Solar PV battery options

ELM327

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120848224#Comment_120848224

I have seen approx 1600-1800 per 5kWh for no name china batteries on ali express, would probably expect 1800-2k for the likes of a pylontech here.

There are still savings to be had from the DIY side of things, but the best part for me is the controllability and the fact that you're not using pouch cells that pylontech have. They are awful. Make sure that what you buy if buying off the shelf (and there are merits to it ) is a 16S (or 15S once you know it) and not pouch cells. Ideally only buy ones youve seen reviewed on youtube with them being cut open so you know what youre getting

Mr Q

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120848224#Comment_120848224

Pylontech US5000 4.8kWh units are on ebay for about 1,400 including delivery. From a seller that has sold 100's of them.

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120849930#Comment_120849930

Link? A quick look doesn't show anything for that sort of money including shipping and taxes.

As @ELM327 said, I wouldn't recommended Pylontech either, The cells are crap. But they do have a good warranty.

ColemanY2K

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120849930#Comment_120849930

I must look them up. In addition Nkon.nl in the Netherlands is an online battery retailer who sell Pylontech US5000 4.8kWh batteries for €1,479.95 a piece, €1,459.95 a piece if you buy two or €1,429.95 a piece if three or more are bought. Shipping from €80 for 1...goes up from there.

They also sell the Huawei SUN2000-LUNA-5kW-E0 for €2,379.95 a piece.

The above prices include VAT.

Mr Q

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120850347#Comment_120850347

https://www.ebay.ie/itm/394338524125?hash=item5bd0685bdd:g:8pkAAOSw-sNjdjf-&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAAwDyZLgC%2Fs2OmfUOaBh57GtR5VR%2F7jS9PkJxn5EFUzydMhoTyZbx14fXj4WqqbExqDbG8hYvGsc5AJT7tBtGLSdkp9%2Fiyf6P%2F67ybWytRJbqdySJOSa8BCLO1b1g6HNyz%2BWtfOslOLPlIQ06LcE%2FRxlEbUF1%2FpZNdUS61HMbhC8z3xrU7VAIH7CjC7rDFLdSrz7JvFg%2FcKj6Tog0bjbxeaCN4nECGwntdYg7N%2F%2F1Cnj56dZFqTXsOhof8ZRUT%2BETVkw%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR6a828SqYg

It will allow to check out without adding the VAT using an Irish address but mentions Germany 0%

HotSwap

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120850391#Comment_120850391

The LUNA battery have just dropped in price significantly:

Ginger83

Dyness 5.1kwh €2200 supplied and fitted by our installer.

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120850469#Comment_120850469

Superior CALBs 10kWh €1300 supplied by AliExpress and fitted by moi 😂

I have strong doubts if a €2200 5kWh will ever pay for itself now we have a very decent FIT. But each to their own, your money, your choices, etc.

Mr Q

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120850550#Comment_120850550

The CALB are great value but they are not 10kWh with 16 cells based on most people who capacity test them. Somewhere between 7 and 8 seems common.

Still going to easily beat any off the shelf battery for cost per kWh.

Ginger83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120850550#Comment_120850550

Hi Unkel. I fully understand the difference in cost but I unfortunately cannot go the diy route as I'm disabled physically.

My other thought was getting the original company to fit so there could be no blame game in the event of a problem occuring.

slave1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120850686#Comment_120850686

Those are recent batches, the early folk on the forum got pretty much full capacity from late 21 to mid 22 shipments, thankfully I'm in that early batch and get 16kWh out of a 20kWh pack with 20% buffer

randombar

So two Pylontech US5000 4.8kWh from nkon approx 3k for 9.6kwh which would come with case, Bms etc. with a “guaranteed” capacity of 9.6. 3.2w per euro.

if you were to go nkon diy for cases batteries bms’es etc. what kind of money would you be talking. Not sure the quality at the moment from Ali can be relied upon.

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120851542#Comment_120851542

If I was starting clean slate

I'd be going for the 300odd ah eve cells or similar from nkon.

Likely would go with a jk bms, but using the translator board using esphome as I'm quite comfortable with that.

Other BMS could be the global power one, off grid garage done a series on that one.

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120850686#Comment_120850686

I had CALBs before most other people on the forum and the earlier ones seemed higher grade / more capacity. But I agree with your point. It is not that relevant for me now as I have several cells in parallel, including ones that were known tested at less than 130Ah (that I got very cheap), but the law of averages gives me a high usuable total kWh of the pack. It was fun to manually "balance" the pack in the first week or so by physically moving around cells to get a better match 😂 I also went 15S after being 16S for years as it suited the total number of cells that I had better 🤣

I agree with @graememk that if I were to do it again and would only ever go 1 or 2 in parallel, I would buy EVE cells from NKON. Their prices are very reasonable, only a bit up from the likes of AliExpress, but you then have certainty about taxes and an EU presence. And then hope they don't swell too much or cause trouble. Something that is near impossible with CALB cells.

Ginger83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120850550#Comment_120850550

Out of curiosity do you mind me asking why do you think the battery won't pay for itself?

I'm relatively new to solar but I see this battery has a 6000 cycles life.

unkel

Because the FIT is nearly as profitable as cycling the battery after losses, per kWh. And that doesn't take into account the depreciation on the battery itself and on the additional hardware (like hybrid inverter instead of conventional inverter or battery inverter on top of conventional inverter) and that's even presuming you do the total install yourself

Ginger83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120853196#Comment_120853196

Oh I get you. Would this be depending on exported power and subject to having a smart meter?

I chose a hybrid inverter because I wanted to have a battery to cover excess usage above generation rather than not having a battery if that makes sense. Although we have a day/night meter currently so receive deemed export. I will probably consider a smart meter at some stage but the tariffs don't suit us as an EV is out of the question.

KBeats6

Hi, I am new to the forum, I recently installed a pv system with a Luna2000 -5-S0 5KWh battery. I would like to add more battery capacity, say a further 10 or 15KWh. Are there any limitations, is it a simple addition. It's a home installation, tks Ken

HotSwap

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120858029#Comment_120858029

You can have 3 of the 5kWh modules with one BMS (the bit that’s sitting on top). So you can buy 2 additional modules; take off your BMS; stack the additional two 5 kWh modules you got on top and then stick the BMS back on.

if you want to have more than 15kwh you need to get another BMS.

The prices on midsummer are great; and also Rexel prices are just dropped this month. But you will have to pay VAT at the full rate.

I assume the inverter will just see the new battery’s when you turn it back on. I did set up several systems but never added a battery; other than at initial setup. but I’m sure it’s fine.

cloudhopper19

Have PV panels installed in house - builder installed them but now would like to add a battery but finding it difficult to find someone to supply and install battery to existing panels. Anyone any recommendations on battery or install options for Kilkenny...

championc

Assuming you already have a hybrid inverter, it should be plug in and go

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120865194#Comment_120865194

Builder installed, so I'd say not a hybrid

slave1

could even be micros

portach king

Hi guys,

We're about a month into our Solar/Battery install. Here's our setup.

• An 8kW panels on the roof.
• Inverter model: Solis RHI-5G Series Hybrid Inverter 
• Battery type: Dyness 5kWh

So far, we're very happy with the setup but are looking to up the battery. I can imagine that compatibility will be the issue if I want to add another 5kW or 10kW. So I have a few questions:

1. Do I have to stick with Dyness?
2. I see Dyness have different modular shapes. Our current one is the server cabinet style. Can that be connected with a powerwall style?
3. Is there some kind of compatibility chart online that I can use? I searched, and found nothing.
4. What is the capacity I could reach with the inverter installed? This is mostly out of curiosity.

HotSwap

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120866325#Comment_120866325

https://www.failtesolar.com/assets/uploads/documnets/dynesscompatiblelist-20211015-v1.pdf

unkel

@portach king - did you do any sums before even considering such an investment?

Another 5kWh Dyness battery will almost certainly never pay for itself if supplied and installed by an installer and you have a feed in tariff.

Also your Solis inverter does not perform to spec. It is very limited in what it can charge the battery with. It throttles very quickly down to 3kW. So on this glorious blue sky day when your (presumably south facing panels) are producing the full 8kW, 5kW of that is going straight back to the grid (unless you directly use it yourself or have car or hot water diverters), whether you have a 5kWh or 100kWh Dyness battery.

Same for discharging. Even if you had a 100kWh Dyness battery that was fully charged, if someone is hoovering and you have a washing machine running and someone else puts the kettle on, then you are buying a lot of electricity for that from the grid

portach king

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120866421#Comment_120866421

Hey, Thanks for your feedback. I appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts on adding a second battery to my solar system. I was planning on doing the installation myself, by the way. The current battery in installed in a server cabinet, and a second one could fit on top of it.

I understand your concerns about the cost of the battery and the performance of my Solis inverter. I'm still just at the stage of considering this as an option, and I was wondering if the battery will eventually pay for itself in terms of reduced electricity bills.

Likewise, I also understand that even with a 100 kWh battery, I will still need to draw power from the grid during peak usage periods. Again, my hopes were that the battery will help to reduce my overall electricity consumption, and that will save me money in the long run.

I appreciate your concern, and I will continue to monitor my system closely to see how it performs.

Thank you again for your feedback.

unkel

It will save money for sure and adding another battery to your inverter in the server cabinet is super easy. But the 5kWh battery (new) will still probably cost you about €1700-1800 or thereabouts. The savings might be less than €100 per year (if even that), so effectively it will never pay for itself as it will likely be kaput before. And that's not even taking into account finance cost and opportunity cost

Try make a realistic calculation of the savings, and then decide

I don't want to be a negative nelly here and my own system is very big in terms of battery capacity. But it was all raw cells that I bought at very good prices (only a fraction of the cost of ready made batteries like Dyness). So if your extra battery costs €600 and you made €150 per year back (in my case more than the €100 as my inverter can charge / discharge much better than the 3kW from Solis, it would start to make a lot more sense.

Now obviously it depends on what way electricity prices will develop over the mid term, nobody knows. Personally I expect much higher differences than today. More like in the UK where a variable tariff can be anywhere between minus 30p and plus 60p or thereabouts for those that opt in 😎

slave1

Sit back and see how you get on during a full year of usage, I would not rush an expensive decision like that, after a year you can estimate what your additional savings would have been and then decide is it worth it.

portach king

Thanks lads. I genuinely appreciate the frank answers.

Just to add a little more context, we have a smart meter installed and are on a night boost plan for the EV. We also have a heat pump.

I was hoping to fill the batteries up overnight during the darker months so to avoid pulling as much off the grid during the expensive day rates.