The V box OC cabinet includes 4 ganged breakers for 4 batteries. It also includes bus bars.
New Pytes V5 48V Server Rack Battery
- Thread starter 4thdSolar
- Start date
Ampster
Renewable Energy Hobbyist
I really like that install! I have similar with SolArk 15k and 8 of the Ebox. I charge from grid midnite till 2 am, remainder only from PV. 2 am till 6 am EV charging. 6AM till PV kicks in runs off battery. I have been able with TOS to get my monthly bill the lowest it has ever been. The entire system is very efficient and reliable. Also to note, my installation in a garage. Battery temps are highest when charging from the grid, they hit about 92 degrees. Then they drop down to about 85 degrees and then in the heat of the day with ambient temps up to 108 degrees while they are in the shade in insulated cabinets with thermostatically controlled fans, they never get above 89 degrees. So they work flawlessly!
I imagine the V box has an internal fuse. I know the eBox has one. Also, current limiting and shut down with FET BMS. eBox has a 100A current limit that shuts down after XX seconds. I don't remember, maybe 5 seconds.
jsteiner123
New Member
Can you mix the eBox and V5 batteries? I called both Solark and Pytes when the V5 first came out and they told me this was not supported because the batteries had different chemistry. A little more info is out now on the V5 and it appears to be extremely similar to the eBox.
Ampster
Renewable Energy Hobbyist
I would guess the BMSs might be different because the V5 have heaters and that would mean there has to be controls for that. I suppose that is the critical difference and with a mixed pack of batteries, one might lose the ability to query each rack like I have with my V5s. I have four in an external encloseure and three inside my garage in an internal enclosure. They do see different summer temperatures but the big differences will be this winter and I am going to query them to see what the temperature differences amout to if and when the heaters go off.
If you treated them as dumb batteries with no communication with each other and with the inverter the similarity between the LFP chemistries would not be a problem. I am assuming they are both LFP and other than Winstons, which had Yitrium for cold resliiency I am not aware of much difference between LFP cells. Without communication between the racks you would would have to rely on parallel battery physics. How many eBox batteries do you have?
Last edited:
I believe the Ebox uses EVE cells and the V5 BYD cells so no, you cannot mix them. The only advantage i see on the V5 is the ability to individually see the cell status on the battery display while on the Ebox you will have to make a usb to CANBUS connection (simple cables on amazon for under $10. From the computer running windows use putty or other terminal emulator, establish the terminal connection to the master battery, type help and you will get all of the command and can can update firmware, etc. there are videos on youtube plus Pytes support at pytesusa.com
Lastly i chose 8 of the Ebox because I saved about $400 per battery over the V5 which is some money I'd say.
The eBox is rated for .5C continuous discharge. The V5 is rated for .75C continuous discharge. I only needed 20KWH of battery, but wanted to supply the Sol-Ark 15K with the maximum current of 275A. Four V5 batteries was a better choice for me.
The V5 also has an internal heater. My batteries are in my attached garage, so I shouldn't need this feature unless I forget to close my garage door in the winter.
Similar threads
