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The Power Sonic Pulse: Frequently Asked Questions

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12 Jul, 2024

This post was originally published on Power Sonic

Q: What chemistry of lithium is used?

A: The Power Sonic Pulse uses LiFePO4 (lithium iron phosphate), one of the safest lithium chemistries on the market.

Q: What system do I need? Whole Home or All-In-One?

A: The All-In-One system is designed for off-grid or critical circuit applications. It has a single-phase 120-volt, 5000-watt inverter and an energy storage capacity range from 5 to 15 kWh. It is the right choice for users looking for uninterrupted power for essential appliances, life support equipment, or off-grid dwellings.

The Whole Home system is designed for residential and light commercial applications, specifically split-phase 240-volt, 200-amp services. It has an energy storage capacity range of 15 to 75 kWh, an automatic transfer switch, and a 12000-watt hybrid inverter. It is best deployed in applications where users seek a comprehensive energy solution combining grid, solar, and battery power.

Q: What is the design life of the systems?

A: The Pulse ESS batteries have a design life of 6000 cycles at 80% Depth of Discharge. This is over 15 years under daily cyclic conditions.

Q: Do you need solar?

A: Both the All-In-One and the Whole Home systems can be operated with or without solar.

PULSE All-In-One

Image 1: The Power Sonic Pulse All-In-One

Q: What is the Pulse All-In-One system used for?

A: The All-In-One system is used to provide backup power to critical circuits in the event of a power outage. For example, if you live in a city that frequently faces brownouts or blackouts, the system will ensure the seamless operation of medical devices, refrigerators, freezers, or other essential appliances.  It can also be used in off-grid applications like cabins or RVs where there is no connection to the grid, storing solar or other renewable energy for use between resource availability.

Q: Can you power the All-In-One system with a generator?

A: The All-In-One system can be powered by a generator. This is particularly advantageous in off-grid applications where there is no connection to the main grid.

Q: How many appliances can I power?

A: The number of appliances you can power depends on how you scale your system and the power requirements of your appliances.

• A single battery boasts a 5.12 kWh energy capacity, sufficient to power a fridge and a freezer for approximately 12 hours or one of those appliances for a full day.

• Two batteries combined offer a 10.24 kWh energy capacity. For instance, this setup could sustain a fridge, freezer, desktop computer, and TV for about 12 hours.

• Three batteries provide a total energy capacity of 15.36 kWh, enabling the operation of a portable air conditioner for up to 10 hours.

Q: How does the system work without solar?

A: If no solar is available the system will charge from the grid and provide power when the grid is unavailable.

Diagram 1: The Power Sonic Pulse All-In-One Without Solar

Q: How does the system work with solar?

A: The system can be set up to exclusively charge the battery using solar power, operate on battery power when solar energy is unavailable, and switch to grid power only when the batteries have been depleted.

Diagram 2: The Power Sonic Pulse All-In-One With Solar

INSTALLATION

Q: Is the All-In-One system installed indoors or outdoors?

A: The All-In-One system is installed indoors.

Q: Where is the All-In-One system installed?

A: The All-In-One system is wired between your main service breaker panel and the critical circuits of your choosing.

Q: Do I need a professional installer?

A: A professional installer is recommended, but not required.

Q: Does the system require any maintenance?

A: No maintenance is required.

SCALING YOUR SYSTEM

Q: How many batteries do I need?

To determine the number of batteries you need, follow these steps:

  1. Calculate Power Demands: Add up the power requirements of all the circuits you want to power. This will give you the total watts needed.
  2. Determine Standby Duration: Decide how long you want the standby power to last in hours.
  3. Calculate Watt-Hours: Multiply the total watts needed by the duration in hours. This gives you the total watt-hour (Wh) requirements.
  4. Select Battery Combination: Choose the closest matching battery combination from the available options. For example, the Pulse AIO batteries are available in 5 kWh, 10 kWh, and 15 kWh increments.

Example: Imagine you have 2 critical circuits, each requiring 15 amps, and you want them to run for 2 hours.

  • Power requirement: 2 circuits x 15 amps x 2 hours = 60 amp-hours
  • Convert to watt-hours: 60 amp-hours x 120 volts (standard AC outlet) = 7200 watt-hours (7.2 kWh)

Based on this calculation, you would select a battery combination that can provide at least 7.2 kWh.

For assistance, please contact Power Sonic’s customer service at Customer-Service@Power-Sonic.com.

Q: What is the maximum number of batteries that can be added?

A: The system is scalable with up to 3 batteries equaling a max capacity of 15 kWh.

Q: When would you need more than one inverter?

A: You would need more than one inverter if you have more than 5000 Watts of power requirements.

PULSE Whole Home

Image 2: The Power Sonic Pulse Whole Home

Q: What is the Pulse Whole home system used for?

A: Pulse Whole Home is utilized to allow the user to never be without power in the face of an outage. It can also be used as a means of smart energy consumption. It allows you to take advantage of solar, wind, and other renewable energy sources to reduce your dependence on the grid and achieve energy savings through methods like peak shaving and power shifting.

Q: How many days will the Whole Home system power my house?

A: At the max capacity of 75 kWh, the system will provide power to an average home for about 3 days.

Q: Can you sell surplus energy back to the grid? Will it happen automatically?

A: Excess energy will automatically be sold back to the grid during user-defined times of day.

Q: How does the system work without solar?

A: If solar power isn’t available, the system will charge from the grid and supply power during grid outages.

Diagram 3: The Power Sonic Pulse Whole Home Without Solar

Q: How does the system work with solar?

A: The system can be configured to charge solely from solar power, run on battery power when solar energy isn’t available, and revert to grid power only when the batteries are exhausted.

Diagram 4: The Power Sonic Pulse Whole Home With Solar

INSTALLATION

Q: Is the Whole Home installed indoors or outdoors?

A: The Whole Home inverter is IP65-rated and can be installed outdoors next to your main breaker panel. The Whole Home batteries are designed to be deployed indoors away from harsh elements to extend useful life.

Q: Where is the Whole Home system installed?

A: The Whole Home system is wired between your energy provider’s meter and your main breaker panel.

Q: Do I need a professional installer?

A: Yes, you will need a professional installer.

Q: Does the system require maintenance?

A: No, the system does not require maintenance.

SCALING YOUR SYSTEM

Q: How do I know how many batteries I need?

A: To determine how many batteries you will need, it is best practice to evaluate your previous electrical bills. This will provide you with a summary of your home’s average energy consumption. From there, you can scale your system to fit accordingly. For assistance, please contact Power Sonic’s customer service at Customer-Service@Power-Sonic.com.

Q: What is the maximum number of batteries that can be added?

A: The system is scalable up to 15 batteries per inverter, equaling a max capacity of 75 kWh.

Q: When would you need more than one inverter?

A: You would need more than one inverter if you have more than 12000 watts of power requirements or if you are trying to deploy the system in a 3-phase application.

For more information about the Power Sonic Pulse, visit our website.

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As enterprises accelerate their AI investments, the energy demand of AI’s power-hungry systems is worrying both the organisations footing the power bills as well as those tasked with supplying reliable electricity. From large language models to digital twins crunching massive datasets to run accurate simulations on complex city systems, AI workloads require a tremendous amount of processing power.

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The IT leaders examining these staggering predictions are rightly zeroing in on improving the efficiency of these powerful systems. However, the lack of expertise in navigating these intricate systems, combined with the rapidity of innovative developments, is causing heads to spin. Although savvy organisations are baking efficiency considerations into IT projects at the outset, and are looking across the entire AI life cycle for opportunities to minimise impact, many don’t know where to start or are leaving efficiency gains on the table. Most are underutilising the multiple IT efficiency levers that could be pulled to reduce the environmental footprint of their IT, such as using energy-efficient software languages and optimising data use to ensure maximum data efficiency of AI workloads. Among the infrastructure innovations, one of the most exciting advancements we are seeing in data centres is direct liquid cooling (DLC). Because the systems that are running AI workloads are producing more heat, traditional air cooling simply is not enough to keep up with the demands of the superchips in the latest systems.

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Thankfully, the benefits of DLC are now also extending beyond supercomputers to reach a broader range of higher-performance servers that support both supercomputing and AI workloads. Shifting DLC from a niche offering to a more mainstream option available across more compute systems is enabling more organisations to tap into the efficiency gains made possible by DLC, which in some cases has been shown to deliver up to 65% in annual power savings3. Combining this kind of cooling innovation with new and improved power-use monitoring tools, able report highly accurate and timely insights, is becoming critical for IT teams wanting to optimise their energy use. All this is a welcome evolution for organisations grappling with rising energy costs and that are carefully considering total cost of ownership (TCO) of their IT systems, and is an area of innovation to watch in the coming years.

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By working together with governments to set effective and actionable environmental frameworks and benchmarks, we can encourage the growth and evolution of the AI industry, spurring dynamic innovation in solutions and data centre design for the benefit of all.

1. AI is set to drive surging electricity demand from data centres while offering the potential to transform how the energy sector works – News – IEA
2. https://www.hpe.com/us/en/newsroom/blog-post/2024/08/liquid-cooling-a-cool-approach-for-ai.html
3. HPE introduces next-generation ProLiant servers engineered for advanced security, AI automation and greater performance
4. https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Adopting_Artificial_Intelligence_AI

Image credit: iStock.com/Dragon Claws

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