At Lithium Batteries South Africa (LBSA), we believe in building products that stand the test of time – and power. That’s why the Rhino IntelliFlex HV Battery now comes with a full 10-year warranty, giving you peace of mind and unlimited cycles within the warranty period.

• Built tough for South African conditions

• Engineered for industrial and commercial reliability

• Backed by LBSA’s trusted local support

When we say Proudly South African, proudly reliable, we mean it.

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44 minutes ago, AndriesLoots said:

At Lithium Batteries South Africa (LBSA), we believe in building products that stand the test of time – and power. That’s why the Rhino IntelliFlex HV Battery now comes with a full 10-year warranty, giving you peace of mind and unlimited cycles within the warranty period.

giving unlimited cycles, and assuming normal usage, what would the remaining usable capacity be at the end of year 10?

24 minutes ago, WannabeSolarSparky said:

giving unlimited cycles, and assuming normal usage, what would the remaining usable capacity be at the end of year 10?

Assuming you drain the battery to 0% once a day, you would have only reached 3650-3700 cycles in 10 years.

Typically, there is 80% capacity remaining after 4800 cycles. So, depending on how you use the battery, you should have between 85-80% capacity remaining after year 10.

This is assuming you were operating the battery in ideal temperature conditions.

7 hours ago, AndriesLoots said:

Assuming you drain the battery to 0% once a day, you would have only reached 3650-3700 cycles in 10 years.

This is assuming you were operating the battery in ideal temperature conditions.

Can you please post some actual hard data regarding your batteries - e.g.:

• different expected service life (say to 80% remaining capacity) at varying depth of discharge (DOD) or state of charge (SOC), if you like...

• ditto for operating at various charge/discharge temperatures - perhaps at 10 degrees C, 15 degrees C, 25 degrees C, 35 degrees C and 40 degrees C...

• ditto for charging and discharging at varying rates of charge or discharge (0.1C, 0.5C, 1.0C, 2.0C, etc.)

• some expected "real life" scenarios covering (say) 100% DOD daily, at temperatures varying from 5 degrees C in mid winter to 40 degrees C in mid summer.

I'm afraid the small print, such as "This is assuming you were operating the battery in ideal temperature conditions" quoted above, or "charged & discharged at no higher than 0.5C", etc. etc. is missed by many PV owners until after a few years of service at typical temperatures encountered in South Africa or at charging rates in excess of the stated maximum, they are told that their batteries have reached the end of their guaranteed life due to not operating them under these "ideal" conditions 🤔

I'm thinking of something like e.g. the following graph, but expanded to cover the variables mentioned above:

I concur with with @HennieL and @WannabeSolarSparky on this. Lab specs (like “6000 cycles at 80% DoD”) are usually tested under controlled conditions: perfect temperature, low current (0.2C), no surge loads, and cell-level monitoring. Real-world use is harsh, higher currents, variable temperatures, and less-perfect balancing. That’s why installers and battery engineers usually recommend limiting usable capacity.

On “0% DoD = 10 years” Marketing

Saying a battery can be “drained to 0% DoD daily and still last 10 years” is misleading. Yes, in theory, 3650 cycles = 10 years of daily use. But that ignores capacity fade, after 10 years of full DoD, you’re probably sitting closer to 65–70% capacity, not 85–80%. Also, “0% SoC” on most BMS systems isn’t true cell-zero the BMS usually reserves ~5–10% buffer. Any BMS worth it salt should not allow discharge beyond ~10% SoC it is normally a hard limit programmed into most BMS's logic. There is also safety issues discharging lifep04 beyond 2.5v/cell. Overdischarging also leads to cell swelling that renders the cell unsafe for future use.

6 hours ago, TaliaB said:

I concur with with @HennieL and @WannabeSolarSparky on this. Lab specs (like “6000 cycles at 80% DoD”) are usually tested under controlled conditions: perfect temperature, low current (0.2C), no surge loads, and cell-level monitoring. Real-world use is harsh, higher currents, variable temperatures, and less-perfect balancing. That’s why installers and battery engineers usually recommend limiting usable capacity.

On “0% DoD = 10 years” Marketing

Saying a battery can be “drained to 0% DoD daily and still last 10 years” is misleading. Yes, in theory, 3650 cycles = 10 years of daily use. But that ignores capacity fade, after 10 years of full DoD, you’re probably sitting closer to 65–70% capacity, not 85–80%. Also, “0% SoC” on most BMS systems isn’t true cell-zero the BMS usually reserves ~5–10% buffer. Any BMS worth it salt should not allow discharge beyond ~10% SoC it is normally a hard limit programmed into most BMS's logic. There is also safety issues discharging lifep04 beyond 2.5v/cell. Overdischarging also leads to cell swelling that renders the cell unsafe for future use.

Thanks for the last point. I think we normally associate swelling cells as over charged. Good to know over discharge also causes swelled cells.

7 hours ago, TaliaB said:

On “0% DoD = 10 years” Marketing

Saying a battery can be “drained to 0% DoD daily and still last 10 years” is misleading.

Agreed. It's an old marketing ploy - have a battery with (say) 10% larger capacity than stated, limit the discharge to 90% of actual, and then claim the "bragging rights" of a 0% capacity battery... Same advertising gimmick used to market many other things, so not just limited to solar batteries.

On 2025/09/17 at 7:02 AM, HennieL said:

Agreed. It's an old marketing ploy - have a battery with (say) 10% larger capacity than stated, limit the discharge to 90% of actual, and then claim the "bragging rights" of a 0% capacity battery... Same advertising gimmick used to market many other things, so not just limited to solar batteries.

True, the market (all industries) are full of sales gimmicks and flashy looking offers and promises.
At the end of the day it all boils down to the reality of the service you receive.
Either the brand stick to their promise or they dont.

The reason we have probably the shortest and most lenient warranty document in the market is due to the fact that we prioritize our customers experience, not just when purchasing our product but also when something goes wrong or a service or update is needed.

No point in having a fancy marketing strategy but you end up with an inferior product and crappy support.

Most batteries are the same and depending on specific elements of use, the cycles and remaining capacity after the cycles will differ case by case.