Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Setting Up A Mobile Espresso Bar! Been Going Nonstop Researching LiFePO 4 / AGM / LiPO etc. Reaching My Limits. Would Really Appreciate Some Help Filling In A Few Gaps. AskEngineers

Hi everyone!

I'm starting up a mobile espresso bar out of a Citroen HY! It's an old French van.

Anyway, I'm trying my damdest to get this thing running without using a generator. So I've been looking into battery banks. Quite pricey, but should pay for itself vs. a generator all day, and they are so noisy it would likely ruin business anyway.


Power Requirements

Based off 2 hours busy 4 hours slow [6HD]

Product Draw Peak Hourly Off Peak KWH/6HD AH/6HD
Espresso Machine 5000 1000 500 4.00 350
Coffee Machine 1350 -750 --0 1.35 110
Refrigerator 600 -300 150 1.20 100
Electronics 50 --25 -25 0.15 -12
Water Pump 100 --50 -25 0.20 -15
Extra
Totals 7,100 2,125 700 6.90 587

I did a little bit of rounding, especially on the AH to simplify it. Tried to go over on some and under on others to balance it.

I could also be completely wrong on the espresso power requirements, but nobody, and I mean nobody will give me the average wattage usage of their machines during peak usage. Even spoke directly with espresso machine engineers. Their response was 'well, we really don't go out of our way to figure that stuff out? Nobody needs it so we don't do testing for it.' I will make sure to blast the info everywhere though.

There was one, and I mean one test I found online for a professional 2/3 group espresso machine with a 4000 watt boiler. It was taking about 800 watts per hour during peak. So I rounded up.

It would be nice to setup a system with LiFePO batteries for this so I don't have to use a generator. I was thinking about getting around 1000 AH worth of batteries to be on the safe side. Also set it up so I can expand. I really don't have the funds to do some crazy 4000 AH lithium bank for starters, so I'll be doing shorter days until then.


I did find these Large capacity lithium cell LiFePO4/LiFeYPO4 - 3.2V/1000Ah

http://ift.tt/2bYQBH7

and I'm a little confused. 1300 for 1000 AH of LiFeYPO4 batteries seems too good to be true. Are these batteries not good for my application?


After some reading a few people said that CALB are the best to buy.

GWL/Power CALB CA180FI - Lithium Cell LiFePO4 (3.2V/180Ah)

http://ift.tt/2c6U7fR


I also need to figure out the way to connect everything up. My espresso machine is probably going to be 220. Same with the coffee machine. The rest is 110.

Inverter/Charger

  • Thinking 8000 total is what I need, but don't know if they can be ran as 2 4000 watt or has to be one.

  • I found the AIMS power pure sine inverter charger, but it's ridiculously expensive. Is this my only option?

What else do I need? Battery monitors, dc-ac, shut off switch, charge controller... That's also something I'm trying to figure out too. Mainly so I can get a good idea of pricing for this whole thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4jMin2Xqqw

I found this video that actually has an electric citroen HY, even using flexible solar panels... that seems like it might be a waste though. 100 watt max draw, and probably only works for a few hours a day. I'd probably only be able to fit about 4 of those on the roof...

Holy crap this is way too long of a post. Sorry.



Submitted August 31, 2016 at 06:24AM by darrenphillipjones http://ift.tt/2bYR782 AskEngineers

No comments:

Post a Comment