Hi All
Total newby here - I know how to change a plug and what power ratings on appliances mean but beyond that, consider me absolutely clueless.

I want to put in an 5KW Inverter + Lithium Battery and possibly solar panels at a later stage

What brand inverter & Battery would you recommend?
I've also read about some inverters having the capability to switch between municipal power and battery. Something else I once came across is an inverter setup that was smart enough to discontinue power to a specific appliance and redirect it to a more critical appliance.

This stuff is all higher grade for me but basically I'm just taking the time to learn a little so once I consult a professional, I also have some insight.

Take Care
Mo

21 minutes ago, Mo786 said:

Something else I once came across is an inverter setup that was smart enough to discontinue power to a specific appliance and redirect it to a more critical appliance.

That would be solaredge
But they are quite expensive systems

33 minutes ago, Mo786 said:

I want to put in an 5KW Inverter + Lithium Battery and possibly solar panels at a later stage

What brand inverter & Battery would you recommend?

For battery, Freedom Won LiTe. My system was totally transferred by a switch to Freedom Won. The system was noticably more stable afterwards. 

But this is really like asking about cars. Name a brand, and somebody has a bad story about it.

Look for 1C batteries. IE if it's a 100Ah battery, you can draw a 100A from it. Another way of looking at it is that you can discharge the battery in one hour. Now you don't want to do that, but the reason that you want 1C is to cope with occasional peaks in demand. 

Also try to get an idea of the combination of battery and inverter. Not all batteries get on with all inverters (see my opening comment).

Are you bothered by or sensitive to noise? Some inverters have fans, and that bothers some folks (though when I had a UPS system I found the sound of the fan to be the lesser of evils compared to sitting in the dark). 

Try to get an idea of how much electricity you use, when you use it, and what the peak demand is. 5kW sounds like a lot if you say it quickly, but a geyser, a kettle, a microwave and a hair drier at the same time will probably overload your system. So you can go to 8kW, but that just makes it harder for an overload condition to arise, not impossible. 

Be prepared to have to tell people to take it easy during load shedding, because you want the battery to last and you don't want to overload anything. So sorry, you can't have the microwave, the toaster and the kettle all on at the same time. Probably you won't back up the geyser, so shower routines might be disrupted.

Read the spec sheets. You want an inverter and a battery that will co-exist in harmony. Not every inverter gets on with every battery (and, of course, vice versa). 

Don't mismatch the two. If your inverter can deliver 5kW, but your battery can't, or can't do it for more than few seconds, then that's not a good situation.