Morning all,

So after my last 4 Pylontech us3000c were a complete write off, I am now going to be shopping around for a new battery system. This time around, support, support, support is going to be key focus. So at the moment I have two possible brands lined up as possible replacements, I'm only going to start with one 5kwh battery at the moment as this year has already been very expensive.

Freedom Won eTwower 5kwh - manufactured in South Africa, the company has been around for a long time, they have a lot of installs.

Greenrich UP5000 - manufactured in South Africa, it's a relatively new company, they seem to be popular because of their price point.

I would really appreciate any feedback on Freedom Won and Greenrich batteries plus any other batteries anyone can recommend that they have been running for 7+ years?

What I'm really after is good local support and batteries that are up to the task to be used daily (at night mostly) so I can carry over my solar production into the evenings.

Thank you,

I'm of the opinion that you should add BSL to you list.. IMHO the best off all batteries support wise

I Bought 1 new BSL in 2020 and have been adding 2nd hand batteries as I go along

I paid R25k new and 8k 2nd hand, all where recently remotely inspected by getoffgrid as they are still under warranty

Edited March 30Mar 30 by Gidsie
spelling

45 minutes ago, Gidsie said:

I'm of the opinion that you should add BSL to you list.. IMHO the bets off all batteries support wise

I Bought 1 new BSL in 2020 and have been adding 2nd hand batteries as I go along

I paid R25k new and 8k 2nd hand, all where recently remotely inspected by getoffgrid as they are still under warranty

Thank you, I will add BSL to my list of companies to investigate. I've never actually heard of them before.

3 hours ago, JuliusK said:

Freedom Won eTwower 5kwh - manufactured in South Africa, the company has been around for a long time, they have a lot of installs.

They do have a lot of installs, but they also have multiple products. Some commercial, some domestic, and in the domestic space they have at least two product lines. I have the FreedomWon LiTE which I like a lot, but FreedomWon batteries are not all the same and the E-Tower has a different BMS and the cells are sourced from a different factory. So I would say that if you are looking for reports from owners, check which FreedomWon they are using. There are reasons that you pay less for E-Tower than for LiTE.

11 minutes ago, Bobster. said:

They do have a lot of installs, but they also have multiple products. Some commercial, some domestic, and in the domestic space they have at least two product lines. I have the FreedomWon LiTE which I like a lot, but FreedomWon batteries are not all the same and the E-Tower has a different BMS and the cells are sourced from a different factory. So I would say that if you are looking for reports from owners, check which FreedomWon they are using. There are reasons that you pay less for E-Tower than for LiTE.

That's good to know, appreciate the info.

I had a Freedom Won Lite Home 10/8 installed in May 2021. Towards the end of 2025 I noticed that it discharges normally until about 48%, and then the SoC suddenly drops to 10%. And then it will charge normally until about 55%, stay there for a while, and suddenly jump to 100%. So I basically had half of the original capacity.

In January 2026 I contacted the original installer, who logged a call with Freedom Won. The installer came to my house with his laptop and the Freedom Won guy connected remotely to diagnose. He said there were 3 cells at a lower voltage. He updated the firmware and said I should monitor it for a week or so.

There was no improvement, so at the beginning of February the installer took the battery to Freedom Won's offices (no small feat because the battery weighs almost 100kg and is mounted on a wall). Freedom Won had it for 4 weeks, and they replaced all the cells and the BMS. So now I basically have a new battery in the old box.

The only cost to me was the installer's fees. So I think Freedom Won's support is pretty good (albeit a bit slow). They responded each time the installer asked for an update.

2 hours ago, Bernardf said:

I had a Freedom Won Lite Home 10/8 installed in May 2021. Towards the end of 2025 I noticed that it discharges normally until about 48%, and then the SoC suddenly drops to 10%. And then it will charge normally until about 55%, stay there for a while, and suddenly jump to 100%. So I basically had half of the original capacity.

In January 2026 I contacted the original installer, who logged a call with Freedom Won. The installer came to my house with his laptop and the Freedom Won guy connected remotely to diagnose. He said there were 3 cells at a lower voltage. He updated the firmware and said I should monitor it for a week or so.

There was no improvement, so at the beginning of February the installer took the battery to Freedom Won's offices (no small feat because the battery weighs almost 100kg and is mounted on a wall). Freedom Won had it for 4 weeks, and they replaced all the cells and the BMS. So now I basically have a new battery in the old box.

The only cost to me was the installer's fees. So I think Freedom Won's support is pretty good (albeit a bit slow). They responded each time the installer asked for an update.

Thanks for sharing that, it's good to know that the support can be counted on. Definitely leaning towards them.

Also look into Dyness, super cost effective . If im not mistaken CNBM does repairs to them if need be, they've got a bunch of warehouses across SA.

Edited April 29Apr 29 by Mattyboy

On 2026/04/29 at 11:59 AM, Mattyboy said:

Also look into Dyness, super cost effective . If im not mistaken CNBM does repairs to them if need be, they've got a bunch of warehouses across SA.

I also stumbled upon them, thanks for mentioning them.