Pila
Hardware
home battery
SHOW HN2025
How HN took it
55 positive, 156 neutral or asking, 8 mixed, 97 critical, out of 316 comments about the project. Thread score -0.15.
Idea: 25 for, 29 againstPricing: 10 for, 32 againstPerformance: 5 for, 18 againstDesign: 5 for, 9 againstExecution: 1 for, 4 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Mission to make energy resilience accessible to renters
From 1 comment
What a noble mission to make energy independence more accessible like this, even to renters! I read your site, watched the video, but I still don't understand why you implemented…
mrb on HN
Sleek design
From 2 comments
Looks very sleek.
bn-l on HNI love the design, but I wonder about the "selling feature". How many people regularly experience power outages (ok, if you're American relying on Canadian electricity, you might…
pedalpete on HN
Objections
Unclear market; small capacity and high price versus UPS and whole-home batteries
From 3 comments
It looks beautiful. But I honestly don't understand what the market is. OP answered in one of the comments that it will run a single fridge for 32 hours. I understand the…
crazygringo on HNFrom your site: "For homes with electricity prices that vary throughout the day, Pila optimizes charging to help manage your utility bills." Based on experiments like…
CharlesW on HNI don't understand this. It's a tiny backup battery with an expensive enclosure, with only 100W of solar input? How are you expected to run solar wiring with this in your living…
turtlebits on HN
Savings claims on energy bills are doubtful
From 1 comment
From your site: "For homes with electricity prices that vary throughout the day, Pila optimizes charging to help manage your utility bills." Based on experiments like…
CharlesW on HN
Plug-in backfeed and solar wiring raise safety and practicality concerns
From 2 comments
Two questions: 1. Have you considered building a “microgrid interconnection device” to go with this to allow the batteries to backfeed a house in the event of an outage? (This…
amluto on HNI don't understand this. It's a tiny backup battery with an expensive enclosure, with only 100W of solar input? How are you expected to run solar wiring with this in your living…
turtlebits on HN
Requests
240V support
From 1 comment
Any way to get 240V out of the ecosystem?
segseg7 on HN
Better website scrolling design
From 1 comment
Two questions: 1. Have you considered building a “microgrid interconnection device” to go with this to allow the batteries to backfeed a house in the event of an outage? (This…
amluto on HN
Questions
Who is the target market
From 1 comment
It looks beautiful. But I honestly don't understand what the market is. OP answered in one of the comments that it will run a single fridge for 32 hours. I understand the…
crazygringo on HN
Why a mesh network is needed between batteries
From 1 comment
What a noble mission to make energy independence more accessible like this, even to renters! I read your site, watched the video, but I still don't understand why you implemented…
mrb on HN
How islanding works and whether grid-side install is needed
From 1 comment
This looks great! > When an outage happens, the onboard inverter detects the power loss within 20ms and automatically disconnects from the grid (islanding) How does this work? Do…
shafyy on HN
Alternatives named
Standard UPS units
From 2 comments
So it's just a smarter UPS, (that can integrate with solar panels) but you only compare it to a standby generator. Seems like you need to compare it to a UPS too, because that's…
gwbas1c on HNFrom your site: "For homes with electricity prices that vary throughout the day, Pila optimizes charging to help manage your utility bills." Based on experiments like…
CharlesW on HN
Anker SOLIX F3800 Plus
From 1 comment
From your site: "For homes with electricity prices that vary throughout the day, Pila optimizes charging to help manage your utility bills." Based on experiments like…
CharlesW on HN
Tesla Powerwall
From 1 comment
For folks that are looking for true whole-home backup, with every load protected, investing in something like a Powerwall would be the way to go. I don't see Pila trying to…
coleashman on HN