I’m Mark and this journey starts quite a few years ago with me wanting to invest in premium ESS batteries in my home. I had heard how good they could be, and I jumped right in. First off, I made the biggest mistake possible – choosing the wrong batteries!
Here is the story – I first started with some cheap inverters which I bought from a well-known auction site. I set these up with lead acid batteries. I was charging the batteries with a car charger off-peak and putting the power back into the house at peak time. This was working up to a point. I ended up having to expand the system from 1 to 3 sets of batteries though to get a reasonable amount of energy. The inverters I found out later, have a really poor efficiency. On top of this, the lead acid batteries when under-load, after a short time drop in voltage quite rapidly.
I began again and made an investment in better equipment hoping to see benefits after maximising the system. My set-up was to specifically get power if the grid failed – something that is becoming all too real now. I ended up forking out for a Victron multiplus and 4 North Star Blue batteries after a recommendation. I knew I would want to add solar in the future and this set-up allowed for that option. This all started to look fine for about 3 months. Then I began to see capacity loss. I left the system running for another 3 months but the situation got worse.
Therefore, I decided to remove the batteries and capacity test each one using the data sheet for the specifications. I tested each battery and saw the capacity had dropped to almost half in just 6 months. There did not seem to be any reason – I was charging up fully and discharging to just 40% each day. I did not exceed any values at all on the data sheet that came with the batteries. I then contacted the supplier and they told me I was using it wrongly! How could this be possible? Well, the data sheet was old, and the information incorrect. Unfortunately a new updated datasheet that the reseller did not pass on was the problem here, these Lead based batteries needed a charge return of 104% each week, this was not in the first datasheet !
I now needed new batteries again. So, took the decision to get some lithium 19-inch rack mount batteries from China. They looked quite good and I installed 4 of these using them for 8 months until one showed an error. I found that a couple of cells were low voltage – yet another set of batteries that were no use.
I then moved on in 2019 to well known battery manufacturer EVE and ordered 4 of their 19 inch rack mounts. Some software I wrote charted the charge and discharge of these and stored historical data at cell level for monitoring. I had to know whether these batteries would be the right ones for me.
Well good news – these batteries are still in use today and show 100% state of health. These batteries use the prismatic grade A EVE cells and are built by the manufacturer themselves. They are not cheap, but they have been running for over 3 years with absolutly no issues whatsoever.
I have now learnt alot about batteries and am so happy that I can pass on my experience and results from a real life test install.
These are the batteries that Tony and I sell here at Eco Power Direct. I learned this all from scratch and most definitely the hard way. We want everyone to be able to access quality batteries with peace of mind from within the UK. You can trust us here at Eco Power Direct to supply you with great quality batteries that last. Our premium ESS batteries are great, and they are why we do what we do. They are in stock now to buy today.
Please do seek professional advice to check these are the right batteries for you before purchase, as every set-up and situation is different.