Hi all i am new here my wife and i thinking to go with  setup  FoxESS K series 10.5kw single phase inverter and 16 solar panels any help what i need to look out for we using winter time 70kw/day  summer 30kw /day is a house with  2 family's  thx joe and jutta 

 

It's a great setup, I can highly recommend it.

70kwh is quite a lot of power usage, do you know what time of day your peak is? We were using in the range of 30kwh a day, spread evenly over the day. What we changed was WHEN we use power, and that means we're able to run completely off grid now. And doing some smart changes to basic things made a big difference in our power consumption. For example I put in an Xtend 2kw element for the geyser and put it on CBI wifi controlled timer so it's on from 10am to 2pm. We swapped from a normal element to a Bosch induction stove top (best decision if you like cooking), and we installed an inverter aircon in the main bedroom and use that for both cooling in summer and heating in winter, the aircon is very very efficient. I also spent about a week in the roof putting in new think pink insulation to keep the heat both in and out of the house. Those cheap changes meant we were able to go for a slightly smaller battery and panel setup.

I bought one of these systems a year back. It doesn’t work as specified. The changeover from EPS back to mains is too slow and results in all electronic equipment restarting. This can cause damage to computers etc. The installer’s solution was to supply small backup UPS’ for each electronic device. Unsatisfactory solution I’m my opinion. The importers are not helpful in the least. The device was returned for testing and supposedly nothing wrong however it was returned with the casing damaged and the problem still persists. If I could I would return and buy something else. A pretty package that’s all.

When last have you updated the software on your inverter? I heard from my installer that there was an update to specifically cater for startup times and loadshedding

Thanks for this review of the FoxESS system, it sounds great. I was very close to giving the go ahead on a Sunsync installation but I was told that I can only get it installed in late September 😬 so I decided to look around and found someone talking about FoxESS and I am l now seriously looking at this instead, which could be installed at the end of May  

Are you still happy with your decision on the system?

Absolutely, it just works like an appliance, no input necessary from me. I've only had to supplement with power from the grid once, in March.

@AgentMulders thank you for your updates and feedback here. It has given me a lot more comfort on the FoxESS system. I have been given the following offer for our house that will be built around the end of the year: 12x 545W solar panels, 10kW FoxESS hybrid inverter (IP45) and a 11kWh Fox battery 1x Master and 3 x Slave. The house will have a gas stove, we are looking at implementing the Xtend 2kw element in the geyser and the inverter aircon as well. Just some advice on the offer, does this seem sufficient to get off the grid? In about 5 years time there will be a pool being installed, but I would probably upgrade then as well to accommodate for that. thanks in advance

Depending on your monthly power usage and how much you can move your consumption to daytime you should be close to off grid. On sunny summer days I'm producing way more power than I can possibly use

Hi

I had the Fox-ESS 6kW hybrid inverter with 2x 2.6kW batteries and 6 x 545w panels in November last year. What a life-changing event.

We had Crown Technologies supply and instal the unit in Johannesburg and they were superb! Professional and the most thorough of everyone I met with.

The appeal of the unit was the fact that it is a complete sealed unit and as such, all the different components work well together - there is absolutely no indication of when we move from grid to solar / battery. The system is a high voltage solution which means that you connect the batteries in series and not parallel, like most systems. That reduces the heat that is generated when the inverter changes the stored power from DC to AC current and hence there is no need for a noisy fan - it just has a heat sync. At the moment with 2 batteries in the unit, my voltage is 110V and when I upgrade to 4 batteries (10.4kWh) my voltage will go to 220V which is the same as the AC voltage. This means that the power lost in the change from DC to AC will be drastically reduced. It also means that the system will last longer than other lower voltage systems. The installed cost of the system in Nov 2022, incl 2 x CBI Wi-Fi isolator switches for the geyser and pool pump, came to R152k.

I spent a lot of time reducing my household consumption before installing my system, so had reduced my daily household consumption from 40kWh/d to about 15kWh/d. I'm now consuming about 4kWh/day. To reduce the daily power, I've installed a 300l solar geyser, changed all lights to LED, changed to a gas hob and have installed a wood stove heater in our living area. It is important to first reduce your daily consumption before moving to solar - as it will cut your installation costs down considerably. I also moved from a postpaid City Power smart meter to a prepaid meter (save approx. R700 pm straight off).

With the way Eskom is going it is essential to have a solution in place!

Hi I have had a Fox ESS invertor installed with 8kw of battery. The installer was meant to install Solax and have offered to replace the Fox ESS but I would only get 6kw of battery (as they had upgraded me). Should I stick with Fox ESS of go to Solax.? Thanks Chris

I am looking seriously at putting a FoxEss 5kw Inverter and beattery system into my duplex. I'm in a secure complex and plan to install under the eaves outside the kitchen door. If anyone out there has experience with this size unit I would love to hear about it.