Living with Pila: G Style Magazine's Review
Pila EnergyWhat does living with Pila look like in everyday life?
For G Style Magazine's Jason Anderson, it's one Pila powering his home office and another protecting his fridge. Both are configured to use stored energy when electricity rates are high.
Jason's setup
The office Pila runs his Mac mini, a 38-inch ultrawide monitor, his mesh Wi-Fi access point, and a wine cooler. The kitchen Pila sits above the cabinets and keeps the main fridge and a small kitchen PC running.
His utility, Central Hudson, charges its peak rate on weekdays from 2 to 7 PM. His Pilas charge when power is cheap, then switch to the battery at 2 PM and carry his appliances through the evening. In the photo above, one of them shows a 95% Utility Rate Score for the last 24 hours. Only 6% of the energy his appliances used came from the grid at peak prices.
The second Pila set itself up
One detail Jason highlighted: When he added his second Pila, it automatically picked up the first battery's settings through the mesh. No rate schedule to re-enter. The batteries coordinate over their own local network, so they keep working together even when the Wi-Fi goes down with the power.
Start with the things you depend on. Expand when you're ready. Pretty simple.
Jason also flagged where we have more to do. Without a direct connection to a solar inverter, Pila estimates rooftop solar output from forecasts, and direct pairing is in beta with Enphase only. Jason has SolarEdge. We're working on broader inverter support.
Thank you
Thanks for putting Pila to work in your home, Jason!
