Newbie with confusion on which system to take

[Gee91]

Good day

Currently, I have a 3Kw system with Lead Acid batteries, I want to upgrade it to a 5KW with a lithium battery no solar as it is not allowed at my complex probably will put it in future if things change.

I did some research and seems the more I research the more confused I get. So I need some valuable help on the system to choose considering durability and cost.

Option 1 low cost
Lux Power Inverter 5KW Off Grid (LUX-SNA5000WPV) R13800.00 or KODAK Solar Off-Grid Inverter King with UPS 5kW 48V R12600.00
Revov 2LIFE-R9-UBMS-R100-5.1 R28000.00 or Dyness 5.12 R27000

Option 2 medium cost
Lux Power: Inverter 5KW Hybrid LV Single Phase (LUX-LXP5K-LV) R23000 or use
HUBBLE AM-2 5.5KWh 51 Volt Lithium R32660.00 or the above batteries

Option 3 High cost
Deye: 5Kw Single Phase Hybrid Inverter (SUN-5K-SG01LP1-EU) R26000.00 or Sunsynk 5kW 1P Hybrid PV inverter 48V R28000
Sunksynk Battery LFP Wall Mount 5.32Kwh 51.2V Extended Sunsynk Warranty R34000.00 or above batteries

The confusion I have is whether there is any benefit to going with the High-cost option rather than the low cost. I went through some threads here and some people were saying the medium option is a pretty solid one others were saying the high cost one is the way to go. I would not want to buy the high cost just for the brand names only.

 

 

[Eugenevz]

So not even remotely an expert, but i can only provide you with the information i have gathered so far in my research.

So with the low cost option you have two issues, in my mind at least, the first is that the battery is a second life battery, which is not a major issue, but it will mean that you will need to replace the battery a lot sooner than with a first life battery. Second issue is with the off-grid inverter, not an issue for most, but coming from a owner of a off-grid trolley setup, the issue is that it limits your options to essentially a "surviving loadshedding" setup only, there won't be much room to expand it much further. 

Medium option is a solid option.

High cost option, not really that high cost as the price difference is only a few thousand. This option as well as the medium option will provide you with future options to possibly expand with solar panels and such, when the option opens up for you (a number of complexes are warming up to the idea of solar panels)

Keep in mind (speaking of my trolley here) that you do not want future regrets because you went cheap and now cannot expand and have to buy an entirely new setup. Better to build in some future proofing, you never know what happens, you may move house in a few years time.

 

[cbrunsdon]

From my experience having gone solar last month and using EcoFlows for the past six months:

As mentioned by @Eugenevz, Option 2 & 3 is where you want to be.

I would add more batteries, the only regret I have is I only installed one 5,2Kw block and can only draw 2.6KW from it. With two I could draw 5KW. This morning I could only use one kitchen appliance at a time to make breakfast without tripping the inverter. Was a lot of juggling to ensure I could serve my wife a hot plate of bacon & eggs with coffee.

Try and find the 4-hour slot in the day where you would use the most power, then double it. This would give you an idea of how much storage you really need.

My system is an 8Kw Deye with a single 5,2KW Dyness block. Very happy I went with a quality inverter. At least when we trip it from drawing more than the battery will allow, it auto-restarts after 1 minute.

[Eurard]

What is your budget?

And

What do you need?

 

Those are the two questions you need to be able to start looking.

Edited May 16, 2023 by Eurard