Battery options Australia

[Grakat]

Good Evening All

I am looking at my options for batteries to go into my shed. I see there are three options.

1. Individual cells, BMS and make my own case.
2. Individual cells and a DIY server rack battery box
3. A built up battery box ready to go.

I am looking at 51.2V 280AH or thereabouts for capacity and 3 battery banks in total. I have a 45U server rack that I want to put all of this stuff in as well as a few other things like networking gear and my rack servers.

How do you think I should proceed?

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

in Australia? where winstons are easily available... Winston cells and your choice of BMS. you got 20+ years now of data form users in Australia on the winston cells not to mention the same for various BMS's and other gear...

why settle for a EVE hamburger when you can have a Winston, CALB, or Sinopoly Steak?

 

[wattmatters]

Hard to say, all are valid options. Depends on what's important to you:
- speed of deployment
- budget
- having experience with such things (safety / compliance)
- enjoyment of DIY
- warranty

Just note that a 51.2 V 280 Ah battery is going to weigh a LOT and be awkward to lift/move if working alone.

 

[Grakat]

Hard to say, all are valid options. Depends on what's important to you:
- speed of deployment
- budget
- having experience with such things (safety / compliance)
- enjoyment of DIY
- warranty

Just note that a 51.2 V 280 Ah battery is going to weigh a LOT and be awkward to lift/move if working alone.

Hi there.

I am a very hands on individual with a lot of practical experience. I also have a small tractor to do my heavy lifting if required. The rest I will determine based on what pops out here.

 

[Grakat]

in Australia? where winstons are easily available... Winston cells and your choice of BMS. you got 20+ years now of data form users in Australia on the winston cells not to mention the same for various BMS's and other gear...

why settle for a EVE hamburger when you can have a Winston, CALB, or Sinopoly Steak?

But the price is insane. 3.2V 400AH cells for $660 each! They are dreaming at these prices.

 

[pollenface]

Where are you located? There's a store called "Alt-tech" in Welshpool (near Perth) which is quite helpful and prices are good too.

 

[wattmatters]

The rest I will determine based on what pops out here.

It comes down to what your priorities are.

If you want speed of deployment and/or local warranty coverage then buy locally supplied pre-built compatible with your inverter(s) of choice. Plug 'n' play, no faffing about.

If you want to save money and don't mind/enjoy DIY and waiting 3 months to import cells and build your own, the battery box kits are pretty good value / relatively space efficient.

Everyone has different priorities, needs, circumstances and infrastructure to house a system. These will affect solution suggestions.

 

[Grakat]

It comes down to what your priorities are.

If you want speed of deployment and/or local warranty coverage then buy locally supplied pre-built compatible with your inverter(s) of choice. Plug 'n' play, no faffing about.

If you want to save money and don't mind/enjoy DIY and waiting 3 months to import cells and build your own, the battery box kits are pretty good value / relatively space efficient.

Everyone has different priorities, needs, circumstances and infrastructure to house a system. These will affect solution suggestions.

I fall into the latter camp, and have the time to do so.

 

[Grakat]

Where are you located? There's a store called "Alt-tech" in Welshpool (near Perth) which is quite helpful and prices are good too.

Hunter Valley, NSW.

 

[wattmatters]

I fall into the latter camp, and have the time to do so.

Cool, then the DIY battery boxes are pretty nice option. They've done all the design work for you.

Is the shed system off-grid, or is this a grid-tied system? Which inverter(s) are you looking at?

Hunter Valley, NSW.

Ausgrid region.

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

Off all of the data to come out of Australia about the quality of Winston cells…. 20+ years of it and you ignore it to save a few dollars… sad. The one thing you were totally ahead of America in and you dump on it for trash cells

 

[Grakat]

Cool, then the DIY battery boxes are pretty nice option. They've done all the design work for you.

Is the shed system off-grid, or is this a grid-tied system? Which inverter(s) are you looking at?


Ausgrid region.

The shed is an off grid system on Victron architecture. One day I want to put the house onto the system as well. There is a fairly long trench required to connect, so want to have the shed working well and then connect the house.

 

[aussie desert]

Off all of the data to come out of Australia about the quality of Winston cells…. 20+ years of it and you ignore it to save a few dollars… sad. The one thing you were totally ahead of America in and you dump on it for trash cells

I was one of the lucky ones to recieve good advice about getting Winston cells (in 2015). Those cells are still going with no sign of deterioration and i've seen plenty of Pyontech and BYD systems fail in the meantime.

There are a some around here that have had the EVE 280's for a few years now, and it seems a common theme that they are starting to get bad voltage sag - so i'm not holding my breath on them lasting 20 years.

I'm not a guru on these things, just lucky i guess that i got good advice when LiFePO4 systems were just starting to take off. It really seems that the quality of systems has been in a steady decline with short term cost being heavily favoured over what the system will cost over the course of it's lifespan. I guess that suits the industry as they get to make more profit.