Experiences with LG Electronics (LG Chem RESU 7kW Battery.)

[LG Chem]

Experiences with LG Electronics (LG Chem RESU 7kW Battery.)

My system was set up on 01/03/2019 and has worked perfectly until 21/02/2023.

D. 13-05-2022: I receive an inquiry from LG who wants the serial number of my battery.
(They probably know at this point that something has gone wrong with their batteries.)

D. 02-21-2023: My battery stops charging, discharging. An electrician is called.

D. 08-03-2023: Electrician discovers very quickly that things have gone completely wrong with the battery, the innards have started to grow out of the aluminum casing.
Taken down and put out in the open, should it now catch fire. Electrician contacts LG Electronics and tells about the fault with the battery.

D. 27-06-2023: The electrician company hears from LG, who have now come to the conclusion that the battery must be replaced, just need a confirmation from LG.

D. 21.07.2023: The battery has constantly grown out of the cabinet, and now the last bolt gave up and as you can see in the picture, all the threads are torn out.
Now a third of the offal hangs out in the open, and is only held back by some cables.

Now we are writing on 11/08/2023 and here after 5 months I still haven't seen a new battery.
Well, I guess you should be glad that it's not the battery for the electric car that's broken.
Update when there is new information on the matter.

 

[LydMekk]

Hm. LG is not a very high quality product name to begin with.
Cases like yours doesn't fortify their rep...
Hope you get it sorted. Bought with credit card - talk to your bank?

 

[Hedges]

Any updates on the replacement?

I just acquired two, new in the box, and serial numbers indicate recalled.

 

[robby]

As far as I know they recalled all of them about 18 months ago.
last week I noticed that a guy was selling a 9.8Kwh on eBay for $2K.
It is also bulging and I assume not working as he is selling it as "Parts Only"!
I almost built my entire system around LG batteries but luckily when I was ordering them the sales person at ecodirect said yes we have them, but I strongly suggest you get something else.

 

[robby]

Hm. LG is not a very high quality product name to begin with.
Cases like yours doesn't fortify their rep...
Hope you get it sorted. Bought with credit card - talk to your bank?

Yes, never buy a LG fridge or washing machine!
Their TV's and their solar panels are very good and very reliable but their appliance division is horrible.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

LG also made the NMC pouch cells in the Hyundai Sonata and Kia Optima Hybrids... very not impressed. Many cells outright inflated to double and triple their size.

 

[Hedges]

Besides the puffing and fire issue, the "H" high voltage model has a bidirectional boost converter from 144V battery pack to ~400V.

SMA says partially compatible with backup operation of Sunny Boy Storage. That inverter is AC coupled to PV inverter, and power output will glitch when changing from source to sink, knocking GT PV offline. Can never get charged from Sunny Boys, so only good as a UPS (or should I call that "IPS")?

If used with Sunny Boy Smart Energy, which is HV DC coupled between PV, battery, and inverter, maybe that would work.

My application would be either as a power wall for peak shaving/time shifting, or AC coupled to Sunny Island (If I can make that work), picking up the charge/discharge cycles so AGM floats.

A review notes that cost of LG RESU-10H is $0.50/kWh of cycle life, more than the on/off peak spread of utility rates. I bought mine for $1500 apiece, works out to $0.07/kWh, so should be cost effective. If my NEM 1.0 gets transferred to NEM 3.0, or if I want the higher credit of peak times to pay for more off-peak consumption (or offset on-peak use.)

I'm not happy to hear that replacement of OP's puffed batteries hasn't happened, however.

I'm thinking of keeping mine until I get utility PTO before having the recall processed. It is on the CEC list as ESS paired with SBS, and I don't know if they will exchange for same model or something new like Prime, possibly having CEC listing issues.

It should have this logo on it - puffy belly and breathes fire

 

[Daniel644]

Yes, never buy a LG fridge or washing machine!
Their TV's and their solar panels are very good and very reliable but their appliance division is horrible.

I have both an LG Fridge and an LG Washing Machine, washing machine is closing in on a decade old (received October 2015) and fridge is 6 and a half years old, I tried an LG TV but didn't like how washed out and poor contrast it was compared to other TV's once I actually set it up. I also used to have an LG G4 smartphone back in the day and have an LG Ultrawide Monitor in front of me right now, it all stems back to like 15-18 years ago I had a laptop where the CD drive failed and it was a huge pain of driving to an authorized service center like 90 minutes away without traffic each way twice, once to drop off and once to pickup, I bought an external DVD burner when that drive initially failed but had the repair done before the warranty ended, that external drive still works to this day, that sold me on the brand, but yeah the Chem batteries where epic failures.

 

[Hedges]

Is the main on-off switch just invisible in this picture from post #1, or is it not there? (dark hole under label.)



Trying to commission mine with Sunny Boy Storage. After RTFM, realized I'm supposed to turn that switch on, must be why SBS gave up trying to connect.
All mine has is a couple Anderson connectors. I measured 170V between them, thought they gave direct battery access.
Would manufacturer have used Anderson not ring terminals to connect switch? Or are they a cheap substitute, just plug together?
(I'll try a light bulb first, make sure it's just a capacitor charging up, not Bat+ and Bat-)



This link has a picture of two Andersons mated (at the bottom, below terminals and breaker.)

Szétszedtem sorozat – LG RESU 10H szolár akkumulátor - e-cars.hu

A józan, értelmes ember takarékos! No nem azért, mert csóró és nincs pénze, hanem mert kb. tropára megy alatta a bolygó, és ezt lassan már mindenki felfogja.

e-cars.hu

This version 1.5 manual, page 24 does NOT show or mention a switch:

https://ressupply.com/documents/lg_chem/RESU10H-C_Installation_Manual.pdf

This version 2.4 manual, page 24 DOES show and mention a disconnect switch (which I suspect may have a precharge function as well)

https://lghomebatteryblog.eu/wp-content/uploads/Installation-Manual_RESU10H_Type-C_ENG_Ver2.4_181030.pdf

Both boxes had been opened. Mounting bracket and manual were missing from the first one I took out and am trying to commission. Manual from the other ones does show the switch and mentions Type-C for SMA. Maybe this one is earlier, with just Anderson. Labels on both of them leave a mystery whether they are Type C, or Type R for Fronius. For all I know I have one of each.

 

[robby]

I have both an LG Fridge and an LG Washing Machine, washing machine is closing in on a decade old (received October 2015) and fridge is 6 and a half years old, I tried an LG TV but didn't like how washed out and poor contrast it was compared to other TV's once I actually set it up. I also used to have an LG G4 smartphone back in the day and have an LG Ultrawide Monitor in front of me right now, it all stems back to like 15-18 years ago I had a laptop where the CD drive failed and it was a huge pain of driving to an authorized service center like 90 minutes away without traffic each way twice, once to drop off and once to pickup, I bought an external DVD burner when that drive initially failed but had the repair done before the warranty ended, that external drive still works to this day, that sold me on the brand, but yeah the Chem batteries where epic failures.

The older LG Fridges and Washers were not all that bad, but if your looking to buy one today I suggest you search YouTube for videos on LG horror stories and the pending class action lawsuit.
I have an LG OLED TV and it has a fantastic picture. It has so far clocked over 30,000 hours of runtime during the last 6 years and it still looks amazing.