ECE.31 – DIY Powerwall with Modular Batteries

• Manny Gomez
• Bozo Milisav
• Srdjan Varagic
• Sargon Yako

In 2021, over 5 million people lost access to power in Texas because of the state wide power outage. This left thousands of homes without sources of power to keep their devices powered, food good, and loved ones warm. Having an uninterrupted Powerall will allow a home to continuously keep devices powered through an outage. The market for Powerwall systems is out of reach for most middle earning income families with an average initial cost of ~$19,000 to have one integrated into a home, apartment build, or business. We hope to fulfill the needs of our user survey and data we obtained from it in order to make a product that fits the needs of our users. The project shall also obey all IEEE Health & Safety Standards. Based on our user survey, the design needs to be easy to set up and use as most people don’t have a comfortable understanding of electrical systems and are afraid of injury. A key aspect of the design is the ability to modulate the battery packs in order to accomplish the low initial cost for consumers. The modularity will add capacitance to the consumer’s needs. This allows devices to be powered for longer periods of time. In addition to the modularity there will be a portability aspect. Since the needs of an uninterrupted power supply vary, portability allows a person to expand their reach in terms of what they can keep running during a power outage.