Bl4d3

We've been using TheSunPays for the last few years. Service has been good, they've really backed their product. We just bought 4 of their new batteries and we're some what blown away. Colour touchscreen, 60% of the size while still being 4.8kw capacity and 14kg lighter than the old LifePO4 batteries (3 years old).

I have 2 x Sacolar Sunforce 5kw inverters, they work perfectly fine via Solar Assistant. Are you sure you're selecting them in the connection menu and enabling the connection?

Sacolar is not necessarily rebranded as it's produced under the same roof as Growatt. Sacolar is a subsidiary of Growatt

Unfortunately no setting to change it. Yes, it has been amazing especially when paired with Solar Assistant

I'm running Solar Assistant as well and I'm quite keen to know how you are pulling stats that are displayed like the above?

So digging around and I come across a suspicious looking supplier selling some high capacity LiFePO4 batteries for next to nothing. R21995 for a 10kw battery I did some more digging and found that they share 2 websites : https://lcbsolar.co.za/ and https://lifepo4solar.co.za/ both with different addresses in Joburg / Randfontein in obscure industrial parks yet they share the same contact number and email address. Now this screams scammers to me, but I'm keen to know if anybody has dealt with them.

So TheSunPays connected and recalibrated the system. Unfortunately a cell in pack 2 and in pack 3 isnt looking too good and the batteries have to go in for assessment and repair. Good news is they assisted within minutes of asking for help

Just some more data. This was when the batteries dropped from 20% - 13% and the inverters shut down due to low voltage. As you can see, there were no spikes in power draw. Voltage also dropped rapidly from 47v - 44v in the span of 10min

Data from Solar Assistant

I've attached 6 screenshots, all dated. 3 are from March this year when the issue first appeared. TSP connected, reset something in PBMS and SOH was back up to 100%. Same issue happened a couple weeks later, they connected and reset it. SOH back up to 100% All 3 packs are connected to each other using parallel cables (standard cat5). Before purchasing the new battery, we had confirmed with them that it is a match to ours, internally and firmware and they confirmed it would be ok.

Hi Everyone So we've been experiencing some issues with our TheSunPays LiFePO4 batteries. We have 3 x 4.8kw batteries and have looked after them quite well, using only the manufacturers settings and never going outside of this. For the last couple of months though, we've had a problem. If the batteries dip lower than 25%, the voltage drops off massively and then we can never get it back up to 100% without TSP connecting to the batteries and resetting them. Todays loadshedding caused an issue where we were on 50% at 10am and had 4 hours of loadshedding with little sun in Cape Town. The batteries hit 20% and within a matter of seconds dropped to 13% at 44v (cut off voltage). Charging them back up on mains, we've only been able to get 1 to 82% and the packs 2 and 3 only to 77%. They will not charge more. Pack 1 has 331 cycles and is nearing 2 years old. Pack 2 and 3 are on 594 and 593 cycles respectively and are nearing 3 years old. I am of the opinion that these batteries are toast. Any opinions on this?

We personally havent used ICC but have used Solar Assistant for the last couple of months and its been amazing. Solar Assistant doesnt monitor upcoming outages unfortunately. They were kiond enough to give us a 30 free trial. Perhaps pop them a mail and ask if they'd extend the offer to you as well. We've been quite happy with it

Yeah, the parallel wont work if the firmware is different. I know that TheSunPays can change the firmware, they had to on the 1 unit to match it with the other for us.

These are clones, not actual axperts. The firmware is matching between the 2 units. 72.20c

Item: TheSunPays Axpert Type Inverters 4kw/5kva Age: 1 year 10 months Price: R7500ea or R14000 for both - Comms works between them Payment Method Accepted: Instant EFT / Cash Warranty: N/A Packaging: In packaging with wiring Condition: Used - Good Condition Location: Brackenfell, Cape Town Reason: Upgraded Shipping: Can ship at no additional fee, but funds must reflect before I ship. Will use Dawn Wing Collection: Yes, in Brackenfell or Bellville (Willowbridge) Link: https://thesunpays.co.za/manuals/Axpert MKS PLUS 2-3KVA Manual.pdf

These inverters are not 'grid tied' and are considered as "Passive standby UPS utilised as off-grid hybrid SSEG" Therefore the CoCT approved inverter list does not apply. You may also not pull more than 15A charging from mains (25% of mains breaker), this can be limited by Software (60A at 48v). CoC can still be issued as these inverters dont fall under SSEG, they only need to conform to SANS 62040-3 which is merely a only a specification of UPS performance. These inverters conform to it. Please also note, the Sacolars are basically Growatt SPF 5000 ES, they are made by Growatt and Sacolar is a Growatt company. These are not Axpert Clones.

Hi all So we recently installed 2 x Sacolar Sunforce 5kw high voltage inverters (Growatt SPF 5000 ES). We upgraded from 2 x Axpert 4kw/5kva clones low voltage. Master Inverter Panels: 9 x Canadian Solar 365w Slave Inverter Panels: 4 x JASolar 535w panels Previous panel configuration was 3s3p on master and 2s2p on slave due to being low voltage. We changed the panel configuration to 9s1p and 4s1p which gives us a voltage of 360v and 160v respectively. Now the issue we are facing is that on the master (9 panels) we used to get close to 3200w output but with the new inverter we dont get more than 2600w. Slave we used to get 2000w but now we dont get more than 1600w. Did we perhaps stuff something up? Perhaps the other inverters were just inaccurate? Am I perhaps looking at this too finely?

Sure, I get that. What I was saying on the Axpert Clones it was under setting 19. What setting would it be on the growatts?

Hey all So we just got 2 x Sacolar M5000H-48BP inverters because our previous Axpert clones popped their MOSFET's for the 3rd time. Not over heating or anything. For those that dont know, Sacolar is made by Growatt and from the spec's it appears that they are the exact same as the Growatt SPF5000ES inverters. The interface, specs, etc are identical, casing is different. Nevertheless, I am hoping that the growatt users can assist. On the Axperts under setting 19, you were able to set it that the screen remained on the last screen you viewed, rather than it changing back to the voltages screen after 1 minute. Is this setting possible on the Growatts? I've been through the user manual and googled for a good portion today, I cant find anything.

I picked one up on Takealot for R729. Arrived today because its from a 3rd party seller. Ordered last week Monday. https://www.takealot.com/liitokala-lii-500-lcd-battery-charger/PLID48571102

Incase anyone else is looking. I found the Liitokala Lii-500 on Takealot for R729

Hi everyone. I recently came into the possession of 400 x Panasonic NCR18650PF. They in varying states with the bulk of them being good with only a few cycles and some of them being completely dead which I am recovering. Because they are used I of course need to test them. The final intention is to have a 24v system running in 7S57P with a 60A Daly BMS. Now, I am struggling greatly to find a local supplier of a tester that can properly load test and determine accurate capacity. I am looking for either : Opus BT-C3100 Liitokala Lii-500 Anything else that can reliably test cells

I know this might be a long shot but do you have any left?

Received the replacement battery yesterday, fully charged the old batteries and the new battery separately. Let them sit connected to each other for a while to balance out and put it back into service. Seems to have resolved the problem. They are discharging evenly and even when 1 goes slightly our of balance, the BMS kicks in and draws more from the other packs so that they can become balanced again. System is working perfectly so far. Batteries all most carried us the whole night as well

It appears to be different