Alibaba powerwall or Bigbattery.com; good idea or run away?

[dawgleader1]

Hey all, I've finally got my panels and inverter and now need to make my final decision on my battery bank. I have done quite of bit of research but I'm still a brand newbie to solar so I wanted to bounce my two finalist off you experts and see if you have any opinions. My system will be an off grid, emergency power system for short to mid term power outages to support the basics of life such as refrigerator, freezer, toaster oven, charging phones & laptops, and if we get a lot of sun we may splurge and run a dishwasher or washing machine once a week. I will have 16 x 250w solar panels which I may expand later depending on my final system. I have 2x 48v 3000w Growatt all in one inverters that I can connect in series for 6000w inverter system. I live in an area that's rated for 4.75-5.5 sun hours and have plenty of yard space to ground mount my panels and expand later if I decide to do so. So the battery packs I'm considering is the 48v Li-ion powerwall from Bigbattery.com which is rated at 3.8kwh. If I go this direction I will be getting 4-5 of them. I understand these are 'repurposed'/ used and only have a 1 year warranty but are expected to last much longer than that of course. The biggest plus is that they are domestic and I should be able to get them quickly. The second option I have is a company from China, GSL Energy, off of Alibaba. I have looked at a dozen Chinese companies and I think GSL has the best price at the best quality. I have been 'talking' to their owner and sales manager for 2 weeks and they have a 48v 10kwh powerwall with a 10yr warranty and rated at 6000+ cycles. If I go this direction I would get 2 of them. The benefit of the powerwall is it's brand new and from what I as a newbie can understand the specs look good. The biggest negative is that it would take 6-8 weeks to get it and that's if the world doesn't come to a halt again or if Trump throws up some sanctions/ tariff action against China and I never get my stuff. And of course the warranty, even though 10 years, it's only as good as the company's word and of course we're talking about a Chinese company. The cost difference is negligible (about $800 more for the Chinese import) considering one is new and the other isn't as long as the batterpack lasts as long as it should based on what they are telling me. I have attached the specs for the GSL powerwall if anyone cares. What I need to know, is which direction would you go in? All opinions would be appreciated. If I don't get any reasons to change my mind I'm leaning toward placing my order with GSL for 2 powerwalls this weekend and hoping for the best. Thanks so much for your time, help, and expert advise.

 

[worldwidewille]

I'm also interested as well. I can't seem to find any reviews but I'm leaning towards Alibaba. I'll check out your source. I have an existing 24v outback system so I might buy three 24v 200ah from gfs

 

[StupidFlanders]

Did you get the GSL battery? That's what my installer has been pushing

 

[worldwidewille]

I purchased 4, 24v 200ah batteries from them. Still on the boat. First time using Alibaba and hoping it's smooth.

 

[SOK-MIN]

10yr warranty and rated at 6000+ cycles? seriously ?

 

[hammick]

I'd like to hear more about these batteries. There is a company in Utah selling this powerwall branded as Energetech for $3,800 plus shipping.

 

[Hedges]

How many watt-hours do you need to draw per cycle?
How many cycles do you need over a 10-year period?

Although batteries are certainly coming down in price, it looks to me like batteries are several times the cost of PV. So my preference is to use it or lose it while the sun shines, and have battery only big enough to keep the clocks running overnight.

Since you've already selected an inverter, you have to ensure your system won't dump more current into batteries than they can handle. I avoided that with AC coupling (grid-tie inverters which can be told to curtail production.) But I think you could still consider a way undersized battery, figuring the only time it discharges is overnight, and can get recharged gently at the crack of dawn. Then during the day they bounce along fully charged (or charged to your target levels, for lithium.)