Batteries. A rather important and crucial part of a residential solar system, especially here in South Africa.

I was originally going to go the DIY route and even purchased some 184ah Svolt cells with the BMS and all other accessories necessary although something came up which lead me to sell the cells, skip the DIY batteries for now and look at purchasing already built batteries – this is where the Svolt 106AH batteries come in.

When I found out Svolt had an office open up in South Africa and they were selling batteries locally, my interest was naturally piqued as I already had some of their 184ah cells. Svolt is also a rather large company and they make cells for the EV market as well and Svolt will be supplying BMW with cells for their EVs in the future, along with CATL & Eve Energy.

 

Before I continue I want to state that I do not have any affiliation with Svolt. I do not work for them, I paid for all of my batteries, I do not get any kickbacks from them – nothing. I am just a client of theirs.

 

After reaching out to them and getting more info, I was invited to their Johannesburg office to view their batteries and other products (inverters). I had a brief chat to the guys and decided to purchase one of the 16 cells 106AH batteries to try out and see how it performs.

Taking it out the box, the battery looks really nice, the wall mount is simple yet effective, it comes with a nice set of cables and the crimps seem to be done well (as expected), the power connector which is used for the battery is very convenient and easy to connect / disconnect the cable from the battery.

Unfortunately I did not take pictures and mine are already connected, I do not really feel like disconnecting everything to take pictures but if you guys would like some pictures then let me know and I will make a plan to take some.

The battery has a nice button to turn it on/off and a screen to display some info from the BMS and once can easily navigate through the menu with the buttons.

Here is the Svolt catalogue which has the specifications for the batteries:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/69c9wnxrklmhc4xg9nn6c/Svolt-Battery-and-Inverter-Catalogue-20230803.pdf?rlkey=z8q9we55gzzs31e9wh3tw5ahp&dl=0 

 

I believe all the batteries make use of a Pace BMS. The Pace BMS is very popular with pre-built batteries and are used in many different brands of batteries. Andy from Off Grid Garage did a review one of the Pace BMS’s and you can watch it here:

 

At first I had some issues getting the battery to talk to my Luxpower, however Svolt confirmed that their batteries do communicate with the Luxpower inverters as well as majority of other inverters (MUST, Conderenergy, Growatt, Sunsynk / Deye, Victron, Svolt, Luxpower and more). The BMS has different options which Svolt can change for you to ensure it works with your inverter. By default it is set to Pylon which works with majority of inverters.

After reaching out to the Svolt guys and speaking to one of their technician staff, they decided to come through to my house to take a look and try figure out what the issue was – pretty impressive from a customer support point of view. Turns out it was a very silly mistake from my side, the dip switch was not configured properly (I left them all down as per the manual, where dip switch 1 should be in the up position). As soon as we did that, the comms started working – I had to use the battery without comms for a few days before Svolt came to my house and it worked well like this too.

After getting the battery comms working I was finally able to use the battery as intended with communication to my inverter.

The battery is 1C rated, with the communication it sets the max charge / discharge limit to 95A which is technically not the full 1C rating limit but it is close enough for me to not be bothered by it.

95A x 51.2v = 4 864W so just short of a full 5KW but if you were to have a 5KW inverter how often would you be running it at its limits when there is no grid?

I was able to access the BMS info via PBMSTools and below is a screenshot of the parameters:

 

I ended up purchasing 2 additional batteries, so that is 3 batteries in parallel and to get them connected in parallel is super easy. Adjust the dip switches as per the manual, connect them with the network cable supplied in the box and it just works. The BMS and inverter speak to each other and my limit now changes from 95A to 285A (as the limit is per battery, obviously keep in mind that you need to ensure the cables you use can handle the max current and obviously your inverter(s) too).

 

Out of the box I did have the cells being imbalanced, however I am quite impressed that the BMS was able to balance the batteries. Since it does not make use of an active balancer it can take a bit of time but it did work and it did manage to get them balanced!

At first I was a bit concerned that the BMS would not be able to balance the battery and while it was balancing I was concerned it would not  charge to the correct voltage, when I reach out to Svolt they said if that does happen they will be able to assist me and if the battery was in such a bad state that it was not usable they would replace it with a new battery for me (once again, I feel this is really good from a customer care point of view). I have not had to have any batter replaced though.

 

Below you can see a screenshot of the cell imbalances:

 

Here is a screenshot after a week where the BMS has managed to get them balanced:

 

Here is a screenshot I took at the same time of my older battery, as you can see the cells were balanced rather well:

 

 

My oldest battery has a total of 44 cycles only, so still early days but so far so good and I would not hesitate to purchase more of these Svolt batteries.

Based on my experience with Svolt customer support I am not worried about a valid warranty claim being rejected. The technical staff are knowledgably and actually know what they are talking about as well.

Svolt are still new in South Africa, the pricing on these batteries have been exceptional however I am not sure whether the price will increase with time as they become more established, I suspect this might happen as I have seen this happen with other brands but time will tell.

 

I hope this helps those who are on the look out for batteries. If there is anything in specific you'd like to know which I have not included in this review, let me know!

Hi

Do you have contact details for them and did you buy directly from them?

Cheers

Sean

1 hour ago, vrystaat said:

Hi

Do you have contact details for them and did you buy directly from them?

Cheers

Sean

I don't believe they sell directly to the public, you would need to be an installer/reseller to purchase from them.

I purchased my batteries from here: https://www.snaga.co.za/product-category/batteries/

 

There are a few others places which stock and sell their batteries as well.

Also available at a very good price here.
https://electromannsa.co.za/product/svolt-5-09kwh-48v-106ah-lithium-battery/

 

Hi

Thanks for your reply.

Cheers

14 hours ago, zsde said:

Also available at a very good price here.
https://electromannsa.co.za/product/svolt-5-09kwh-48v-106ah-lithium-battery/

 

Very good price.

 

One thing for everyone to keep in mind is that Svolt offer these batteries in a 15 cell version & a 16 cell version.

When expanding to your battery bank, you always want to go with the same number of cells to ensure the voltages match.

So if you go for the 15 cell version, if you want to add more batteries later it should be 15 cell LiFePO4 batteries as well so that they match and then the same for the 16 cell version.

 

48v / 5.09kWh = 15 cell

51.2v / 5.43kWh = 16 cell

 

Majority of the LiFePO4 5kWh batteries sold are 16 cell, therefore I would personally suggest the 16 cell battery over the 15 cell battery as it will likely be easier to find more batteries which have 16 cells later on.

@PsyCLown ok Wow!

Thank you for taking the time with your comprehensive write-up!

I actually believe these are my existing batteries, mine are rebranded as something else though.
Mine have the same "rare" battery connector that no other manufacturer uses it seems. which I can't seem to find replacements for anywhere to date 🤪

The BMS screens and even the on/off switch are identical. I have 2x 15cell 48V

On 2023/11/13 at 2:04 PM, PsyCLown said:

(MUST, Conderenergy, Growatt, Sunsynk / Deye, Victron, Svolt, Luxpower and more)

I've been able to get mine to work with Victron (no problem there), just only use CanH and CanL and follow Victron CAN pinouts 4,5 -> 7,8

Victron does pick them up as Pylontech. 

I've also been able to get them to work with a 4.6kw Goodwe as well with a 4,5 -> 4,5 CAN cable, then by either faking them as 4x Pylontech US2000 or using the Default setting the SolarGo/PVMaster.

22 hours ago, PsyCLown said:

I purchased my batteries from here: https://www.snaga.co.za/product-category/batteries/

Do you have any more information on this supplier, their website is very bare bones. No address there at all.

Likewise if you're able to share any more information on the South African office of SVolt and how to reach them if required, that would maybe also be helpful for people here.

Thank you

Edited November 14, 20232 yr by VicB7

2 minutes ago, VicB7 said:

@PsyCLown ok Wow!

Thank you for taking the time with your comprehensive write-up!

I actually believe these are my existing batteries, mine are rebranded as something else though.
Mine have the same "rare" battery connector that no other manufacturer uses it seems. which I can't seem to find replacements for anywhere to date 🤪

I have 2x 15cell 48V

I've been able to get mine to work with Victron (no problem there), just only use CanH and CanL and follow Victron CAN pinouts 4,5 -> 7,8

Victron does pick them up as Pylontech. 

I've also been able to get them to work with a 4.6kw Goodwe as well with a 4,5 -> 4,5 CAN cable, then by either faking them as 4x Pylontech US2000 or using the Default setting the SolarGo/PVMaster.

Do you have any more information on this supplier, their website is very bare bones. No address there at all.

Likewise if you're able to share any more information on the South African office of SVolt and how to reach them if required, that would maybe also be helpful for people here.

Thank you

 

What is the brand of your batteries? The connectors are all from China and they would vary a bit, however majority of batteries are assembled in China so it makes sense that the connectors would be shared between a few different brands.

 

By default the BMS is set to Pylon as the protocol, however there are multiple protocols on the BMS. So it can be set to a different protocol if required, Pylon seems to be a good default as its compatible with majority of inverters.

 

The supplier has a premises in Midrand / Kyalami area, they do not seem to be very big and do not seem to keep much stock but are legit.

I ordered from them and then went to collect the first battery and for the additional batteries I had them ship the batteries to me (at no additional charge). If you are interested I'd say give them a call or drop them an email like I did.

I actually reached out to them earlier to see if they would be doing any Black Friday special and they said they will do another discount on the Svolt batteries - I am toying with the idea of another battery but at the same time I have heard Svolt will be releasing a 280ah battery in the near future so I may wait and hold out for that - it makes more sense for me from a space point of view.

16 minutes ago, PsyCLown said:

I ordered from them and then went to collect the first battery and for the additional batteries I had them ship the batteries to me (at no additional charge). If you are interested I'd say give them a call or drop them an email like I did.

Good idea!

So I see they updated the pricing on the Svolt batteries, I assume this is for the Black Friday special: https://www.snaga.co.za/product-category/batteries/

@PsyCLown Thanks for the great feedback on these batteries. Did you deal with Snaga for all your purchases or with the importers directly? I am torn between building my own 280Ah Apexium battery (+_14.6Kw) or getting these.  What is the warranty on these( Sorry if I missed it)

23 minutes ago, Greglsh said:

@PsyCLown Thanks for the great feedback on these batteries. Did you deal with Snaga for all your purchases or with the importers directly? I am torn between building my own 280Ah Apexium battery (+_14.6Kw) or getting these.  What is the warranty on these( Sorry if I missed it)

I dealt with Snaga for the battery purchases.

I believe Svolt offer a 5 year warranty on these batteries. 

 

Touch choice, I too am eyeing some 280Ah batteries to expand my battery bank (space is an issue, so adding more 106Ah batteries will be extremely difficult and require me to get longer cables all around and it will look messy and even then I may only fit 1 additional 106Ah battery).

I was also contemplating between the Apexium & Gobel Power. I like the fact that the Gobel Power has a Pace BMS and comes with an active balancer - chances are I could parallel it with my Svolt batteries and have full comms as they all use a Pace BMS. I also prefer the vertical form factor of the Gobel Power over the horizontal form factor of the Apexium. I like that Apexium can offer 304Ah cells thoughs and I could always purchase an active balancer myself and install it in the Apexium battery.

If Svolt were still bringing in their 280Ah batteries to South Africa, I would wait and see what pricing they offered them at and likely go for the Svolt - then all my batteries would be the same and have a similar warranty and have local support. The local support I feel is a big plus and can be worth a slightly higher price, the convenience of taking your battery to the supplier and getting the issue resolved within a few days is fantastic. Especially if it is your only battery, nobody wants to wait weeks for a replacement to be shipped from China and now you're sitting at home without power during loadshedding - or even worse, a bigger electricity issue in your area and you're without power for days.

 

Another thing which is often missed or forgotten by many is that insuring a DIY product can become a challenge - or perhaps more when it comes time to put a claim in. I am not sure how whether all insurance companies will pay out for a DIY battery.

I have never been in such a situation, however I imagine it might be a problem for some insurance companies and could be used as a way for them to get out of paying the claim.

 

It is a tough decision to make. I guess one would need to weigh up the pro's and con's and then take into consideration what is most important to you. I feel all 3 are good choices and worth considering.

• Price
• Warranty
• Local support vs international support
• What the product offers over other products (if any differences)

Thanks @PsyCLown, I believe the Apexium guys have a warehouse in JHB somewhere (I am in Durban), I jumped the gun and have ordered an active balancer from AliExpress it is the Neey 4th edition that I watched on the Off-Grid-garage. It cost $56 dollars and I have shipped it to Australia (free shipping), then will use Aramex Global shopper to SA. If I don't use it I am sure I can sell it. Does the 5 year warranty not worry you as other batteries are offering a 10 year warranty? Do you know if and when they are bringing in the 280Ah batteries?

 

EDIT: This is the reply I got when I emailed Snaga about the bigger batteries

"I do not believe Svolt will be bringing in any larger capacity batteries any time soon. "

Edited November 20, 20232 yr by Greglsh

29 minutes ago, Greglsh said:

Thanks @PsyCLown, I believe the Apexium guys have a warehouse in JHB somewhere (I am in Durban), I jumped the gun and have ordered an active balancer from AliExpress it is the Neey 4th edition that I watched on the Off-Grid-garage. It cost $56 dollars and I have shipped it to Australia (free shipping), then will use Aramex Global shopper to SA. If I don't use it I am sure I can sell it. Does the 5 year warranty not worry you as other batteries are offering a 10 year warranty? Do you know if and when they are bringing in the 280Ah batteries?

 

EDIT: This is the reply I got when I emailed Snaga about the bigger batteries

"I do not believe Svolt will be bringing in any larger capacity batteries any time soon. "

If you decide to part with that Neeeeeeey, drop me a PM as I may be keen on taking it.

 

No, the 5 year warranty vs 10 year warranty does not worry me much as with majority of these companies selling batteries, putting in a warranty claim seems to be a bit of a hit or miss situation. The battery is quite simple and consists of cells and a BMS - so either a cell fails or the BMS fails.

With the 16 cell battery, you can simply remove the faulty cell and it becomes a 48v / 15 cell battery. I could see if I am able to source an additional 106ah Svolt cell to replace it myself as well. If the BMS goes, well, I could simply replace it with a JK BMS or perhaps a Pace BMS again.

If I have issues within the 5 year warranty then I am sure Svolt will sort it out for me without any hassle. I have been told they will honor the warranty provided there is no negligence. From speaking to the guys, they don't seem to care much for all the fine details and trying to find loop holes to not have to honor a warranty claim.

If there are issues, let them take a look and they'll swap out the battery if need be.

 

I have heard of people with some older Pylontech batteries and the warranty not being honored, we know Hubble can be hit and miss with their warranty claims as well.

Svolt being as big as they are and having the backing they do, I am sure they will still be around in 5 years time and past that. Hubble on the other hand, wait and see I guess.

Svolt cover the BMS under their 5 year warranty and I recall other batteries covering the cells for 10 years and the BMS for only 2 years.

Most battery warranties have lots of fine print, they're very fussy about temperature and it must be discharged daily and so forth.

 

When I enquired about the 280Ah batteries again I was told they do not plan on bringing them into SA unless they feel the demand for the larger batteries increases. They will assist with an order of these 280Ah batteries but it needs to be a full container so that is a write off for me. No ways I am buying a full container of 280Ah batteries and even a group buy is unlikely to get enough people interested to justify a full container. lol

It is disappointing but I can understand from a business point of view why they are not interested in bringing these batteries into SA at the moment. Majority of people seem to have a single 5kWh battery, maybe 2.

I seldom see installs with more than 10kWh of battery backup, unless it is for a business.

On 2023/11/15 at 8:13 AM, PsyCLown said:

So I see they updated the pricing on the Svolt batteries, I assume this is for the Black Friday special: https://www.snaga.co.za/product-category/batteries/

@PsyCLown I wanted to check with you, there are a few alarm bells when I look at this site that a few people have said to watch out for. I know you said they legit but it worries me, do you have a physical address for these guys as I have a friend in JHB who can possibly check it out for me.

1) Only EFT payments

2) No physical address I can see on the website

3) Only an email and a cell number no landline (I know not everyone has a landline but still)

Has anybody else dealt with Snaga.co.za

 

Sorry for the questions but you can never be to carful now days with all the scams.

@Greglsh if I was buying, this operation looks a whole more legit to me, yet I cannot speak for Snaga, but their web presence is very limited, I agree

https://electromannsa.co.za/product/svolt-5-09kwh-48v-106ah-lithium-battery/

5 hours ago, PsyCLown said:

When I enquired about the 280Ah batteries again I was told they do not plan on bringing them into SA unless they feel the demand for the larger batteries increases. They will assist with an order of these 280Ah batteries but it needs to be a full container so that is a write off for me. No ways I am buying a full container of 280Ah batteries and even a group buy is unlikely to get enough people interested to justify a full container. lol

Good to know! Thank you!                                          

9 hours ago, VicB7 said:

@Greglsh if I was buying, this operation looks a whole more legit to me, yet I cannot speak for Snaga, but their web presence is very limited, I agree

https://electromannsa.co.za/product/svolt-5-09kwh-48v-106ah-lithium-battery/

Only issue is they don't have the 51.2v in the wall mount version. Will keep looking for other options as well.

@PsyCLown

What was the physical address you went to to collect your first battery?

11 hours ago, Greglsh said:

@PsyCLown I wanted to check with you, there are a few alarm bells when I look at this site that a few people have said to watch out for. I know you said they legit but it worries me, do you have a physical address for these guys as I have a friend in JHB who can possibly check it out for me.

1) Only EFT payments

2) No physical address I can see on the website

3) Only an email and a cell number no landline (I know not everyone has a landline but still)

Has anybody else dealt with Snaga.co.za

 

Sorry for the questions but you can never be to carful now days with all the scams.

Yeah, I agree that their website is not the best and they don't come across as a large company.

Over the years I have dealt with quite a few smaller companies and some only have an online presence and this reminds me of that - which is not always a bad thing as sometimes the service can be better with smaller companies... sometimes not though.

 

I got my batteries without issues, although things can always change.

Collection address was in Midrand, on a dirt road. Seems the owner runs a dog business from that address as well so its not a typical business address per say.

Hey @PsyCLown

Is there a way of making adjustment to the battery parameters, without affecting the warranty? I have the 15S, 48 V version of the battery.

I am sitting with a problem here, I am using voltage control settings where the battery gets charged up to around 97%. LI BMS mode sets the charge and float  voltages higher than recommended settings and triggers OVP warnings. I would ideally prefer to have proper comms between the inverter and the battery.  I have reached out to the SVolt rep and initially he was quite responsive, but have not received a response in over a week.

 

47 minutes ago, JoeMobstarr28 said:

Hey @PsyCLown

Is there a way of making adjustment to the battery parameters, without affecting the warranty? I have the 15S, 48 V version of the battery.

I am sitting with a problem here, I am using voltage control settings where the battery gets charged up to around 97%. LI BMS mode sets the charge and float  voltages higher than recommended settings and triggers OVP warnings. I would ideally prefer to have proper comms between the inverter and the battery.  I have reached out to the SVolt rep and initially he was quite responsive, but have not received a response in over a week.

 

Svolt would need to answer this. 

One can make changes to the BMS parameters with the correct software and the password, although how that would affect the warranty only Svolt would be able to answer.

Some companies like Hubble won't even allow you to connect to the BMS without voiding your warranty.

 

I see it similar to rooting your phone or flashing a non official ROM on your phone, or even doing a software tune or mods on your car... will it affect the warranty? Yes, it most likely will. Some may get away with it, others won't be as lucky.

I was looking at these svolt bats as well before going diy. Their prices makes diy basically null for the most part.

On 2023/11/21 at 7:45 AM, Greglsh said:

Only issue is they don't have the 51.2v in the wall mount version. Will keep looking for other options as well.

There might be an additional clause worth considering for "some" before buying from https://electromannsa.co.za/

Warranty:
All inverters and batteries must be installed by a qualified electrical wireman or Master electrician with a valid registration with the Department of Labour. A valid electrical certificate of compliance (COC) must be issued once installed, specific to the installation of the backup or solar system. The installation must be compliant with SANS 10142 and ALL its parts. Any warranty claim submitted without installation photos, a valid COC and proof of a qualified wireman/master electrician installing the unit, can be rejected and will render the warranty claim null at void.

I have purchased 2 x 48v the problem I have is that the manual says 80% discharge is at 42v my batteries switch of at 48v can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong

except for that very impressed