Hi Everyone

I am currently using the Sunsynk inverter system only in UPS mode to cover me for load-shedding so the batteries are usually 100% during the day and if I load shedding it will discharge and charge again to 100%. I want to use the system mode timers and grid peak shaving to save on electricity during the day, at the moment I don't have solar panels I am planning to install them once funds are available. For example, from 9 a.m. - to 5 PM I am going to set the SOC timer to 50% to cover my essential load once 50% is left of the battery I will be only using the grid, also when enabling grid peak shaving it will blend the power between grid and battery but mostly prioritize the load to the battery side. From 5 PM to 9 AM I will set the soc to 100%. Now I want to know if I do that will I mess up my battery's life span like in cycles? I am currently using a Magneto 5.12Kwh battery.  Example of settings I want to use:

 

System timer:

 

Grid peak shaving

 

System mode 2

 

The Magneto battery shows me how many full cycles I have completed, at the moment I have completed 7 full cycles so far and the battery has only been once depleted to 0%, I feel like I should have used fewer full cycles since it has been only depleted once. I mostly just use the battery for load-shedding and my understanding is a full cycle is usually from 100% to 0 %. I tested this theory and I had twice load shedding in two days and it counted as 1 cycle that showed the battery display. Any ideas for this?

Different BMS'es count cycles differently. Technically 1 full cycle for, say, a 5kWh battery, would be 5kWh charge followed by 5kWh discharge (100% in and 100% out); but different BMS'es may increment the count before hitting 100% (say, at 80% instead). It's up to the manufacturer.

Compare your usage to the datasheet of your battery model (for example check if this is yours - if so, it's rated for 6000 cycles to 80%) to see if the cost savings over the lifespan of the battery are greater than the cost of a new battery.

I daily solar-cycle my AM-5 because the 10-year warranty doesn't limit cycles and if it dies the day after it turns 10, cycling has still paid for itself - everything beyond that is a bonus!

 

Are you happy with your Am 5 @JayMardern? How long have you had it and any issues? I am looking at the BSLBatt and maybe the Greenrich(not sure of this one).

@JayMardern Thanks for the information it make sense, In the future I would like to add another battery to my system am I able to add the Hubble AM-5 battery to the Magneto battery in parallel or do I need to stick with the specific brand when I do parellel ?

12 minutes ago, Wesley.Davids said:

@JayMardern Thanks for the information it make sense, In the future I would like to add another battery to my system am I able to add the Hubble AM-5 battery to the Magneto battery in parallel or do I need to stick with the specific brand when I do parellel ?

The AM-5's do need to be paralleled with the same model unfortunately; but 6000 cycles (assuming I got the right datasheet) on your Magneto is still nothing to sneeze at,

They're also the same underlying chemistry (i.e. both are LFP).

 

43 minutes ago, Greglsh said:

Are you happy with your Am 5 @JayMardern? How long have you had it and any issues? I am looking at the BSLBatt and maybe the Greenrich(not sure of this one).

So far have been extremely happy (it's 1C and we run/cycle it relatively hard; we've peaked at 4kW [~ 80A/0.8C] during load shedding), but at only 6 months old it's too soon to tell how it'll hold up long-term.  LFP is meant to maintain solid performance over time but you'll have to ask me in a few years 😀

Edited October 6, 20232 yr by JayMardern

What would be the purpose? What are you trying to achieve?

You don't have solar panels yet, you've said as much. So you can't replenish the batteries freely. If you do recharge, it will cost you more to re-fill then than what you got out of them.

Do you have a time-of-use tariff whereby you could charge cheaply at night to discharge during the peak periods? If there's no financial benefit, why not just keep it as a UPS on standby for when loadshedding hits.

You should cycle your battery once in a while and not keep it at 100% charge continuously, but loadshedding (un)fortunately solves that problem for us automatically.

1 hour ago, JayMardern said:

The AM-5's do need to be paralleled with the same model unfortunately; but 6000 cycles (assuming I got the right datasheet) on your Magneto is still nothing to sneeze at,

They're also the same underlying chemistry (i.e. both are LFP).

 

So far have been extremely happy (it's 1C and we run/cycle it relatively hard; we've peaked at 4kW [~ 80A/0.8C] during load shedding), but at only 6 months old it's too soon to tell how it'll hold up long-term.  LFP is meant to maintain solid performance over time but you'll have to ask me in a few years 😀

You just have to look at the cycles when subjected to 0.8C discharge and 0.5C or discharged to 50% vs 80%. These figures applied to the same battery. 

@JayMardern I was not home for a few hours and saw that the electricity ran out and that the essential load was off, the SOC dropped to 36% as seen in the screenshot and my battery shut down I think. Also, the Sunsynk connect app usually sends a notification if the grid is offline but not anymore due to an update of the app.

SOC discharging and after 36% goes to zero percentage immediately.

Battery showing zero SOC

BMS showing battery is zero

Eskom power is off but the Inverter was still online and the battery also as can be seen in the screenshot. I shut down the battery and started it again and it showed 36% SOC, I guess this has something to do with a safety feature to shut down the battery. Do you perhaps know how to change that percentage to shut down the battery to 20% at least as it is set on the inverter to shut down at 20%?

Not sure if I must adjust the below settings,

Edited October 11, 20232 yr by Wesley.Davids

The settings in your screenshot are for the inverter; based on your settings, your inverter is set to make an audible alarm at 35% but only shut down at 20% (and then power back up when the battery has been recharged to 35%).

BMS comms/cabling looks OK since the inverter display matches the battery display.

But you’re right - the shut-down looks to have been triggered by the battery reporting 0%. It’s weird that it reports 0% when it’s supposedly at 36% though - could this be a setting on the battery itself? The datasheet seems to indicate recommended discharge being down to 15% - so a cut-off at 36% seems high…  are there any settings in the battery menu (or perhaps on its DIP switches) that might affect this?

 

@MAGNETO RENEWABLE ENERGY Would you be able to assist by any chance?

Edited October 12, 20232 yr by JayMardern

@JayMardern Thanks for responding, I am not able to change any settings on the battery just mostly gives options to view stats information like cell capacity and temperature, I will have a look at the dip switches perhaps. Thanks again for the help 😀 

 

Magneto did provide the attached manual document, it only explains to do like a reset.

User Manual - IMS303 51V Wall Mount Rev6 (2).pdf Parallel Battery Communication-PIN Configuration (2).pdf

7 hours ago, Wesley.Davids said:

@JayMardern Thanks for responding, I am not able to change any settings on the battery just mostly gives options to view stats information like cell capacity and temperature, I will have a look at the dip switches perhaps. Thanks again for the help 😀 

 

Magneto did provide the attached manual document, it only explains to do like a reset.

User Manual - IMS303 51V Wall Mount Rev6 (2).pdf 640.39 kB · 0 downloads Parallel Battery Communication-PIN Configuration (2).pdf 192.62 kB · 0 downloads

OK so the manual indicates the DIPs are just for setting address (i.e. for paralleling), doesn't seem like this is configurable then. Could be a BMS/balance/cell issue - might be worth following Alex's suggestion in the other thread...