Blinkwater9 18 Posted June 23, 2019 Share Posted June 23, 2019 Has anyone looked at the SOLAR MD lithium Ion batteries? I have seen a unit in a local solar dealer store, but have not been able to get my hands on any technical literature as yet. The units are supposedly manufactured in Cape Town. Solar MD, is situated in Montague Gardens. Sent them an email requesting more info. Would to get comparisons to the other brands available? Very clean looking unit, nice cabinet Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Blinkwater9 18 Posted June 23, 2019 Author Share Posted June 23, 2019 It seems this topic has been raised before. A search of the site did not find the thread? But Google did? LOL. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Blinkwater9 18 Posted June 23, 2019 Author Share Posted June 23, 2019 Solar-MD-3.7kWh-data-sheet.pdf Solar-MD-7.4kWh-data-sheet.pdf Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mstott 38 Posted June 23, 2019 Share Posted June 23, 2019 6 hours ago, Blinkwater9 said: Has anyone looked at the SOLAR MD lithium Ion batteries? I have had the 7.4kwh running for the last month now and am very happy so far ! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Shawn_Mueller 9 Posted June 23, 2019 Share Posted June 23, 2019 I have had my 22kWh system running for about 8 months now and also very happy so far! I am wondering, after the whole monitoring platform, why this guys don't have decent website, asked this before without a reply... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
___ 4,122 Posted June 24, 2019 Share Posted June 24, 2019 Just one correction to the topic: This is a LiFePO4 battery, not a lithium ion battery Lithium Ion is what your phone and your laptop has. Usually less than a thousand cycles before end of life (depending on how hard you work it). LiPo (Lithium Polymer) is what you get in Vape pens and Drones and toys and so on. LiFePO4 is used in some vehicles (it is considered not to have a good enough energy density) but mostly for stationary power applications, aka solar power. Blinkwater9 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Blinkwater9 18 Posted June 24, 2019 Author Share Posted June 24, 2019 14 minutes ago, plonkster said: Just one correction to the topic: This is a LiFePO4 battery, not a lithium ion battery Lithium Ion is what your phone and your laptop has. Usually less than a thousand cycles before end of life (depending on how hard you work it). LiPo (Lithium Polymer) is what you get in Vape pens and Drones and toys and so on. LiFePO4 is used in some vehicles (it is considered not to have a good enough energy density) but mostly for stationary power applications, aka solar power. Awesome info, thx ___ 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Shawn_Mueller 9 Posted June 27, 2019 Share Posted June 27, 2019 Found this today.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Blinkwater9 18 Posted June 30, 2019 Author Share Posted June 30, 2019 I have been informed by SOLARMD, that the logger unit mentioned, does not communicate with the INFINISOLAR inverter? Can anyone offer more info on this? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Blinkwater9 18 Posted June 30, 2019 Author Share Posted June 30, 2019 On 2019/06/23 at 5:07 PM, Mstott said: I have had the 7.4kwh running for the last month now and am very happy so far ! Hi Mstott, Can you share more information on your system, and your consumption? I am trying get a feel for the capacity of these units, and which kw size unit will best suit my needs? Thanks. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mstott 38 Posted June 30, 2019 Share Posted June 30, 2019 Sure my system is victron , multiplus ll, venus GX , MPPT 150-60 , 7.4kwh Solar MD and logger V2 , Art solar 350w panels not quite north facing and tilt is not great for winter . I get sun from 9am until 3pm , so far I am getting around 11-12kwh per day . I have been using around 4kwh from my battery per day , I guess it all depends on how you use the battery as well as the load you are planning to run . My grid consumption was 30kwh per day and now 15kwh at the very most , I did also fit a ev tube geyser Blinkwater9 and ___ 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Blinkwater9 18 Posted July 7, 2019 Author Share Posted July 7, 2019 On 2019/06/30 at 4:55 PM, Mstott said: Sure my system is victron , multiplus ll, venus GX , MPPT 150-60 , 7.4kwh Solar MD and logger V2 , Art solar 350w panels not quite north facing and tilt is not great for winter . I get sun from 9am until 3pm , so far I am getting around 11-12kwh per day . I have been using around 4kwh from my battery per day , I guess it all depends on how you use the battery as well as the load you are planning to run . My grid consumption was 30kwh per day and now 15kwh at the very most , I did also fit a ev tube geyser Cool thx. Your usage looks pretty similar to mine, in summer.... lol. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Blinkwater9 18 Posted July 7, 2019 Author Share Posted July 7, 2019 I'm trying to get my head around the capacity of battery storage i would need. I have got info from SOLAR MD, that the 3,7kw unit is equivalent to 72 Ahour @52v. Practically, I think this will not be enough for my requirements, and I should therefore be installing the larger 7,4kw unit. Doing a very basic cost comparison between gel acid and lithium, looks as follows..... 200 amp hour gel acid x4 (12vdcx4=48vdc) @R4600 =R18400. Factor in the DOD @50% gives you 100 amp hour for around R20 000? Some shopping around may yield some discounts. Cables, cable accessories, fuses, frame structure etc etc etc. I would add at least a few thousand rand more? 3,7kw(76 Ahour) SOLAR MD, I can purchase for about R30k, and get at the very least twice the life span. The warrantee alone, is almost twice the expected life of the gels? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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