fact that we have retired. Although younger than us, he hasn't worked for around 15 years and has got used to there being no-one else around during the day as all were out at work. So I retire and, after 25 years of working on other peoples houses, I started doing work on my own, using a well insulated garden shed as a woodwork shop. He took extreme exception to this, threw his toys out of the pram and stood at my front door yelling that he hated living next door to us since we retired and that he wanted us to move. Which isn't going to happen. He has since carried out a continuing campaign of belligerence, harassment and general unpleasantness, shouting through the hedge when I'm in the garden if I dare to make a sound, rude gestures as I walk past the front of his house and general d***ckheadedness.

It has reached the point that I regard the man as beneath contempt, so I try to totally ignore him as it's worth my energy.

If I respond in any way to anything he does it feeds whatever crap is going on in his head and it releases further torrents of verbal diarrhea so, to save further stress and aggravation (mine) I keep totally stum, carry on and ignore him. His provocation attempts are getting more and more clumsy and pathetic and I feel the lack of response is slowly doing his head in, 'cos the only thing a playground bully understands is a punchup, and he's not getting it.

So I do nothing deliberate to provoke or wind him up because that is the energy he runs on and I won't have it.

I live my life and will not respond to the negative energy he emits. I don't want these behaviour's in the world and will not engage, respond or be party to them.

 

Rant over - back to the batteries.

 

Years ago, a nasty distant neighbour intimidated my somewhat less distant and very nice elderly neighbours. They could have recorded evidence, contacted community policing and the council, but instead they chose to quietly move out. They really should have stayed, because that wanker was imprisoned about three years later. He tried to hassle me but I surprised him with a scare. Bullies must be faced down by someone or something.

Edited February 1Feb 1 by guerney

I have reported him 3 times to the police for threatening behaviour. Basically this rests at, 'Unless he hits you sir there's nothing we can do'. I have reported him for harrasement but the police do not regard it as such unless there are 3 or more incidents within 3 months.

He has reported me to the council for 'DIY noise'. I refuted this on the grounds of it being a vexatious complaint, siting the 3 police reports and the then 40 odd pages of contemporaneous records of incidents we had. We invited the council to come round to please measure noise outputs - we heard nothing back. I later tried reporting him for anti-social behaviour, they hedged, umm'd and ar'd and did nothing.

So we have come to the conclusion that we are on our own with this one and that it will be a matter of stamina. Hence the policy of totally ignoring him as this takes minimal energy and seems to wind him up through there being nothing he can escalate. I will not rise (or descend) to his bait.

Great believer in, 'Smile, it confuses people'.

I have reported him 3 times to the police for threatening behaviour. Basically this rests at, 'Unless he hits you sir there's nothing we can do'. I have reported him for harrasement but the police do not regard it as such unless there are 3 or more incidents within 3 months.

He has reported me to the council for 'DIY noise'. I refuted this on the grounds of it being a vexatious complaint, siting the 3 police reports and the then 40 odd pages of contemporaneous records of incidents we had. We invited the council to come round to please measure noise outputs - we heard nothing back. I later tried reporting him for anti-social behaviour, they hedged, umm'd and ar'd and did nothing.

So we have come to the conclusion that we are on our own with this one and that it will be a matter of stamina. Hence the policy of totally ignoring him as this takes minimal energy and seems to wind him up through there being nothing he can escalate. I will not rise (or descend) to his bait.

Great believer in, 'Smile, it confuses people'.

 

Again, know the rules. People who only create reams of paper hearsay get nowhere. Until there's recorded evidence, it's your word against his and his against yours leaving the cops nothing for the courts. Years ago I managed to get rid of neighbours abusing their dog. I used a cheapo wall microphone I bought on ebay for £6.99, £50 audio recorder, and a brick. The brick held the wall mic against the wall. Money well spent. The brick was free. Android/iPhones weren't available then, now there are audio recording apps available for phones and they have mic input. My OnePlus 5 has one built into the OS, and because it's built-in, it can discreetly record hours of audio via bargain £4 Asda bluetooth sports earbuds. CCTV systems cost under £200 (if the hard drive is small). You can buy video doorbells. Good quality video recording glasses cost a lot. High quality audio recorders with mic input are cheapish secondhand. The GoPro 7 Black I use for recording all my bike rides has excellent forward facing mics, records surprisingly high quality even when carried in a pocket, provided the garment material isn't very thick and even if. Newer GoPros have mic input. Boost and clean recorded audio using (free) Audacity or some other app/program to provide RSPCA and cops evidence, along with copies of the original recordings. Those neighbours fled when the RSPCA and council pressed charges. However, they took their poor dog with them and I really should have tracked them down. It's long dead by now. I still sometimes feel guilty for not tracking them down. Damned monsters. I spotted one of them on the high street about a year later. Because I had also made him feel unsafe he kept a wide berth. I never say anything to make b****s like that feel unsafe, and hardly ever make physical contact, certainly not first contact, most of the time. Must be my big muscles and fangs...

Edited February 1Feb 1 by guerney

So, in my journeys around t'interweb I've come across this:

https://www.deta.co.uk/timeguard/products/renewables/pv-solar/boostmaster-pv-boost-immersion-controller-pv1000

It's more expensive than a Shelly meter but it has the advantage of not needing an app to program it. The ct clamp has a transmitter connected to it that communicates directly with the switching unit. It has a 3kw resistive load switching capacity which, given most batteries charge at around 1.2kw, should be enough.

So this unit will detect outgoing current (excess solar) and turn the charge on. There seems to be some latency involved, not sure if that would be an issue.

Currently looking at the bigger batteries on the assumption of economies of scale.

So this unit will detect outgoing current (excess solar) and turn the charge on. There seems to be some latency involved,

Out of curiosity I watched the product video etc (I like the guy's sense of humour) - an interesting product - nice and simple.

 

The latency - are you referring to the switching not occuring until power export (measured in WATTS not current/amps) gets to 100w (and when does the switch back occur - something less than 100w of course - is this the the latency you refer to and why might it be a problem - just curious?)