Carlo1973

Guys, thank you all for contributing in this thread, I for one have learned a lot about batteries and charge cycles (and in general about Trojans, Axperts, Isuzus and Fords) and this is what makes this Forum great.
My battery bank is made up of 200Ah Vision AGM batteries, 4 in series. We are completely off-grid now for a year. I do have a Honda inverter genny for stand-by use when there is no sun for a day or so. In the morning before the solar charging kicks in, the batteries are standing at 51Vdc. I presume this is acceptable?
The 5kVA Axpert (not the plus one) does the bulk charge at 56V, and then tapers down to 54V. Does that sound right for the AGM batteries? I have not fiddled with any settings on it since I installed it.
My thinking at the beginning was to buy the cheapest batteries of reasonable quality, with the intent to replace it after 3 years with something better. I paid R16k for the 4, on a PCLink special last year. I anticipated that the price of batteries and especially Li-Ion options will come down. 

Hi @Leondk, if you have an Axpert inverter, get the Omnipower. Axpert inverters cannot charge Trojan batteries at the right Voltage, let alone do an equalization charge on them. You will constantly undercharge them and they won't last long. 
 

Nee, jy dink aan 'n Foton Tunland :-)

This is why I don't buy from drop-shippers. It is better to support the guy who actually adds value to the transaction (shipping it to me in a reasonable time) than the guy who plays middle-man, essentially orders it from Ebay anyway, and saddles you with any import costs, the risk of it getting lost, and the long wait period.
I sometimes wish BidOrBuy had an "exclude drop-shippers" option. Luckily I know the main ones: Racer Gadgets, The World Online, ElectronicPro, MacCell.
I also find myself increasingly using Amazon. Amazon estimates the import tax and uses a courier to ship it to your door. You'd think it is expensive, and it can easily add a couple of hundred rand to the order, but on just two recent excursions (the second one is still being contemplated, the first one already delivered) I found that electronics are often cheaper from Amazon. Example at hand, I got me a nice OBD2 scanner for our cars. Local sellers wanted 3k, I got it for 2.2k all in from amazon delivered to my door. Second example, laptop. Even with import costs I'd likely save at least R1000 by just getting it from Amazon...

Hopefully within weeks you will be able to order HA 02s and other solar goodies directly from our website to satisfy that NOW urge .