The Battery Thread (Solar / Inverter)

[johnjm]

I am in the same boat as you, I've been strongly considering very dodgy brands since I am too much of a chance, I just want to have a meaningful discussion on how bad can they really be compared to lead acid, whose price does not seem to be coming down.

Not too far off from lead acid in pricing.

Hoselect 100AH 12Volt LiFePo4 Battery

Hoselect 100AH 12.8Volt LiFePo4 Battery (10003445) Dimensions: 37cm (w) x 33cm (d) x 14cm (h) Weight: 22.8KG

www.electromannsa.com

That is actually very tempting... it doesn’t provide the cycle charge etc but maybe I rushed through reading the page.

Edit
I wonder if it has a BMS, I somehow don’t think so

 

[TheChamp]

That is actually very tempting... it doesn’t provide the cycle charge etc but maybe I rushed through reading the page.

Edit
I wonder if it has a BMS, I somehow don’t think so

Yes, there's a lot of questions but at least it is something worth considering because I just cannot justify going to buy another lead acid battery at the current prices.

 

[clickingbuttons]

Yes, there's a lot of questions but at least it is something worth considering because I just cannot justify going to buy another lead acid battery at the current prices.

My mustek inverter and two 105ah 12V lead acid batteries started making a sulphuric acid smell two days.

Turned off everything and the batteries are still hot two days later.

I agree lead acid is 100% garbage!

 

[Cius]

My Ratel 8100 has now been getting some use. What a difference being able to carry on working at least on battery power during load shedding. Really changes the experience a lot. So glad I invested in a backup solution.

 

[Lupus]

My Ratel 8100 has now been getting some use. What a difference being able to carry on working at least on battery power during load shedding. Really changes the experience a lot. So glad I invested in a backup solution.

I got one of those mini ups from Geewiz back in 2018 on a black friday special and it's been put through it's paces keeping the fibre running. The longest it went was 17 hours, after that it died, it does of course matter what else is pulling from it at the same time, so if I am running other routers from it, the battery drops to about 8 hours, but if I only use wifi I can get that 17 hours.

 

[TheChamp]

My mustek inverter and two 105ah 12V lead acid batteries started making a sulphuric acid smell two days.

Turned off everything and the batteries are still hot two days later.

I agree lead acid is 100% garbage!

I can totally relate, my 4 battery 24V system also gave up, all three batteries dead and one somehow managed to survive.

I got a good six years out of mine so I am not complaining, it's just time to move on.

 

[Lupus]

I can totally relate, my 4 battery 24V system also gave up, all three batteries dead and one somehow managed to survive.

I got a good six years out of mine so I am not complaining, it's just time to move on.

Could get a 12v inverter for smaller stuff before you replace the rest?

 

[TheChamp]

Could get a 12v inverter for smaller stuff before you replace the rest?

Yeah, I am prepared, I have a 600W pure sine wave plus a pair of 105Ah batteries, they are a different brand so I cannot hook the third one but I will still survive a reasonable period of load shedding.

I also have a 200W set of panels good for a solid 10A at 12V on a good sunny day, pity our weather has been all over the place these days.

 

[Lupus]

Yeah, I am prepared, I have a 600W pure sine wave plus a pair of 105Ah batteries, they are a different brand so I cannot hook the third one but I will still survive a reasonable period of load shedding.

I also have a 200W set of panels good for a solid 10A at 12V on a good sunny day, pity our weather has been all over the place these days.

Yeah the weather hasn't been akin to good PV generation in this last month by the looks of it.

 

[D4N_CPT]

I see they have a 24v battery pack for just under R10k. Site seems to list all kinds of cheap Chinese/Ebay type imports - so if dodgy is your criteria, I reckon you found it.

Hoselect 100AH 24Volt LiFePo4 Battery

Hoselect 100AH 24Volt LiFePo4 Battery (10004481) Dimensions: 54.5 x 53 x 21.5cm Weight: 38.6KG

www.electromannsa.com

I also noticed that the label mentions the need of a special charger, so I am sure that this unit does not have a BMS.

 

[Rocket-Boy]

I see they have a 24v battery pack for just under R10k. Site seems to list all kinds of cheap Chinese/Ebay type imports - so if dodgy is your criteria, I reckon you found it.

Hoselect 100AH 24Volt LiFePo4 Battery

Hoselect 100AH 24Volt LiFePo4 Battery (10004481) Dimensions: 54.5 x 53 x 21.5cm Weight: 38.6KG

www.electromannsa.com

I also noticed that the label mentions the need of a special charger, so I am sure that this unit does not have a BMS.

I would rather go for something like this, the pricing isnt very far off: https://www.sustainable.co.za/giter-100ah-2-56kwh-24v-lithium-battery.html

 

[The_Librarian]

asked ACDC for a quote just to run a laptop for 4 hours...

R27000 system...

that will keep it running 24x7 - not exactly what I want. And an UPS is not a good choice either.

Naah. Will DIY then. A panel here, a regulator there, wires somewhere else, battery from the vehicle impound yard, and I'm all set.

 

[B-1]

asked ACDC for a quote just to run a laptop for 4 hours...

R27000 system...

that will keep it running 24x7 - not exactly what I want. And an UPS is not a good choice either.

Naah. Will DIY then. A panel here, a regulator there, wires somewhere else, battery from the vehicle impound yard, and I'm all set.

I wonder if one of these will work well:

High Power DC-DC 100W Voltage Regulator - Micro Robotics

High Power DC-DC 100W Voltage Regulator

www.robotics.org.za

 

[The_Traveller]

My mustek inverter and two 105ah 12V lead acid batteries started making a sulphuric acid smell two days.

Turned off everything and the batteries are still hot two days later.

I agree lead acid is 100% garbage!

It could be that your charger damaged those batteries, or you bought crap LA batteries ?

 

[Lupus]

asked ACDC for a quote just to run a laptop for 4 hours...

R27000 system...

that will keep it running 24x7 - not exactly what I want. And an UPS is not a good choice either.

Naah. Will DIY then. A panel here, a regulator there, wires somewhere else, battery from the vehicle impound yard, and I'm all set.

1200VA Mecer Inverter + 100AH Battery (4 HOUR BATTERY LIFE) KIT - 720W (150-200 cycles) - GeeWiz

1200VA Mecer Inverter + 100AH Battery (4 HOUR BATTERY LIFE) KIT - 720W (150-200 cycles) for sale online at the Best Prices! Door to Door and Overnight Delivery

www.geewiz.co.za

That would easily be 4 hours

 

[Stokstert]

I see they have a 24v battery pack for just under R10k. Site seems to list all kinds of cheap Chinese/Ebay type imports - so if dodgy is your criteria, I reckon you found it.

Hoselect 100AH 24Volt LiFePo4 Battery

Hoselect 100AH 24Volt LiFePo4 Battery (10004481) Dimensions: 54.5 x 53 x 21.5cm Weight: 38.6KG

www.electromannsa.com

I also noticed that the label mentions the need of a special charger, so I am sure that this unit does not have a BMS.

Funny the hoselect 12V100Ah battery weighs 22,8 Kg, while the 24V 100Ah weighs only 12,2 Kg.

 

[johnjm]

Funny the hoselect 12V100Ah battery weighs 22,8 Kg, while the 24V 100Ah weighs only 12,2 Kg.

I ordered batteries today off takealot. A set of 150ah LAs. Price was reasonable and willing to try a different brand and type.

The lodshedding last night was the last straw as solar is great. In the day.

 

[TheChamp]

I ordered batteries today off takealot. A set of 150ah LAs. Price was reasonable and willing to try a different brand and type.

The lodshedding last night was the last straw as solar is great. In the day.

What brand?

 

[johnjm]

What brand?

Sosolar I think it was

 

[Crush]

Question for those with solar panels installed... what peak solar are you getting out of your array? I'm maxing out at around 75% of rated power on the roof, which I dont think is too bad.

I've got 8 x 535w JA solar panels on 2 strings of 4 panels each. It quickly ramps up to around 3.25kw of power and can pretty much stay there from 8h30 till around 15h00 if the load is sufficient or batteries are charging. My panels are NE-facing with a 30 degree angle bracket with a slight east tilt as well because of the roof leaning that way. Not ideal but not bad.

On the battery side, I think anyone buying lead acid is making a HUGE mistake. Yes, LiFePO4 is a huge investment, but cycling them overnight is where I'm starting to claw back money from my investment. I have 2 of the PylonTech 3.5kwh batteries which are rated at 6000 cycles at 95% DoD. I run them down to 15% each night and that seems to work well. I've had two sets of lead acids on a purely backup system before and they just dont work well and are VERY hard to monitor. With the Pylons sorting themselves out, life is much easier.