zsde

I don't see myself as having any opportunity to balance the cells for any great length of time more than 3-4 hours, my batteries are cycled daily because I am off grid.
I bought them to use them 😆

Thank you for the review.
I also installed 2x HinaESS PowerGem Max in April, got them from Powerforumstore (yes, they actually do sell them, despite not being advertised) and went to fetch them myself from CNBM in Midrand.
They were floor mount, and installation was a breeze, with the help of some moving wheels:


It took me a while to get the HinaESS App to work properly because I have some strict home firewall rules, but eventually I got it sorted after relaxing some of them.
I didn't do any extra balancing, and the cell voltages are within 6 millivolt between Max and Minimum, so I am not too concerned about that:

I recently discovered that they are actually white-labelled Knyee batteries.
All in all, they are great batteries and I am very happy with them.

As long as they get full every day its fine. My battery had an almost 90mV imbalance from new. Was getting an overvoltage error on cell 6. I didnt lower the charge voltage or anything. I knew it would fix itself eventually.

The battery has a PACEBMS and the BMS was cutting the charge around 55.2V instead of reaching the 56.8V target because of cell 6 OVP. I let the passive balancers do their thing which only work when the battery is charging so with the BMS cutting the charge early it needed a lot of charge cycles to sort it out. It took almost 4 months and my pack is hitting 56.8V now. It is even floating. Something it never did.

So those few minutes every day was enough to eventually get the balancer to bleed cell 6 enough to get the pack to fully charge. Its passive also and not an active balancer like most.

But the key thing is my battery got full for every single day except 4 days in the last 4 months. That was enough to do the job. It doesnt need to sit at full to balance unless you want it to happen in a much shorter time. I just let the BMS sort itself out which it did.

It's a very open-ended question, so before you get any answers to your questions, you need to share some information.
Budget: ball-park figure.
Do you plan to do the installation yourself? Are you qualified / skilled enough to do so?
Do you know what your current and planned utilisation is?
Do you know what loads you want to cover? What are they (in kW)?
Partial coverage or full? This is 3 phase, so how are your loads currently split on the various phases?
Have you planned for Storage?
What technology?
High voltage or low-voltage batteries?
How much storage?
Have you planned for generation?
What technology? Solar / wind ?
How much?
Do you have North-facing roof space available, or are you envisaging a ground installation?
These and a lot of other questions need some answers before someone can help you with the actual equipment and protection devices needed. There are many, and they all depend on your design.
If I were you, I'd speak to an expert at Powerforumstore, give Wimpie or Steve a call, they can design a system for you with everything that you need, down to the last bolt and nut.

The manual provides a good starting point:

Yes please those plugin ones are super convenient to use all over the place.
Then I can switch from the vizia's to sonoff's for everything 🥰
I love all my sonoff devices, never any issues.

Google Brad Tallis on YouTube - Very good teacher

My goodies have arrived! 😎
Thank you once again @Powerforum Store @Energy-Jason and @Sonoff Africa !

PowerForum members, we’ve secured an insane price on the full Hinen Compact Back-up System (TDB) package.

What You Get in This Combo:
Hinen PS3000 3000W Portable Power Station with built-in 2.56kWh LiFePO4 battery
One extra 2.5kWh LiFePO4 battery pack (total capacity ≈ 5.06kWh)
Hinen SmartBox (automatic transfer switch / combiner box)
2 x Astro Energy 580 Watt Bi Facial Solar panels
2 x Solar panel cable kit

https://www.astronergy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/ASTRO-N5-580600W-72-Monofacial-Module%EF%BC%88For-BD%EF%BC%89.pdf

Key Features:
Ultra-fast 14ms EPS switchover your essential circuits stay on seamlessly during outages
SmartBox continuously monitors the grid and automatically switches to battery backup
Expandable up to 6 extra 2.5kWh batteries (total 17.5kWh)
Solar ready fully charge the system with 2×400W panels in ~3.5 hours
Pure sine wave output, app monitoring (WiFi/Bluetooth), quiet operation, portable with wheels
Perfect For:
Home backup (fridges, lights, routers, TVs, security, medical equipment)
Camping & outdoor adventures
Quick recharge for e-bikes
Emergency top-up power for EVs
Small offices or load-shedding survival
Why this is a no-brainer:
Similar configured systems (Power Station + extra battery + SmartBox) are currently selling between R25,000 – R35,000+
Full package with ≈5kWh total capacity at this crazy low price
Much simpler & cheaper than a full home ESS installation
Safe LiFePO4 chemistry 4000+ cycles, long lifespan
Our Special Price: R18 587,91 VAT Included
(While stocks last this price won’t last long!)
Hinen South Africa
3000W Portable Power Station
It's a high-power portable station. It supports outdoor camping, outdoor office, home emergency,entertainment, fish tank, aerial photography and other application scenarios.To order:
Email: [email protected]
WhatsApp Steve  074 218 9845
Official online store: www.powerforum.co.za
Nationwide delivery available. Installation support & electrician referrals on request.
First come, first served. Get your reliable backup power sorted today!
TDB individual product specs (2).pdf
Hinen PS3000 datasheet.pdf

Delivery available at additional cost.

Johannesburg Stock (EX JHB)
Model
Description
Qty
Price/W (excl)
Price/Panel (excl)
Price/Panel (incl)
Datasheet
LR8-66HGD-610M
LONGi 610W TOPCon Bifacial
1,151
R2.30
R1,403
R1,613
View
LR8-66HTD-630M
LONGi Hi-MO X6 630W Bifacial
414
R2.25
R1,418
R1,630
View
LR7-72HVH-645M
LONGi Hi-MO X10 Explorer 645W
156
R2.35
R1,516
R1,743
View
LR7-72HVH-630M
LONGi Hi-MO X10 Explorer 630W
113
R2.20
R1,386
R1,594
View
LR8-66HTD-620M
LONGi 620W Bifacial
64
R2.20
R1,364
R1,569
View
LR7-72HTH-635M
LONGi X6 Scientist 635W
43
R2.30
R1,461
R1,680
Available on request
LR5-54HTH-430M
LONGi 430W Semi-Black
186
R2.35
R1,011
R1,162
View
LR5-72HTH-560M
LONGi 560W
11
R2.20
R1,232
R1,417
View
Cape Town Specials (Still Running – EX CPT)
Panel
Watts
Price/W (excl)
Price/Panel (excl)
Price/Panel (incl)
Datasheet
Canadian Solar 615W Bifacial
615
R2.25
R1,384
R1,592
View
LONGi 610W Bifacial
610
R2.25
R1,373
R1,579
View
LONGi 590W Bifacial
590
R2.25
R1,328
R1,527
View
Important Notes:
JHB stock: EX Johannesburg
CPT stock: EX Cape Town
Delivery available at additional cost
Larger volumes receive preferred pricing
Legitimately sourced panels + ERP included
Prices exclude VAT and delivery
Contact us to reserve stock:
📞021 276 2975
📱WhatsApp: 074 218 9845
✉️[email protected]
Or comment / PM us on the forum.
Thank you for your continued support.
The sale of these quality products helps keep the wheels at PowerForum turning.
Without your support, we simply could not continue providing this free resource to the community.
@Powerforum Store
www.powerforum.co.za

For better guidance just share with us what inverter/MPPT you're using and how will panels be connected. Series/parallel.
Off the cuff 2 thoughts.
A lot of MPPTs will throttle once they reach their maximum amps.
If you can use the 2 panels in series with the new panels they will ensure that the current does not exceed the 10A of the MPPT.
This does mean you might loose some efficiency if you buy higher current panels.
This might be a way to go as those 10A panels are not always available.

Lots of red flags with this website unfortunately the domain is hosted and registered by Godaddy the scammers all love GoDaddy as they ignore any abuse complaints.
I cant pick up bad reviews for this website I do see some good ones but in general it doesn't look promising.
They don't have Payfast or one of the bigger payment gateways as payment method and its only EFT.
If you can let me know what you want to purchase from them I can have a look at some options as well for you.

That is a lot of Google reviews maybe they are legit but rather go to them then. Just be careful as I saw that address 160 main reef road being used by other scamming websites.

After reading your posts, and understanding your approach (and limited budget), I think that it's worthwhile to think about the ultimate end-state as well as "systems thinking" in your visioning.
First-off: Good on you for focusing on the biggest culprit, and the area where the most possible gains can be realised.
Secondly, be mindful that you don't lose your peripheral vision in the process. People with limited budgets can rarely, if ever, create their dream system in one big bang. Each component is one building block of the bigger system, like a grain of sand in the mortar, the mortar holding one brick to another, a brick in a wall of bricks, a wall in a room, a room in a house, and a house in a home. Each component should be reusable. Even wealthier people make this mistake, and those that aren't as wealthy are prone to do so because of "sticker shock", or they limit their big-picture thinking because they are either 1) unable to prioritise their spending, or are 2) unable to see how the gradual spending / investment of smaller amounts eventually adds up to total independence from the Socialist Eskom / municipality. 6 years ago this wasn't my own goal, but in January the greedy socialist municipality forced me to choose it, at very little cost to myself because the foundation was solid.
Today you are solving one problem, but tomorrow will bring another, and so your solution needs to be extensible and not just a "point" or standalone solution. A parallel can be drawn to those that purchase Mecer trolleys to "keep the TV on" during loadshedding. It was a great solution at the time, for short periods of outage, but the downsides were that it was clunky, required a place to stay and trip-me-over extension leads, emitted explosive hydrogen gases, produced motor-killing square waves and was subject to the shallow cycles and maintenance requirements of lead-acid batteries. Woe betide anyone who had a surge-protector after the inverter, or who had plugged them into wall sockets when the power returned. When load-shedding intensified, some people simply bought more of them, so we found households with two or three of them. Those who were smart enough to realise that Eskom's inability to keep the lights on, as well as their constant billion rand bail-outs and price increases was endemic to Socialist agenda, went for solutions earlier on that were more extensible and could be upgraded without risk of the big BOOM!
Granted that point solutions have their place: a 10,000mAh power bank is useful and portable, and can be repurposed in hundreds of different ways, but it isn't a power or money saver.
Many who have had solar-powered geysers before installing a full-blown integrated solar system argue that in hindsight, precious North-facing roof space used by the solar geyser heating system would be better served if they could replace it with traditional solar panels, purely because the electricity generated could be redeployed to either charge batteries or service other loads
Someone who seems to have achieved his clear objectives (off-grid!) in record time, and very limited budget is @Denns in his post https://powerforum.co.za/topic/34183-exciting-long-term-review-new-hubble-energy-am16-am5-in-a-real-micro-grid-setup/#findComment-230500
You can bet that he didn't arrive at it all in one month though, so I leave it to him to expand on his journey and budget, which I am sure that you will find to be inspirational.

Not sure if you are looking for leads.
My 1st choice for a medium size system would be the Deye 6kW off grid inverter that can operate from 125V being 3 panels and can accept up to 12kW in PV.

Canadian Solar 615W TOPBiHiKu6 N-type Bifacial
https://www.canadiansolar.com/na/topbihiku6/


Collection CPT and Durban Only Genuine Tier 1 Canadian Solar TOPCon bifacial panels.
One Pallet is 36 panels.
Singles are 35 and less panels
Pricing
Quantity
Price per Watt (excl VAT)
Per Panel (excl VAT)
Per Panel (incl VAT)
Full Pallets / Larger volumes
R2.25
R1,384
R1,592
Single panels
R2.35
R1,445
R1,662
Important Notes:
Full pallet pricing applies to complete pallets or larger volumes
Collection from Cape Town and Durban only
Legitimately sourced panels
ERP included
Prices do not include delivery
Broken pallets / small quantities will be charged at the single panel rate
Stock is limited.Contact us to order:
📞021 276 2975
📱WhatsApp: 074 218 9845
✉️[email protected]
Or comment / PM us on the forum.
Thank you for your continued support.
The sale of these quality products helps keep the wheels at PowerForum turning. Without your support, we simply could not continue providing this free resource to the community.
@Powerforum Store
www.powerforum.co.za
CS-Datasheet-TOPBiHiKu6_CS6.2-66TB_v1.2_EN (2).pdf

Just stumbled on this while doing research.
Might be interesting to someone.
I've attached the link and the main table of the paper
https://repository.up.ac.za/server/api/core/bitstreams/180113c2-501f-41ab-9625-9deef5f5b711/content

Yippee!

Thank you @Energy-Jason , @Powerforum Store and @Sonoff Africa !

For sure it's a cool giveaway!
AFAIK the smart switches require neutrals to be present, so the winner might have to do some remedial wiring of a circuit or two, but it's worth it. And I'm dying to try out my new TEMU wire puller that I bought on special.

The $100–150 range is for the US. See my second post -- it states that it is vastly different in South Africa, resulting in some people actually having to pay the recycler 😦
Fully agreed.

Okay, so then the R2K on offer (approx $120 USD) is about middle of the road or average for the reported international scrap value of the battery. Just stating the obvious.
I'm sure the newer batteries are better and more desirable, but each one must maar decide for himself how much his old generation battery is still worth to him.

I think we need to stop here, before the Mods nail us for making them spill their hot chocolate...

The Coulomb Counting is a separate field of study entirely, reserved for the PHD Program at Buttery University 😆

This Offer is still available!