Hi Everyone

Getting closer to finalizing system spec.  Decided on 5Kw Sunsynk fairly quickly but I am struggling to find consensus on a ~5KWh 1C Battery to pair it with for ~R30K. Would really prefer close to 1C upfront with 1 battery before I add another one. 

- Hubble AM-2 seems like a logical choice but there seems to be lots of people having issues and in parallel people saying to stay away from NMC. On the other hand lots of people sound very happy with it...

- Pylon seems obvious but to get 1C need more than 1 and the price is a lot higher (2 x US2000C ~R35K and still only 0.5C) Also need to add bracket or cabinet

- Revov 2Life very affordable but not quite 1C and concerned about the used cells. Life-4U could be an option but still not quite 1C. They also seem new to the game

- Halo Eclipse / Vestwoods seems perfect but cant find any info on them at all

- Greenrich also looks great but relatively new with few people running them (yes I have entered the competition) 

 

Will be adding another 5Kwh pack in the future when funds permit so need someone who will still be around in a few years.

If you were to start again in a situation like me where would you go? 

 

Edited September 23, 20223 yr by PRP

FreedomWon etower.

7 minutes ago, P1000 said:

FreedomWon etower.

I can vouch for the etowers. I've got 2 working flawlessly with my Victron equipment for close to a year now, 100 SOH, cycled daily. Comes with it's own pedestal to add more on top of each other.

Thanks, didnt notice the eTower, the 5/4 was always out of my price range. 

BSL are also 1C, not sure if they still have 5kw models available though. 

Otherwise the Sunsynk 5kw maybe, can discharge at 100A continuous and will extend your inverter warranty to 10yrs I think.

I am starting to use the Sunsynk battery with Sunsynk inverters more and more, although it is a bit more in price, but the extra 5 year warranty is worth it to me.

Personal 2c, partly just trawling web pages, thinking out loud, stating the somewhat obvious, totally open to more informed views.

FreedomWon E-Tower 5000 appears to be a 1C battery only with restrictions, only for 5 minutes in a 30 min cycle or something like that, continuous discharge is lower at 4.2/3.6kW. Might be fine if you just want to cater for occasional surges when boiling the kettle, etc, but that might someday irk me because it's not a "true" 1C. Pricing around R32K mark, so seems a fair option. Warranty exclusions sound like a lot of excuses up front for why they may give you hassles later.

Greenrich completely new on offer, support in the market remains to be seen. 1.5C is great in theory, but no benefit over a 1C on a 5kW Sunsynk if you want a 5kWh. Scant information online, no global website, no international reputation, etc. Is this a rebrand? I'd be happy to test one for free, but for my own money I'd wait until there's more reputation and support built up.

Personally I've opted for the Weco 5K3, works well with Deye, I can assume for Sunsynk it'll be similar. Advertises 7000 cycles, so far so good, but a long way to go. Local service support from Weco is an open question, but it was sold by a reputable local dealer, and it is an established European brand. I see online pricing right now for R35K, so in a higher price class than 0.5C batteries. Needs a wall-mount bracket which is extra, or lay it on the floor and start a tower stack.

Hubble AM-2 - no personal experience with it, but on paper they only have warranty up to 3000 cycles, that caused me to opt against it, if you can get double the promised cycle life on a 1C battery for far less than double the price.

Hubble AM-5 - their new product, a 1C battery with 6000 cycles. If you can get one, I see they are advertised around R38,000 online. If I were buying again, and I had to buy one and only one battery, I would probably take this because of local presence for support on their older products, but understand that I'm taking a chance with their new battery on the market.

Sunsynk -  1C discharge rates but a 0.5C charge rate, 50A charge only. Not too bad, but the Sunsynk can charge 100A, so you'll have to set and keep it under its capability, possibly wasting a bit of solar generation in-between. But important to me, why is the lifespan not advertised prominently in terms of cycles? Sunsynk website simply says, lifespan is greater than 10 years at 25 deg C, if used in terms of the warranty restrictions. What does that mean, and why must I go and search deeper or read between lines to find out how often I can cycle the battery? That should be a standard advertised spec.

If budget allowed, best value for money would have been two 0.5C batteries up front, not the US2000C, but a 4.8kWh like the US5000, or otherwise the Dyness 4.8kWh which is wall-mountable so cuts out the need for a cabinet. The fact that it's 0.5C only matters with the first battery. Two batteries will deliver the max power the Sunsynk can output, and will last twice as long as a single 1C battery, generally at a lower price point, cheaper per kWh, with 6000 cycle life prominently stated. Restrictions TBC. Reputable international brands, probably with fair local support. But again, just thinking out loud, it's for you to check what's right and what works for you.

Edited September 24, 20223 yr by GreenFields

Have you looked at the Kodak FL 5.2 ?

Edited September 24, 20223 yr by Wannebe

11 hours ago, Sc00bs said:

BSL are also 1C, not sure if they still have 5kw models available though. 

Otherwise the Sunsynk 5kw maybe, can discharge at 100A continuous and will extend your inverter warranty to 10yrs I think.

I see it as a 50A nominal with 100A peak vs something like the Hubble which offers 100A nominal. Could one draw 1C for say a few minutes during a kettle boiling ?
The warranty is real plus. 

2 hours ago, GreenFields said:

Personal 2c, partly just trawling web pages, thinking out loud, stating the somewhat obvious, totally open to more informed views.

FreedomWon E-Tower 5000 appears to be a 1C battery only with restrictions, only for 5 minutes in a 30 min cycle or something like that, continuous discharge is lower at 4.2/3.6kW. Might be fine if you just want to cater for occasional surges when boiling the kettle, etc, but that might someday irk me because it's not a "true" 1C. Pricing around R32K mark, so seems a fair option. Warranty exclusions sound like a lot of excuses up front for why they may give you hassles later.

Greenrich completely new on offer, support in the market remains to be seen. 1.5C is great in theory, but no benefit over a 1C on a 5kW Sunsynk if you want a 5kWh. Scant information online, no global website, no international reputation, etc. Is this a rebrand? I'd be happy to test one for free, but for my own money I'd wait until there's more reputation and support built up.

Personally I've opted for the Weco 5K3, works well with Deye, I can assume for Sunsynk it'll be similar. Advertises 7000 cycles, so far so good, but a long way to go. Local service support from Weco is an open question, but it was sold by a reputable local dealer, and it is an established European brand. I see online pricing right now for R35K, so in a higher price class than 0.5C batteries. Needs a wall-mount bracket which is extra, or lay it on the floor and start a tower stack.

Hubble AM-2 - no personal experience with it, but on paper they only have warranty up to 3000 cycles, that caused me to opt against it, if you can get double the promised cycle life on a 1C battery for far less than double the price.

Hubble AM-5 - their new product, a 1C battery with 6000 cycles. If you can get one, I see they are advertised around R38,000 online. If I were buying again, and I had to buy one and only one battery, I would probably take this because of local presence for support on their older products, but understand that I'm taking a chance with their new battery on the market.

Sunsynk -  1C discharge rates but a 0.5C charge rate, 50A charge only. Not too bad, but the Sunsynk can charge 100A, so you'll have to set and keep it under its capability, possibly wasting a bit of solar generation in-between. But important to me, why is the lifespan not advertised prominently in terms of cycles? Sunsynk website simply says, lifespan is greater than 10 years at 25 deg C, if used in terms of the warranty restrictions. What does that mean, and why must I go and search deeper or read between lines to find out how often I can cycle the battery? That should be a standard advertised spec.

If budget allowed, best value for money would have been two 0.5C batteries up front, not the US2000C, but a 4.8kWh like the US5000, or otherwise the Dyness 4.8kWh which is wall-mountable so cuts out the need for a cabinet. The fact that it's 0.5C only matters with the first battery. Two batteries will deliver the max power the Sunsynk can output, and will last twice as long as a single 1C battery, generally at a lower price point, cheaper per kWh, with 6000 cycle life prominently stated. Restrictions TBC. Reputable international brands, probably with fair local support. But again, just thinking out loud, it's for you to check what's right and what works for you.

Wow what a nice summary. I hear you about it not being an issue once you get two batteries, but that will only come a fair bit later so don’t want to have to live so carefully to avoid tripping it. Really trying to keep something under R100k to start (5kw SS, 5kw battery, 8 panels) 
Interesting about the Sunsynk warranty cycles I didn’t notice that. 
I was really set on the Hubble until I started reading more and more. 
I wonder how many of these batteries use the same cells inside so likely to last the same if you treat them the same. 

42 minutes ago, PRP said:

I see it as a 50A nominal with 100A peak

There are 2 versions of the Sunsynk battery. One is 1C, the other 0.5C

BSL is not quite 1C. The 6.4kwh and 7kwh both can discharge at 100A and charge at 80A. 4000 cycles and 10 year warranty. I have had mine for 2 years now with SOH at 100%

18 hours ago, Quwatush Shams (Suly) said:

---self-promotion removed by mods

Weco advertise 100% DOD, there are no magic cells, before they also advertise active balancing but after some tear-down they change it to real time balancing.

We shouldn't buy from brands that lie to to deceive the less informed.

55 minutes ago, P1000 said:

There are 2 versions of the Sunsynk battery. One is 1C, the other 0.5C

How do you tell them apart? On the power forum store for example it is specified at 50A standard current. 

36 minutes ago, Leshen said:

BSL is not quite 1C. The 6.4kwh and 7kwh both can discharge at 100A and charge at 80A. 4000 cycles and 10 year warranty. I have had mine for 2 years now with SOH at 100%

Any suggestions for trusted retailers? Don’t see them on the usual stores that I have come across a lot. 

3 minutes ago, PRP said:

How do you tell them apart? On the power forum store for example it is specified at 50A standard current. 

Any suggestions for trusted retailers? Don’t see them on the usual stores that I have come across a lot. 

Sent you a PM

3 hours ago, Wannebe said:

Have you looked at the Kodak FL 5.2 ?

I didn’t, good experience with it?

My system is too new to give an opinion ..... but so far I have no complaints .... it seems to do what it says on the tin as far as I can tell .... but I would not know how to test them to their full potential.

I have 3 x connected in my system.

 

Edited September 24, 20223 yr by Wannebe

11 hours ago, PRP said:

I see it as a 50A nominal with 100A peak vs something like the Hubble which offers 100A nominal. Could one draw 1C for say a few minutes during a kettle boiling ?
The warranty is real plus. 

Wow what a nice summary. I hear you about it not being an issue once you get two batteries, but that will only come a fair bit later so don’t want to have to live so carefully to avoid tripping it. Really trying to keep something under R100k to start (5kw SS, 5kw battery, 8 panels) 
Interesting about the Sunsynk warranty cycles I didn’t notice that. 
I was really set on the Hubble until I started reading more and more. 
I wonder how many of these batteries use the same cells inside so likely to last the same if you treat them the same. 

Sunsynk is Discharge 100A - Charge 50A nominal 

On 2022/09/23 at 10:50 AM, PRP said:

- Pylon seems obvious

I agree.

8 hours ago, Sc00bs said:

Sunsynk is Discharge 100A - Charge 50A nominal 

The website says standard discharge 50A and max discharge 100A. How does one know if you can run it at 100A and how it effects the warranty? Any idea what the warranty actually is in terms of cycles ? 

7 hours ago, Piper said:

I agree.

I am really tempted to get 2 x 3000C but I still then only get 74A discharge. I can’t afford more and I am worried about having the battery trip if we put the kettle on and have say the microwave running. The point of spending a bit more for a decent 5kw system is to not have to nurse it so much. 

1 hour ago, PRP said:

 I can’t afford more and I am worried about having the battery trip if we put the kettle on and have say the microwave running. The point of spending a bit more for a decent 5kw system is to not have to nurse it so much. 

Remember, "having to nurse it" is only during load shedding at night (or low PV production)...

If you're anyway planning to add second battery in future, save some money and just be careful during night-time load shedding in the meantime. 

4 hours ago, markus_m2 said:

Remember, "having to nurse it" is only during load shedding at night (or low PV production)...

If you're anyway planning to add second battery in future, save some money and just be careful during night-time load shedding in the meantime. 

Very good point. So many options, so hard to decide ! 

6 hours ago, PRP said:

I am really tempted to get 2 x 3000C but I still then only get 74A discharge. I can’t afford more and I am worried about having the battery trip if we put the kettle on and have say the microwave running. The point of spending a bit more for a decent 5kw system is to not have to nurse it so much. 

Everybody is really over-thinking this C-rating thing.

The 2 Pylons will give you 74A constant ,148A max and 180A peak for 15 sec.(7,1Kw)

In the meantime while you are saving for your second battery buy a smalll Mellerware picolo kettle that draws only 1kw and it should work fine with your microwave.

https://www.takealot.com/mellerware-900ml-piccolo-mini-cordless-kettle-white/PLID36957259

 

 

5 hours ago, Piper said:

Everybody is really over-thinking this C-rating thing.

The 2 Pylons will give you 74A constant ,148A max and 180A peak for 15 sec.(7,1Kw)

In the meantime while you are saving for your second battery buy a smalll Mellerware picolo kettle that draws only 1kw and it should work fine with your microwave.

https://www.takealot.com/mellerware-900ml-piccolo-mini-cordless-kettle-white/PLID36957259

 

 

I hear but if you plug two 3000c’s into a sunsynk with a BMS cable what will it set the max current to? I saw a photo where it limited it to 74A so the max appears useless ??

 

14 minutes ago, PRP said:

I hear but if you plug two 3000c’s into a sunsynk with a BMS cable what will it set the max current to? I saw a photo where it limited it to 74A so the max appears useless ??

 

The BMS will allow short spikes above 74A then taper it down .

19 minutes ago, Nexuss said:

The BMS will allow short spikes above 74A then taper it down .

So no chance of 148A for more than 15s ( given 180A peak for 15s spec )