Proinso Trojan Batteries

[Dougiedanger]

Hi All,

I am new to the forum which I found whilst looking for some reviews and advice.

I have come across a company called Proinso that is selling Trojan SAGM batteries at a very reasonable price, 6V 375ah at c ZAR 5200 Vat Incl.

Has anyone else used them, can you give me any feedback to your experience and to the quality of the product(ie age) as well as after sales service?

Thanks for the help.

Regards

[Guest]

Welcome Dougie!

34 minutes ago, Dougiedanger said:

Trojan SAGM batteries

If I was you, Danger, I would rather go for a Pylontech battery. As good as the Trojans are, they need water regularly, releases hydrogen and temp affect the 4000 claimed cycles at 20% DOD.

In other words, they are good, but messy and fickly and needs a hand to be kept on them and if you have a few, battery balancers.

Go for Pylontech. 

[Dougiedanger]

Thanks TTT, I am already learning plenty here.

 

I am from Zim and well solar is our life now! 

I was planning to go for the Sealed AGM ones, I also only have a 24v Must Inverter and the lithium options in 24V seem scarce with the exception of Blue Nova.

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Dougiedanger said:

I was planning to go for the Sealed AGM ones, I also only have a 24v Must Inverter and the lithium options in 24V seem scarce with the exception of Blue Nova.

AHA ... 24v, now we are talking!!!
Just gave a passionate essay to Gerlach why 24v systems are not such a bad idea for up to +-3kva setups. 

Suggestion on that then: Get the AGM's and budget +-5 years, anything longer is a bonus. Why? Because Trojan batters are tried and tested!

Then when the 24v Pylontechs hit the market, or the Revov ones 2nd life batteries are sold with a 24v BMS, then you can upgrade when the AGM bank is EOL.

Or if you want to cut costs, look at the Royals or these ones: http://www.dixonbatteries.co.za/dc-golf-cart-6v-210ah-lwh-260x180x290
They don't have the cycles Trojan has but at their prices ... waiting for a 24v Pylontech or Revov ... why not.

[Dougiedanger]

Thanks, would be great to hear your thoughts on the 24v systems.

We are on the same page, I had already been in touch with Revov (waiting for them to advise on the 24V) and looked quite carefully at Blue Nova and then came across the Trojans at a price that seem to be good to be true (Dixons at ZAR 7755 and First National Battery at ZAR 6200 for the same), hence why I wanted to know who had experience with Proinso. I don't want to buy a battery that has been on the shelf for awhile or worse!

Ultimately in Zim I think the Victron route is the most solid way to go, however at the time I had to get what I could afford.

[Guest]

Don't use Dixon's web prices. Those include a few other costs, they want you to come in or have a "connection" as they say.  

24v with say a max of a 3.5kva inverter.

Now lead acid batteries fail at the most inconvenient time like say smack bam in a Dec holiday, just before Christmas, with the whole family there. You got the picture? 
So what now? No cash, not a lot of dealers open, system is down right?

Now no cash means that for +-R1850 bucks a pop you can get a quick fix 12v 100ah battery, only 2, not 4.
Or +-R2850 a 12v 200ah truck battery, again only 2, not 4.
And get the system on again, knowing full well that you are going to use them hard over +-6 months till the funds return, or cycle them lightly to say DOD of 20% and they will last +-5 years or +-250 cycles.

Now think a moment: Who in SA has had 250 Eskom failures?
Zim, different story, but the loads are different to SA's also.

Ok, moving onto the case being made that a 48v bank has double the ah's right? 
Nothing stops anyone from buying the exact same amount of batteries for a 24v system, if that blows your whistle.

The biggest differences to keep in mind with 24v vs 48v:
1) Check you MPPT - 24v MPPT's allow much smaller arrays than a 48v MPPT - so what did I do, I bought a 150/100 MPPT and have never looked back. Ok, maybe once to a 250/100.
2) The batt cables - just don't argue and get 50mm2 cables and keep them as short as possible and be done with it. You won't regret that.
3) Bigger fuses needed than on a 48v system ... and the problem is?  

Case sample: Me, I am cheapskate when it comes to batteries, not with Victron equipment see.
So I bought those 4 x T105 on sale by Chris, they arrived today thank to Jaco de Jongh, so I'm going to merge them with the T105RE's I have and get another year or two out of the bank for R2630 incl the delivery from Heidelberg to Cape Town.

If I was 48v, I would have needed 8 x 6v and that would have made it a rather questionable move ito the costs.
But at R2630 it is 2 evenings of not going out to a fancy dinner - man it has become expensive!

So, in conclusion: 
1) If you are not into buying batteries, 24v systems can take you very very far to save costs depending on your needs vs wants.
2) And if one is grid tied, get the cheaper batts and "Keep them Charged" and use all the power the system can generate, for the house. You are not going to see 250 Eskom failures in 5 years, not yet at least.

 

[LivSol]

On 2019/08/02 at 12:07 PM, Dougiedanger said:

Hi All,

I am new to the forum which I found whilst looking for some reviews and advice.

I have come across a company called Proinso that is selling Trojan SAGM batteries at a very reasonable price, 6V 375ah at c ZAR 5200 Vat Incl.

Has anyone else used them, can you give me any feedback to your experience and to the quality of the product(ie age) as well as after sales service?

Thanks for the help.

Regards

The situation with the Trojan AGM stock at Proinso is that Proinso have not adhered to Trojan charging recommendations for holding stock, and the stock had been allowed to drop to very low SOC, past what is recommend. This may have something to do with the "to good to be true" price. 

Edited September 4, 2019 by LivSol