Has anyone ever installed the new Freedom Won eTower batteries?

I'm considering these to run with a Sunsynk 5kW inverter.

They look to be similarly priced to the Hubbles, etc.

Specification Sheet

These must be brand new, i have never seen one before, looks quite cool though. Have you gotten any quotes? is the pricing better than their existing battery options?

 

Eddit: did some googling and they do look to me to be more affordable than the existing range!

Edited October 18, 20214 yr by Basil Katakuzinos

I got a quotes for about R24k-R27k for 5kW, 52V LiFePO4.

The specs seem to be very similar to the other 5kW-ish batteries.

Total Energy Capacity [kWh] - 5
Energy, 80% DoD [kWh] - 4
Energy, 90% DoD [kWh] - 4.5
Current Capacity [Ah] - 100
Max/Cont. Charge Current [A] - 80/70
Max/Cont. Charge Power [kW] - 4.2/3.6
Max/Cont. Discharge Current [A] - 100/90
Max/Cont. Discharge Power [kW] - 5.2/4.7
Max Recommended Inverter Total Rated Power (cont.) [kVA] - 5kVA
Combined weight [kg] - 45
 

All cables is included.

• Plastic pedestal for tower stacking (cleats for 19” rack not included but available from Freedom Won if required).
• DC cables standard 1,8m long in 35mm single core with M6 terminal lugs on one end, red for positive and black for negative.
• Interconnecting tower busbars drilled and cut to length for single tier jumps using tower pedestals, with heat shrink covering, red for positive and black for negative.
• Interconnecting RS485 parallel battery communication cables for interconnecting the tower modules’ communication RJ45 sockets (standard ethernet cables may also be used).
• Inverter interface CAN Bus cable at 1,8m length for connecting compatible CAN bus equipped Victron inverters
• Inverter interface CAN Bus cable at 1,8m length for connecting compatible CAN bus equipped Type 1 inverters e.g. Sunsynk, Growatt, Solis, Goodwe (see Freedom Won Interfacing Guide for full details).
• Inverter interface RS485 cable at 1,8m length for connecting Voltronic/Axpert Inverters

On 2021/10/18 at 1:07 PM, KempM said:

I got a quotes for about R24k-R27k for 5kW, 52V LiFePO4.

Max/Cont. Discharge Current [A] - 100/90
Max/Cont. Discharge Power [kW] - 5.2/4.7

This would make it more superior than most other LFP batteries on the market. It is on par with the Hubble. Pricewise as well. Is there a way to find out who is manufacturer of the individual cells inside?

Edited October 20, 20214 yr by PowerUser

So, I ordered the eTower battery.

I see on the side a sticker saying 'Made in China'!

I was under the impression that Freedom Won was a South African manufacturer. 🤔

They are assembled in SA, The cells themselves all come from China afaik.

All cells come from China but there are different manufacturers there with different standards. That’s why it’s a good idea to find out the Chinese manufacturer for those particular cells. It will give you an idea of the quality. 

Edited October 20, 20214 yr by PowerUser

They probably use one of the top suppliers such as BYD or CATL i would suspect ,you could probably pop them an email and ask. "Our loose cells are imported from a long-standing manufacturer in China. The Freedom Lite module is manufactured and assembled in South Africa."

Quick question everyone.

I bought the eTower and got it installed and running of a Sunsynk 5kW.

The battery charges up again after loadshedding, but has been slowly losing max SOC over the last week.
At the beginning of November the SOC after the initial charge was 99%. Today the SOC is sitting at 90%.
Basically dropping 1% per day. 

Any insights into what is going on here will be much appreciated.

Just some feedback on my battery losing SOC%.

Freedom Won support did a firmware upgrade on the battery today and the SOC is now back at 100%.

The weird thing was that the physical voltage was at 55.8V and showing 80% SOC on the LiBMS page of the Sunsynk inverter, also the same 80% indication on the SOC LEDs on the front of the battery.

 

Hi KempM

I seem to have the exact same issue as you.  I got my Freedom Won eTower plus Sunsync 5Kw inverter installed and it's been running for a week now.  But it's also been slowly loosing max SOC% since installation and now stands at 88%, with the battery voltage at 55.6V.  While at the office the installer phoned and said I should set the inverter float and charge voltage to 55.8V and that should sort the problem out.  Did you try that at all?

Hi Koet,

Yes, we did try that! As far as I understand from the support guys, the voltage settings is only effective if you are not using the CAN bus BMS comms to manage the battery charging/discharging.

The only solution was for Freedom Won support to do the firmware upgrade.

If I remember correctly FW has been using Sinopoly cells in their batteries but I have not seen that with my own eyes.  Someone close to the industry (of assembling batteries locally) told me that some years back.

Interesting pricing on these and FW has a good track record for reliability.  As installers we can wind up in deep trouble if you support the wrong product.  We have over 800 Lithium batteries in the field and it is a big decision to put your name behind a product.  Others in the industry who have been using FW for long swears by them even if the price looses them some work from time to time.

Freedomwon tech support just updated my eTower firmware and everything is back to normal. 

Hi KempM. 
 

I have a 8kW Sunsynk inverter, with 2 off eTower batteries. The BMS is running fine to the battery but if I put on the breakers, the battery gives an alarm light and is not supplying power. Any chance you encountered this and how you fixed it? 
The battery voltages are within 0.4 Volts of each other so do not think it’s a balancing problem. With the lite range I never needed to pre-charge the DC bus of inverter before so do not think it’s that. 
Any ideas would be much appreciated.

I have not had this problem, no. My battery has been solid after the firmware upgrade.

Does your inverter show the error on the BMS screen when the alarm light is on?

I see the troubleshooting table says that the DC bus must be pre-charged as you stated. Maybe give that a test to see. 

 

Thank you for the reply.

Only thing that changes on the BMS is that the discharge amps goes from 180A to 0A as soon as I switch the breaker on.

How did Freedom Won update your battery firmware if I may ask please?

Will give that a try just strange how it was not an issue with any of the batteries from their Lite range.

 

Hi ChadVV

I had a USB to serial cable (RJ11-4) made. That is plugged into the battery, and they used Anydesk through my laptop to connect to the battery and do the firmware upgrade.

 

Attached is the Serial cable configuration you require for the firmware update.

 

E-tower BMS cable config.pdf cableetower.pdf

Thank you very much.

Now it is just to try get hold of their technical department, non responsive since this morning.

😆 Yeah, most support teams have the same mentality. I suppose they want to make sure you REALLY need the support!

It took a couple of weeks for me to get feedback on my issue initially.

Good luck!

22 minutes ago, ChadVV said:

Thank you very much.

Now it is just to try get hold of their technical department, non responsive since this morning.

You have a PM!

On 2021/11/07 at 6:45 PM, KempM said:

Quick question everyone.

I bought the eTower and got it installed and running of a Sunsynk 5kW.

The battery charges up again after loadshedding, but has been slowly losing max SOC over the last week.
At the beginning of November the SOC after the initial charge was 99%. Today the SOC is sitting at 90%.
Basically dropping 1% per day. 

Any insights into what is going on here will be much appreciated.

I have the same problem. Installed 2x eTower batt and 8kva Sunsynk inverter. Firmware update done (e41c - MCU:6006) but no change. Any other suggestions of what can be done will be appreciated.

Hi Daniel

I think you also need to get Freedom Won to do the battery firmware updates.

It seems that because the batteries are still brand new on the market, there might be some firmware updates needed to get them solid.

After the firmware update on my battery, the performance has been rock solid.

Hopefully the issue you have is firmware related.

Thanks, will do