LLawrence

During a cold winter, what more could we ask for!

To add on I would recommend the Luxpower from a scalability perspective, often times when specing a system you have an idea of what you essentially need backed up but as you start using it you may find that there are additional items you may want to power. Like mentioned by @GMAC when you find that you would like to add items with heating elements such as kettle, toaster, microwave if you try using the kettle and microware at same time you will quickly reach the limit of the 3KW Growatt inverter. At this point when you want to upgrade the system you will need to but a bigger inverter and battery which is the bulk of your initial investment wasted. Another thing to consider is the voltage difference between the 2 units, the Growatt being 24v would use double the amperage supplying the the same load as the Luxpower 48v Inverter. Meaning your batteries in the 24v system is going to be working twice as hard when supplying the same power. Lastly the price on the Growatt with battery and panels, does this include installation and mounting hardware for the panels? If not the initial cost would most likely be greater than the initial setup cost of first doing the Luxpower setup. At a later stage, save up for solar panels, mounting hardware and installation.

That should not be too much of a warning, the unit should switch the fans once it reaches a certain internal temperature which on that unit should be around 40 degrees. Considering that it is charging at 10A apposed to the 25A option could be the reason that is is not reaching the 40 degree mark, that plus the ambient temperature is most likely colder as we entered Autumn. Would still suggest getting in touch with Mustek as per my previous post so that you have a leg to stand on with your fight between Geewiz

@Basil Katakuzinos If it is worth anything, Communica does at least state that the IVR1200LBKS units are not compatible with Lithium batteries https://www.communica.co.za/products/ivr-1200lbks?variant=31833145933897 However you can reach out to Mustek via their Mecer enquiries page asking for confirmation whether the units are lithium compatible: https://mustek.co.za/mecer-edge/ I would also suggest that your state that the unit was purchased as a bundle through Geewiz in the event that Mustek refuses to fix the unit under warranty in the future due to using with incompatible battery chemistry. When filling out the enquiry form select the Mecer under the All Brands drop down box Doing the above should also help by getting the Mecer product manager or Mustek AM for Geewiz to inform the guys in Geewiz that this bundle is not compatible. Saving future buyer the same frustration you are currently experiencing

Hi @Basil Katakuzinos, Sorry for the late reply. This was initially advised to me by our Mustek account manager that those units are to be used with Lead Acid and gel batteries only, the model up which is a wall mounted 1200VA\1000W unit is however lithium compatible. I have just popped him an email verifying and he has confirmed this is 100% correct. Only their MPPT units are, see attached product sheet. Communica based in Pardon Eiland seem to have stock according to their website: https://www.communica.co.za/products/ivr-1200mppt Unfortunately due to privacy and POPI reasons I am unable to share my email trail between my Mustek AM and I where he states that the unit you currently have is not Lithium compatible. Mecer IVR1200 & 2400MPPT.pdf

Hi @Basil Katakuzinos, If I am not mistaken those Mecer 1200VA Trolley inverters use the Mecer IVR-1200 desktop inverters such as the inverter in the product sheet attached.IVR-1200LBKS and IVR-2400LBKS.pdf If this is the case please note that these units are not compatible with lithium batteries as per the supplier Mustek where Geewiz would have purchased the inverter from. Was this unit sold as a bundle created by Geewiz or did you individually purchase the Inverter trolley and lithium battery as separate items in your cart? If you follow the suggestion from @BritishRacingGreen by using a car battery you would most likely see a very different result.

Hi @Pieter Rossouw Its worth noting that these units only have 2 x 12V 7Ah/9Ah batteries in them meaning you have a theoretical battery pack of 168Wh/216Wh when batteries are at full capacity. Once you take into account that their is a self consumption used by the UPS to convert the DC power to AC along with the battery life deteriorating over time. Being said these units come lead acid batteries, lead acid batteries are not designed to drop below 50%, if the batteries drop below the 50% capacity their life span drastically drops. Another thing to note is that a UPS by design is not there to function long period backup it is designed to keep a workstation online long enough to save whatever you are busy with and then power off. You would better off installing an actual inverter as a backup for your alarm or if budget is a factor replacing the alarms internal battery every few months until you are able to put enough money one side for an inverter backup. Considerations for the inverter that are budget friendly would be something like the Mecer trolley inverters, you will however still need to buy a decent size battery to accompany the unit. https://www.takealot.com/mecer-12v-battery-centre-inverter-1200va-720w/PLID90883101

Hi @UDC, When paring up lead acid batteries you want to make sure that they are almost identical, so definitely the same Ah rating, same chemistry and preferably same brand. Deviating from this would lead to the inferior of the batteries overworking and reduced life span of the battery bank as a whole. However should you feel that you would like to add the 2 x 100Ah batteries to your system I would recommend that you setup both battery banks as separate battery banks. You could then use a battery Isolator switch with combination function to prevent the system from turning off when you switch from one battery bank to the other. These can often be found in boating supply shops such as from the link below: https://seaportsupply.co.za/product/switch-battery-e-4-position-aft/

Hi Guys, So I have some feedback on those interested. I made a small change to the battery bank where I have added 2 additional busbars in between the series links so battery A of series string 1 and battery A of series string 2 have both positive and negative connected in parallel and the same done for battery be in both series string 1 &2. On the inverter I changed the grid charging from 100% output to 50% output. The batteries now charge for longer time, around 1h30min - 2h on a 2 hour loadshed and do not drop as quickly as it previously had. Also the voltage drop between positive and negative sides of the busbars are now dropping at equal rates. What gets me is that when the batteries were changed from the the initial 8 battery bank to the 4 battery bank was that the connectors were also replaced with new connectors which makes it hard to think that it was the connectors that are to blame. Another theory is that the charging setting could have been the initial problem as when set to the 100% output was too much current for the batteries to effectively absorb and flow of current going from positive to negative the positive side of the battery bank resisting the full absorption of the current, indicating to the inverter that it could move on to the next stage of charging? A wild theory, hopefully those who know better would be able to better educate on the matter but so far seems the setup seems to be working better since the changes. Also a notable suggestion as @zsde mentioned is a battery balancer like the HA02 or the pricier Victron Battery Balancer

@Modina So the Fivestar unit I replaced with is rated slightly higher than the previous unit however my consumption requirement remained the same. The Fivestar is a 3.5KVA / 3KWh unit apposed to the Synapse 3KVA/2.4KWh. Hahahaha the way things are going may have to do so - Save WATT I can at this point🤣

Honestly at this point I have given up on the situation and would advise anyone looking at inverters to steer clear form Fivestar options even on a budget. At the end of the day, you do get what you paid for and currently I am paying for the schoolfees of that lesson

Hi All, Sorry for the late response, I managed to get locked out of my account. First off - regarding trying to reach out to Fivestar via their contacts on the website is a bust, the emails bounce back. I suspect the [email protected] is not longer a valid email address. Regarding the power consumption on the inverter, their current firmware is very limited in its view options. The only load read out available with the current firmware is % of inverter rated capacity usage where is with the previous Synapse (axpert) unit I could see the VA, Watt and amperage usage. In terms of how the batteries are connected, I have 2: 500mm x 25mm x 5mm solid copper busbars, 1 for positive and the other for negative. The posts of the batteries on the busbar side are directly connected to the busbar via 10mm holes in the busbar and then secured by the batteries 8mm nut, spring washer and washer below the spring washer. The batteries are then connected in series via 25mm2 cable which are crimped with solid copper, tin coated 10mm lugs. From the busbar to the battery disconnect is the same solid copper tin coated lugs but 6mm hole with 35mm cable(previous battery setup was 35mm square cable all round, could not find stock of the 35mm when the second battery setup was installed.) Also 35mm is over kill for 3.5kva 24v setup especially considering my loads were around 200w-400w at the time the system was working optimally. Regarding the question on cable lengths, the length from busbar to battery disconnect is around 600mm. Another thing to note is that the connection to the negative and the positive are on apposing ends of the battery bank to allow for even flow of current in and out of the batteries

Hi Zsde, I did consider one when I did my initial setup. After 4 months of use it didn't seem like I needed it as the voltage difference across all 8 batteries was between 0-0.1v. It could be that the unit is far less efficient and hence using more power. How would one go about checking the amp consumption between the batteries and the inverter? High consumption is one thing but what would cause the batteries connected to the positive end be drain far further than the negative side? With the difference being about 2v on each parallel lane. All batteries were purchased new, same brand, same chemistry (Calcium lead acid) Thanks for the tip will get in touch with them.

Hi there, New to the forum but have read some fairly insightful info from the rest of the community despite my failed choices in inverter selection. I purchased a fivestar inverter after giving my Snypse 3.0+ inverter away to the in-laws around Dec last year. Big mistake but so we learn... I'm using the same battery bank as I had on the synapse (which seems to be an axpert or axpert clone at least) Since using the fivestar inverter my batteries deplete far faster than they had on the synapse unit. Another thing that I have noticed is that the batteries connected to the positive terminal are being depleted the quickest. Unlike with the synapse which would pull the batteries voltage down equally. I have since swapped out my batteries from my previous 12v 45Ah 2S4P (8 batteries total) to 12v 105Ah 2S2P (4 batteries) and the exact same thing is happening with both battery banks. At first I thought it may be the batteries at fault but after switching the banks and experiencing the same issue I can't imagine the batteries are the issue since this started since I installed the fivestar. Would this fall within a warranty repair and if so who are the suppliers of fivestar to arrange the assessment of the unit (it is still within its 1 year warranty period) place I purchased from only offers a 3 month functionality warranty basically as long as the unit converts power from DC to 220v AC they see it as functional