The Battery Thread (Solar / Inverter)

Gallderhen said:
This greatly depends on how much you are willing to spend and how long you can suffer load-shedding.

I need to power a computer, some phone-charging if needed and my cctv cameras and nvr, and have asked myself: "Do I spend R10-14k on a mecer-agm-battery system now that will be sufficient for the next 2-5 years? Or do I save a bit and spend R40-50K on a proper inverter-charger-li-on-system that will last me 10-15 years?".

And it really depends on what you can live with. If you have a family that's starting to become really irritated of having to spend another night in the dark, then the R40K solution might be worth while to save up for.

Also, the R10k solution is not very expandable, and you can't easily add alot of solar to it, where as the R40k one you can expand and grow as you have funds available, without having to chuck out the current system.

In the end, I'd say: Look at your finances, look at your level of discomfort and weigh the pros and cons of each system before buying.

-G-
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I couldn't have put it better myself and this is the message I try get across when asked what solution is the best. We went for the more expensive but more future proof solution which has only been used twice so far as we haven't been as adversely affected by load shedding.
 
Any feedback/experience with Royal batteries, in particular 85Ah?
Spec sheet does not specify cycles....
 
Has anyone bought anything from Communica ? They seems legit and good choice as any. Shipping is free as well over certain amounts
 
djbrendan said:
Has anyone bought anything from Communica ? They seems legit and good choice as any. Shipping is free as well over certain amounts
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I buy from them weekly... Very legit. I was there yesterday and saw 1 or 2 120Ah omni and 180ah omni's in stock. for those looking for omni's and you are in JHB Pretoria Area... if you hurry you might pick them up. Price on the 180 was 5100ish
 
Communica has limited stock of the Omnipowers
www.communica.co.za

BATT 12V180 OPR

12V 180AH Rechargeable Deep Cycle AGM/GEL HybriD VRLA Solar Battery 483 x 170 x 240mm 45KG - Omnipower Overview Features Specification Nominal Voltage 2V Nominal Capacity 80AH Size 483 x 170 x 240mm Rechargeable True Downloads Datasheet Download User Manual Download
www.communica.co.za www.communica.co.za
www.communica.co.za

BATT 12V120 OPR

12V 120AH Rechargeable Deep Cycle AGM/GEL Hybrid VRLA Solar Battery 330 x 174 x 216mm 30.8KG Omnipower Overview Features Specification Nominal Voltage 12V Nominal Capacity 120AH Size 330 x 174 x 216mm Rechargeable True Downloads Datasheet Download User Manual Download
www.communica.co.za www.communica.co.za

I would call for stock quantities.
 
thechamp said:
They work, I would say they are the same as any flooded battery brand out there. My brother had the 105 AH, they did the job.
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Another quick q, can you briefly connect 2x6v batteries ( for testing) to the 24v Mecer inverter without any serious drawbacks?
 
Rocket-Boy said:
Most of the 48V lithium batteries are for 5kva units, they do come with a caveat though on the amount of power the can supply from a single battery unit.
Victron will void the warranty if you have a single 48V unit connected to their 3kva+ units as it puts a pretty big strain on it when a large load starts pulling.
Its different with AGM/LA though because you need to connect a few together to get up to 48V so it would satisfy the amp draw.
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My PylonTech 3.5kwh maxes out a 3.5kw draw with lots of red lights flashing then the internal controller will shut off the battery after 15s of 100A draw. The battery unit's controller does a good job of protecting the batteries
 
MirageF1 said:
24v, I thought I'd typed that
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It won't work, if you are that desperate to test, take out you car battery from the car, connect your 2x6V in series, connect that in series with you car battery and connect that to your inverter.

If you are confused about anything I said above then don't do it.
 
djbrendan said:
Has anyone bought anything from Communica ? They seems legit and good choice as any. Shipping is free as well over certain amounts
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Communica also have branches in Centurion, PTA and Cape Town. Their branch in Centurion is fairly big. I have not been to the others, but they have a few cool goodies there beyond batteries etc.

Very legit company.
 
netstrider said:
Communica also have branches in Centurion, PTA and Cape Town. Their branch in Centurion is fairly big. I have not been to the others, but they have a few cool goodies there beyond batteries etc.

Very legit company.
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Yeah phoned them, no stock of the omni's :(
 
MirageF1 said:
I read some inverters can charge 12 or 24v

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Only if the inverter specifically says and the instructions are absolutely clear on how to configure it for either 12V or 24V. If set at 24V, the batteries could be overcharged if the charging current is too high. If set at 12V and you now connect a 24V battery the inverter could be damaged.
Very bad idea to play around with these things.
 
netstrider said:
Communica also have branches in Centurion, PTA and Cape Town. Their branch in Centurion is fairly big. I have not been to the others, but they have a few cool goodies there beyond batteries etc.

Very legit company.
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Their branch in CPT is tiny in comparison to the Midrand warehouse... The people there said most stock is ordered and shipped down - story of my life when trying to find anything mildly specific in CPT :rolleyes:

But they kept their word, I ordered 4 batteries and a 5kva inverter from them, it was shipped to their CPT branch and I collected with no issues - I can highly recommend them
 
Tim_vb said:
My PylonTech 3.5kwh maxes out a 3.5kw draw with lots of red lights flashing then the internal controller will shut off the battery after 15s of 100A draw. The battery unit's controller does a good job of protecting the batteries
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Yeah it will do, Victron are just particularly sticky on warranty. To effectively cover a 5kva inverter you would need 2x US3000 or 3x US2000 Pylontech batteries.
Most people oversize the inverter to make sure there is headroom so you can cover the load with a single US3000.
 
So whats the feelings on super capacitors?
Interestingly the pricing is fairly close to LiFEpo4 but they are rated at up to 1 million cycles and can produce crazy amounts of burst power.
Im not sure they are ready for being a single power source yet but combined with a smaller amount of battery storage they could be pretty amazing.
 
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