Franklin Home Power Solution
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A home already suffering from regular grid outages faced the long outage after Hurricane Ian.
Solution
A Franklin Home Power (FHP) system stores excess energy from solar panels to maintain power to the home while the grid is down.
- House loads protected
- Off-grid energy freedom
- Energy security in extreme weather
Fort Myers is a city on the Florida coast. About every 3 years, a hurricane hits the area, causing damage to homes, businesses, and infrastructure. Forty-two years ago, Clyde Bowles built a house with his wife in north Fort Myers and has lived there ever since. To improve the house to better handle severe weather, he rebuilt his home earlier in 2022. Not long after that, hurricane Ian came.
It was fortunate that Clyde’s newly reinforced house was strong enough to have withstood the violent wind and severe flooding. The local grid system was not so fortunate. It immediately went down. Luckily, Clyde has recently installed a Franklin Home Power (FHP) system, including an aGate X, the power control system, and a single aPower X, the energy storage battery, which has powered his house during the grid outages.
When Hurricane Ian hit, Clyde turned off his power, including the aGate. The aPower battery remained on standby. As mentioned above, it remained on standby through the flooding. When the water receded, he turned on the aGate and power was instantly restored to his home.
A couple of years ago, Clyde started planning to install a home battery system to increase the efficiency of his solar system and gain energy independence. He called Custom Solar and Electric to evaluate options and make the decision. The original battery system Custom Solar recommended was not ideal for him because the power storage capacity could not meet his needs. Then FranklinWH was recommended.
Clyde was impressed by the 13.6 kWh storage of the aPower, which is big enough to power the whole home; and the lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells that aPower uses, which are very safe and have longer battery life compared to other battery materials. Another reason he chose Franklin Home Power is its 12-year warranty. Clyde decided to give the FHP a shot.
Clyde does not yet have a two-way meter in the house. Currently, he only turns on half of his solar system to generate energy for his home. Now his FHP manages his home power. If the solar system produces too much electricity, the FHP will turn the solar system off, and let the battery and the grid work together to power the home. Once a two-way meter is in place, the FHP system will automatically send the excess electricity to the grid so he can gain additional financial benefits.
Before Ian hit, there was another big storm that hit Fort Myers. It knocked a tree limb down and damaged the electric wire feeding Clyde’s property. Instantly the FHP kicked in. Clyde’s neighbors were out of power while he had a fully charged battery sitting there powering the house for the next three and half hours until the electrical line was repaired. With only half of the solar system online, Clyde was quite impressed with the performance.
An Extra Surprise
Living with an old utility grid, Fort Myers residents used to get lots of electrical device burnouts from erratic power, brownouts, and blackouts. Clyde attributed the many burnouts of his TVs over the years to power shutting off and surging back on. With Franklin Home Power controlling the loads, with a UPS-style switchover to backup power, his home electronics have been protected.